This is the third two-disc volume in Erato’s enlightened retrospective of Fritz Werner’s distinguished legacy of Bach cantata recordings (the previous volumes were reviewed in 5/95 and 6/95). As with Richter, Leonhardt, Harnoncourt and Rilling – and others who have recorded a significant number of cantatas – a thin line divides supreme good judgement and lurking solecisms. The great advantage of reissuing single works from a larger project is the chance to select only the most accomplished performances, so long as the choice of what to include (from, in this case, an archive of 50 or so cantatas) is governed by a discerning ear: I have enough of the original LPs to know that only Werner’s most convincing accounts are seeing the light of day, though there are few enough mishaps in the rest not to expect several more volumes in the future. As I have stressed in previous reviews, what Werner projects unlike anyone else is an inimitably gracious, free-breathing humanity; so often his Bach performances convey a sense of oblation without a sniff of self-importance – something to be treasured. This third volume is another gem, though perhaps for slightly different reasons. There is that same direct, humble and profoundly spiritual response to Bach’s musical ‘gospel’ but we experience here a greater chronological spread (1960-70). We forsake, except fleetingly, the touching strains of tenor Helmut Krebs and the shimmering intensity of Agnes Giebel but, instead, enjoy a greater range of Werner’s evolution as a Bachian.
Nothing represents this more strikingly than the first track of the first disc, the opening chorus of Es erhub sich ein Streit (No. 19), where Werner’s choir are rather more assured than in the earliest recordings – and they need to be. This is a symbolically confrontational choral tour de force between Heaven and Hell, as is appropriate for the Feast of St Michael. Bach’s three cantatas for this feast seem to have inspired Werner greatly: his version of No. 130 in Vol. 1 is a testament to dangerous living, spontaneous and committed. Trumpets play their part in both pieces with memorable flair but Maurice Andre’s playing is of a completely different order, epic in short: he acts as Werner’s, Bach’s and St Michael’s first gunner, eager into battle supported by Werner’s unforced rigour. Such momentum without neurosis (to which Richter was prone) also lies at the heart of Wachet, betet (No. 70), beautifully performed too by Felix Prohaska in 1957, though overall this is even better; the extremes of fear, vigilance and fervour inspired by the Last Judgement are yet more pronounced. Again, Andre is in the thick of things with his subtly varied articulation, rhythmic buoyancy and easy lyricism, joined by singing of great understanding and commitment by Hedy Graf and Jakob Stampfli, though there is no performance more moving than tenor Kurt Huber’s innocent beauty in the aria at the start of Part 2.
Indeed, the quality of soloists seems generally to improve as the set proceeds. One wishes for Krebs’s imaginative phrasing and colouring of words in No. 19 where Georg Jelden’s technical limitations are too noticeable for comfort, though he is a different singer in his duet with Claudia Hellmann in the finely paced No. 149. Giebel’s shimmering assurance in the same work, not surprisingly, puts Edith Selig’s and Ingeborg Reichelt’s honest and agreeable performances of the first two cantatas in the shade. Werner’s meditative view of Wachet auf (No. 140), placing the dotted figures of the opening with a repose which goes some way to erase the memory of Richter’s ponderous account, is one of Werner’s earliest cantata recordings (1960); the two duets prey on a warm and lucid dialogue, though neither voice compels me quite to replace Karl Ristenpart’s reading (Accord) as a firm favourite. Schmucke dich (No. 180) from ten years later is another accomplished achievement, quite different from Christophe Coin’s intimate and characterful new recording, though its contemplative approach is no less convincing.
To sum up: this is another important and exciting release, arguably the best so far. One should not expect perfection in its modern sense. Werner does not wield the axe as many modern directors do, which can count against him in some choral movements (though disciplined homogeneity is obviously neither a priority nor perhaps even desirable) but what a small price for such rich illuminations of great music whose qualities transcend fickle taste. Bravo! Erato for such a far-sighted project but don’t stop now! The transfers are immediate with the odd touch of distortion.'