THE BACH CANTATA PILGRIMAGE RECORDINGS
NOW AVAILABLE
- click here for the latest reviews of the discs below
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| SDG101 | SDG104 | SDG107 | SDG110 | SDG113 | SDG115 | SDG118 |
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| SDG121 | SDG124 | SDG127 | SDG128 | SDG131 | SDG134 | SDG137 |
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| SDG138 | SDG141 | SDG144 |
The first two volumes feature the monumental cantatas written by Bach for the Feast of St. John the Baptist and 1st Sunday of Trinity, and the more intimate cantatas included in the programmes performed in Bremen (15 Sunday after Trinity) & Santiago de Compostela (16 Sunday after Trinity).
Click CD to play soundbites.
SDG 101 Volume 1 (2 cds) contains:
Cantatas for the Feast of St. John the Baptist:
BWV 167 - Ihr Menschen, rühmet Gottes Liebe
BWV 7 - Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam
BWV 30 - Freue dich, erlöste Schar
Cantatas for the 1st Sunday after Trinity
BWV 75 - Die Elenden sollen essen
BWV 20 - O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort
BWV 39 - Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot
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here for a French Translation of the sleeve notes of this cd.
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here for a German Translation of the sleeve notes of this cd.
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here for the English sleeve notes of this cd.
Click CD to play soundbites.
SDG 104 Volume 8 (2cds) contains:
Cantatas for the 15th Sunday after trinity
BWV 138 - Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz
BWV 99 - Was Gott tut, das is wohlgetan
BWV 51 - Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!
BWV 100 - Was Gott tut, das is wohlgetan
Cantatas for the 16th Sunday after Trinity
BWV 161 - Komm, du süsse Todesstunde
BWV 27 - Wer weiss, wie nahe mir mein Ende!
BWV 8 - Liebster Gott, wann werd ich sterben?
BWV 95 - Christus, der ist mein leben
Soloists: Katharine Fuge | Gillian Keith | Malin Hartelius | Wilke
te Brummelstroete
Robin Tyson | Paul Agnew | Mark Padmore | Thomas Guthrie | Dietrich
Henschel
Monteverdi Choir | English Baroque Soloists | John Eliot
Gardiner
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here for a French Translation of the sleeve notes of this cd.
Click
here for a German Translation of the sleeve notes of this cd.
Click
here for the English sleeve notes of this cd.
Volume 24, brings live recordings from the Schlosskirche in Altenburg
(featuring the famous Trost organ that Bach himself was invited to 'test' when
it was newly built) and from St Mary's in Warwick.
The three cantatas for Cantate are concerned with the sorrow surrounding
Jesus' farewell to his followers, the trials that await them in
his absence and their joyful thoughts of seeing him again.
The cantatas for Jubilate cover a wide gamut of styles and moods
and tease new meanings out of the Gospel texts. From the starkness
and searing pathos of BWV 12 to the astonishing superimposition
of opposing moods in BWV 103, and culminating in a searing performance
of BWV 146, based on the famous D minor keyboard concerto, this
release provides another example of glorious singing and playing
- the vocal soloists, the Monteverdi Choir, The English Baroque
Soloists and Sir John Eliot Gardiner all at their very best.
Click CD to play soundbites.
SDG 107 Volume 24 (2 cds) contains:
Cantatas for the Third Sunday after Easter (Jubilate)
(CD1)
BWV 12 - Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen
BWV 103 - Ihr werdet weinen und heulen
BWV 146 - Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal in das Reich Gottes eingehen
(recorded: Altenburg, Schlosskirche)
Soloists: Brigitte Geller | William Towers
Mark Padmore | Julian Clarkson
Cantatas for the Fourth Sunday after Easter (Cantate) (CD2)
BWV 166 - Wo gehest du hin?
