.This one (I don't know what the words mean) is available on YouTube in several versions.
The first one is by Bach Collegium Stuttgart, conducted by Helmut Rilling, and in this recording sung, I believe by Helen Watts. The Stuttgart uses modern instruments, in contrast to other orchestras that more increasingly use original instruments. As you can hear, modern instruments (which, most significantly, use steel strings on the violins and violas, etc.) sound fine on Bach arias. The flutes are regular silver flutes, in contrast to original instrument ensembles, which use recorders. (I'll try to put in a picture of a recorder sometime.) Unfortunately, sister Helen seems to be simply singing the piece without much real feeling. But Bach certainly can be performed like that.
Another version is by The English Baroque Soloists, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner, with Magdalena Kozena singing the aria. Magdalena manages to inject a little more conviction into her interpretation, but it is still still cool singing for Ms Kozena. (Perhaps the words mean something fairly neutral, such as The Sun Rises In The East. Wait; euch means y'all. It means "Y'all should jolly well auserwählten yourselves.") Here you can clearly hear the recorders, which have a lovely limpid sound, particularly attractive to romantics and antiquarians such as myself. This version, at least, goes all the way to the end (grumble-grumble).The photo (a composite from Google Images) shows three different sizes of recorders. The young fellow seems to be playing a soprano, the woman with him an alto, and the lady above is playing a particularly ornate tenor recorder (probably at a renaissance fair somewhere). There are also bass, and sopranino recorders.
[Added later: I have just found out that Helen Watts died on October 9, 2009. This great Welsh contralto has given us a great many wonderful arias in the oratorio repertoire. May she be remembered long.]
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