CD review reprinted from :

AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE

J.S. BACH: TENOR ARIAS WITH FLUTE
Cantata & Oratorio Airs for Flute & Orchestra

David Gordon (tenor)
Emily Newbold (flute)
Loretta O'Sullivan (cello)
Charlotte Mattax (harpsichord)
Bethlehem Bach Festival Orchestra
Greg Funfgeld

(Newport Classic #NPD 85582; Timing: 66:52)

  "When I settled in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, nearly 40 years ago, it was a fairly typical American steel town, populated largely by steelworkers. The management of Bethlehem Steel Corp. called the tune in almost every phase of local life. The only significant organization that offered music was the Bethlehem Bach Choir. The Choir, with imported soloists and orchestra (Philadelphia), performed in the annual Bach Festival on two weekends in May. The 200 singers were locals; to be a member conferred almost as much prestige as to be an executive at "The Steel", and members hung on like grim death. The audience was made up largely of executive types and their friends, and tickets were hard to come by. The general public could hear the proceedings by sitting on the grass outside Lehigh University's Packer Chapel (where they took place) or by taking a seat in a lecture hall in a laboratory building, where the music was piped in.

  "Much has changed since I first arrived in Bethlehem. The emphasis is on the center of the city - the historical area - which has been turned into a worthwhile tourist attraction. The Lehigh Valley (dominated by the overlapping cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton) boasts a symphony orchestra, two professional chamber orchestras and enough cultural goings-on to occupy one almost every evening.

  "In 1983 a then very young Greg Funfgeld became the Bach Choir's sixth director (in 100 years). Since then, through a process of annual re-auditions, he has reduced its membership by half and he has added concerts (open to the public) at Christmas and Easter. The orchestra is a hand-picked group and plays in "period" style.

  "Tenor David Gordon first sang with the Choir as the Evangelist in the St. Matthew Passion. The blurb on the jewel-box calls him "America's finest Bach Tenor", and who am I to quarrel with that? His voice is a lyric tenor with great flexibility and range. His handling of the murderously high-lying 'Ach, schlage doch' (Cantata 95) is stunning.

  "Emily Newbold, a professor at Westchester University, has been the Festival Orchestra's first flute for going-on 20 years and has made other recordings for Newport. The 13 string players join Ms Newbold for a stylish reading (under Funfgeld's baton) of the second orchestral suite. Mr. Gordon contributes intelligent notes, and Newport adds texts and translations. I consider this a lovely record.

   - David Mason Green.

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