Bach’s Christ lag in Todesbanden (BWV 4) is one of his earliest surviving church cantatas, likely written when he was still a very young man, and it already shows the seriousness and intensity that would define his sacred music. Based on Martin Luther’s Easter hymn of the same name, the work moves through the drama at the heart of the Christian story: death, struggle, and resurrection. What makes it so striking is the way Bach treats the music almost like a meditation rather than a display piece. Each verse unfolds with a grave, concentrated power, and yet the whole cantata gradually opens toward victory and release. It is Easter music, yes, but not shallowly triumphant. It remembers the weight of death before it proclaims its defeat.