Bach Cantatas
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Johann Sebastian Bach
Label: Auvidis
Magazine Review Date: 2/1995
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 71
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: E8530
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Cantata No. 49, 'Ich gehe und suche mit Verlangen' |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Andreas Scholl, Alto Barbara Schlick, Soprano Christoph Prégardien, Tenor Christophe Coin, Cello Concerto Vocale Gotthold Schwarz, Bass Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Limoges Baroque Ensemble |
| Cantata No. 115, 'Mache dich, mein Geist bereit' |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Andreas Scholl, Alto Barbara Schlick, Soprano Christoph Prégardien, Tenor Christophe Coin, Cello Concerto Vocale Gotthold Schwarz, Bass Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Limoges Baroque Ensemble |
| Cantata No. 180, 'Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele' |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Andreas Scholl, Alto Barbara Schlick, Soprano Christoph Prégardien, Tenor Christophe Coin, Cello Concerto Vocale Gotthold Schwarz, Bass Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Limoges Baroque Ensemble |
Author: Nicholas Anderson
Three of Bach's Leipzig church cantatas form a characteristically well thought-out programme from the French gamba player, cellist and director, Christophe Coin. Schmucke dich o liebe Seele (BWV180) and Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit (BWV115) are among the most overlooked of the cantatas, outside 'complete editions'; but they are towering masterpieces which deserve to be as popular as, for instance, Wachet auf! (BWV140) or any of the others which find their way, albeit infrequently, into concert programming. There is a more particular reason, however, beyond that of sheer musical excellence, why Coin has chosen to perform these works: it is that in each of them Bach has included a movement calling for the obbligato presence of a small, five-stringed cello, the violoncello piccolo. Nine of Bach's cantatas contain a part for this distinctive-sounding instrument in each of which the composer employs it with telling effect. The two cantatas so far mentioned date from Trinity 1724, while the third, another Trinity piece, Ich gehe und suche mit Verlangen (BWV49), was first heard two years later in 1726.
For me there was no turning back after the initial bars of the tenderly expressive 12/8 chorus with which BWV180 begins. This delicately scored piece for two recorders, oboe, oboe da caccia and strings has pastoral connotations, though the text is not specifically so, with an affecting undercurrent of elegy. Coin's direction, his overall grasp of the musical idiom and his evident care over textual detail led me at once to the heart of the piece. Not everything is refined—there are, for example, some rough moments in the instrumental tuttis but the spirit of the performance carries everything along with it. This much is true for the remaining cantatas, too. BWV115 contains music of quite extraordinary inventive richness and nowhere more so than in its two da capo arias for alto and soprano, respectively. If the first, a slumber song in 3/8, admirably sung by Andreas Scholl, is of mesmerizing beauty and of considerable expressive depth the second, in B minor, seems to lead us into almost uncharted emotional territory in its contemplative profundity. This heart-rending trio for soprano, flute, violoncello piccolo and continuo increasingly strikes my ears as being one of the most astounding achievements in the entire canon and it is beautifully sung by Barbara Schlick who, alas, is not favoured with an entirely sympathetic recorded balance.
The remaining cantata, BWV49 is a 'dialogue' for soprano and bass which Bach prefaced with a splendid concerto movement for concertante organ with oboe d'amore and strings, the piece will be more familiar to many readers as the finale of the Harpsichord Concerto in E major (BWV1053). Nothing at all is said in the booklet about the pleasingly astringent organ, but perhaps it belongs to the church at Ponitz in Thuringia where the recording was made. The focal points of this cantata are the aria for soprano with oboe d'amore, violoncello piccolo, organ and continuo, and the duet which follows in which the soprano intones a chorale verse, set to the melody Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstern, against the declamatory, freely-written bass vocal part.
Enough, perhaps more than enough said. The soloists, the Leipzig Concerto Vocale (a mixed choir of men's and women's voices), and the Limoges Baroque Ensemble have gathered under Coin's direction im performances which probe far beyond musical superficialities. Coin is not afraid to play with fire—the tempo of the tenor aria in BWV180 is set dangerously fast for the soloist—yet notwithstanding that and a few other minor mishaps I have found this one of the most stimulating discs of newly recorded Bach cantatas to have come my way for some while. Strongly recommended, and above all, perhaps, for BWV115, music and performance alike.'
For me there was no turning back after the initial bars of the tenderly expressive 12/8 chorus with which BWV180 begins. This delicately scored piece for two recorders, oboe, oboe da caccia and strings has pastoral connotations, though the text is not specifically so, with an affecting undercurrent of elegy. Coin's direction, his overall grasp of the musical idiom and his evident care over textual detail led me at once to the heart of the piece. Not everything is refined—there are, for example, some rough moments in the instrumental tuttis but the spirit of the performance carries everything along with it. This much is true for the remaining cantatas, too. BWV115 contains music of quite extraordinary inventive richness and nowhere more so than in its two da capo arias for alto and soprano, respectively. If the first, a slumber song in 3/8, admirably sung by Andreas Scholl, is of mesmerizing beauty and of considerable expressive depth the second, in B minor, seems to lead us into almost uncharted emotional territory in its contemplative profundity. This heart-rending trio for soprano, flute, violoncello piccolo and continuo increasingly strikes my ears as being one of the most astounding achievements in the entire canon and it is beautifully sung by Barbara Schlick who, alas, is not favoured with an entirely sympathetic recorded balance.
The remaining cantata, BWV49 is a 'dialogue' for soprano and bass which Bach prefaced with a splendid concerto movement for concertante organ with oboe d'amore and strings, the piece will be more familiar to many readers as the finale of the Harpsichord Concerto in E major (BWV1053). Nothing at all is said in the booklet about the pleasingly astringent organ, but perhaps it belongs to the church at Ponitz in Thuringia where the recording was made. The focal points of this cantata are the aria for soprano with oboe d'amore, violoncello piccolo, organ and continuo, and the duet which follows in which the soprano intones a chorale verse, set to the melody Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstern, against the declamatory, freely-written bass vocal part.
Enough, perhaps more than enough said. The soloists, the Leipzig Concerto Vocale (a mixed choir of men's and women's voices), and the Limoges Baroque Ensemble have gathered under Coin's direction im performances which probe far beyond musical superficialities. Coin is not afraid to play with fire—the tempo of the tenor aria in BWV180 is set dangerously fast for the soloist—yet notwithstanding that and a few other minor mishaps I have found this one of the most stimulating discs of newly recorded Bach cantatas to have come my way for some while. Strongly recommended, and above all, perhaps, for BWV115, music and performance alike.'
Bach Cantatas
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