BWV 108 - Es ist euch gut, dass ich hingehe
BWV 117 - Sei Lob und Ehr dem höchsten Gut (Cantata 'per ogni tempo')
(recorded: Warwick, St Mary's Collegiate Church)
Soloists: Robin Tyson | James Gilchrist | Stephen Varcoe
Monteverdi Choir | English Baroque Soloists | John Eliot
Gardiner
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here for a French Translation of the sleeve notes of this cd.
Click
here for a German Translation of the sleeve notes of this cd.
Click
here for the English sleeve notes of this cd.
Click CD to play soundbites.
SDG 110 Volume 10 (2 cds) contains:
Cantatas for the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity
(CD1)
BWV 48 - Ich elender Mensch, wer wird mich erlösen
BWV 5 - Wo soll ich fliehen hin
BWV 90 - Es reißet euch ein schrecklich Ende
(for the Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity)
BWV 56 - Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen
(recorded: Potsdam, Erlöserkirche)
Soloists: Joanne Lunn | William Towers
James Gilchrist | Peter Harvey
Cantatas for the Feast of the Reformation (CD2)
BWV 79 - Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild
BWV 192 - Nun danket alle Gott (occasion unspecified)
BWV 80 - Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott
(recorded: Wittenberg, Schlosskirche)
Soloists: Joanne Lunn | William Towers
James Gilchrist | Peter Harvey
Monteverdi Choir | English Baroque Soloists | John Eliot Gardiner
Click
here for a French Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for a German Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for the English sleeve notes.
The fifth release from the Bach
Cantata Pilgrimage - the previous launch issues in the series received phenomenal
press coverage and tremendous reviews for performance, sound quality and packaging.
This special single-cd release contains four glorious Christmas cantatas, and
includes the festive and brilliant BWV 110 Unser Mund sei voll Lachens,
which has irresistible swagger, innate elegance and lightness of touch. Its
opening movement is identical to that of the overture to the fourth Suite,
BWV 1069, but the piece sounds new-minted, alive with unexpected sonorities
and a marvellous rendition of laughter-in-music. Bach’s overall design for BWV
121 Christum wir sollen loben is to mirror the change from darkness
to light and to show how the moment when Christians celebrate the coming of
God’s light into the world coincides with the turning of the sun at the winter
solstice. And BWV 91 Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ glows with that
special sense of expectation that is the hallmark of Bach in Christmas mode.
Click CDs to play soundbites.
SDG 113 Volume 14 (1 cd) contains:
Cantatas for Christmas Day & for the Second Day of Christmas
BWV 91 - Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ
BWV 121 - Christum wir sollen loben schon
BWV 40 - Dazu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes
BWV 110 - Unser Mund sei voll Lachens
(recorded: St Bartholomew's, New York, 25 December 2000)
Soloists: Katharine Fuge | Joanne Lunn
Robin Tyson | William Towers
James Gilchrist | Peter Harvey
Monteverdi Choir | English Baroque Soloists | John Eliot Gardiner
Click
here for a French Translation of the sleeve notes.
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here for a German Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for the English sleeve notes.
The sixth release in John Eliot Gardiner’s Gramophone Award winning series of Bach Cantatas on his own label, is now available. The texts of the Cantatas for the Second Sunday after Epiphany describe a path from mourning to consolation, perfectly illuminated by Bach’s music - from the intense anxiety in the heart-stopping soprano arioso in the first movement of BWV 155 to the irresistible, dancing exuberance of the final aria. The two Cantatas for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany include BWV 81, perhaps the most vividly operatic of all Bach’s works, and this second disc is completed by two extras: BWV 26 for the Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity and the Motet BWV 227.
Click CDs to play soundbites.
SDG 115 Volume 19 (2 cds) contains:
Cantatas
for the Second Sunday after Epiphany
BWV 155 - Mein Gott, wie lang, ach lange?
