Under the baton of the new chief conductor Hans-Christoph Rademann, the RIAS Kammerchor and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin are performing popular Motets by Johann Sebastian Bach, interspersed with fine instrumental works of the composer. Founded in 1948, the choir enjoys today a worldwide reputation as one of the best ensembles of its kind.  
This performance allows to experience the full grandeur of five Bach motets included in this audio release: the chorale-like simplicity of these works, notably in a number of the movements from Jesu, meine Freude, emerges as emphatically as do the dense polyphonic textures of Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied and the vivid word-setting and rhythmic drive, more especially in a work like Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf. Hans-Christoph Rademann and the RIAS Chamber Choir successfully reconcile all these different layers and provide benchmark readings of these motets, offering us a view of Bach
for the 21st century.