Bach: Cantatas [Broken Eyes]

The use of boy voices in the performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's sacred works has not only historical reasons. Even as a boy soprano, Alois Mühlbacher was an internationally known phenomenon. We have his extraordinary boy's voice preserved in numerous recordings, not only in the field of Baroque music but also in art song, where he interpreted works by Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss with remarkable musical maturity. However, his transition into a different vocal world happened so gently that he was able to carry over much of the magic of his boy's voice: the moving, fragile quality, now paired with a newly developed technical perfection. Unlike adult professional singers, boy trebles have little time to develop a routine. As performers, they often experience the great masterpieces of music history only once or a few times, which is why their interpretations always radiate the magic of the new and the unique. At the time of this recording, the 28-year-old Alois Mühlbacher has sung as many concerts in his career to date as perhaps anyone his age, but the spontaneity, curiosity, and musical adventurousness of his boyhood have never been lost. That arguably makes him an ideal interpreter of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. In addition to Mühlbacher, the Pallidor ensemble can be heard, which was founded several years ago by him and his mentor Franz Farnberger.