A new recording released by Passacaille Records unveils CPE Bach's majestic oratorio covering the resurrection and ascension of Jesus – Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu – a work which he claimed would "bring me much honour even after my death and much profit to lovers of the art."

Renowned conductor Bart Van Reyn directs the multi-Diapason d'Or winning Il Gardellino Baroque Orchestra and the Vlaams Radiokoor – where he is Musical Director – joined by soprano Lore Binon, tenor Kieran Carrel and baritone Andreas Wolf.

Written by CPE Bach in 1774, six years after arriving in Hamburg, Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu is a large- scale "passion oratorio", presenting an operatic response to a poetic rather than scriptural text, and designed for concert performance rather than liturgical use.

The artistically ambitious setting of twenty-two movements in two halves marks the liminal space between the Baroque and Classical, omitting chorales and using the chorus to great dramatic effect. The libretto, by Karl Wilhelm Ramler, provides an emotive response to the core themes, incorporating fragments from both the Old and New Testaments rather than offering a chronological account.

CPE Bach regarded the work highly and arranged for Breitkopf to publish it in 1787, even taking on the financial risk involved.

Following its publication, the oratorio soon became a model for late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century composers including Haydn, whose The Creation of ten years later bears distinct allusions. Mozart would direct three performances of the work in Spring 1788, and the oratorio soon became a model for later composers.