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The three cantatas BWV 56, 82 and 158 deal with death. Not the frightening death against which the helpless individual rebels, but the desired death that both redeems from sin and liberates from the pains of life. “Come, O death, sister of sleep, come and take me away”: the cantata BWV 56, with one of the most beautiful chorales ever composed by Bach, ends with these words as if the music was standing on the fringe of wakefulness and sleep, of life and death, in that transition moment when borders become blurred. All of these cantatas are entrusted to the bass, the voice of a mature man, and in the Passions, the voice of Christ. This leads us to believe that Bach’s personal position is expressed here more directly than elsewhere (according to his son Carl Philipp Emmanuel, he had a “penetrating and large voice”). Incidentally, the term cantata was only assigned to such works for solo voice in those days. Geneva-born Stephan MacLeod is a singer and conductor. He now conducts between 40 and 50 concerts a year worldwide, including an increasing number of appearances as guest conductor with “modern” orchestras. He also happily pursues his career as a singer and is a vocal teacher at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne (HEMU). Gli Angeli Genève was founded in 2005 by Stephan MacLeod. This ensemble of variable size plays on period instruments (or copies thereof) and comprises musicians who pursue a career in baroque music but are not active in this field only: they do not solely play early music. Their eclecticism guarantees the vitality of their enthusiasm. It is also a driving force behind their curiosity.