BWV 3 - Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid I
BWV 13 - Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen
(recorded: Royal Naval College Chapel, Greenwich)
Soloists: Joanne Lunn | Richard Wyn Roberts
Julian Podger | Gerald Finley
Cantatas for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
BWV 81 - Jesus schläft, was soll ich hoffen?
BWV 14 - Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit
BWV 26 - Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig (for the Twenty-fourth Sunday after
Trinity)
Motet BWV 227 - Jesu, meine Freude
(recorded: Romsey, Abbey)
Soloists: Joanne Lunn | Katharine Fuge
William Towers | Paul Agnew | Peter Harvey
Monteverdi Choir | English
Baroque Soloists
John Eliot Gardiner
Click
here for a French Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for a German Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for the English sleeve notes.
The seventh release in John Eliot Gardiner’s Gramophone Award
winning series of Bach Cantatas on his own
label, is now available. It contains Bach’s two ‘test’ pieces for the job as
Cantor at St Thomas’s in Leipzig, BWV 22 & 23. The latter is particularly
ingenious and sophisticated. The first disc is rounded out by performances of
the musically complex and innovative BWV 127, and BWV 159 with its affinities
with the two Passions. Disc 2 contains Cantatas for three different Feast Days,
and includes BWV 54 with its spellbinding first aria, and the jubilant and opulently-scored
springtime Cantata BWV 1. Performances are as brilliant and inspired as those
of previous issues in this award-winning series.
Click CDs to play soundbites.
SDG 118 Volume 21 (2 cds) contains:
Cantatas
for Quinquagesima
BWV 22 - Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe
BWV 23 - Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn
BWV 127 - Herr Jesu Christ, wahr’ Mensch und Gott
BWV 159 - Sehet! Wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem
(recorded: Cambridge, King’s College Chapel)
Soloists: Ruth Holton | Claudia Schubert
James Oxley | Peter Harvey
The Choirs of Clare and Trinity Colleges, Cambridge
Cantatas for the Annunciation / Palm Sunday / Oculi
BWV 182 - Himmelskönig, sei willkommen (for Palm Sunday / Annunciation)
BWV 54 - Widerstehe doch der Sünde (for the Third Sunday in Lent - Oculi)
BWV 1 - Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern (for the Feast of the Annunciation)
(recorded: Walpole St Peter, Norfolk)
Soloists: Malin Hartelius | Nathalie Stutzmann
James Gilchrist | Peter Harvey
Monteverdi Choir | English
Baroque Soloists |
John Eliot Gardiner
Click
here for a French Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for a German Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for the English sleeve notes.
Recorded on Whit Sunday and Monday in 2000, these irresistible
cantatas display a whole range of moods: from the unalloyed optimism and exuberance
of BWV 172 to the tactful restraint of the opening of BWV 59. In the grand,
eight-movement BWV 74, Bach is clearly roused by imagery of Satan attempting
to curse and obstruct the believer, and introduces extreme modulations and jangling
cross-accents in the tenor aria. The alto aria in the same cantata stands out
for its graphic description of Hell, and Bach unapologetically borrows techniques
from the opera house to entertain a theatrically-deprived audience whilst serving
an impeccable theological purpose. The set also includes the superb BWV 34,
an exceptionally late work from the 1740s, with its enormously satisfying choral
overture, which generates colossal energy and elation in performance.
With brilliant performances from the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque
Soloists, this aptly-timed release is the ideal next instalment in what many
have already come to regard as the first choice of recorded Bach Cantata
series.
Click CDs to play soundbites.
SDG 121 Volume 26 (2 cds) contains:
Cantatas for Whit Sunday
BWV 34 - O ewiges Feuer, o Ursprung der Liebe
BWV 59 - Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten I
BWV 68 - Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt
BWV 74 - Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten II
BWV 172 - Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten!
BWV 173 - Erhöhtes Fleisch und Blut
BWV 174 - Ich liebe den Höchsten von ganzem Gemüte
(recorded: Long Melford, Holy Trinity Church)
Soloists: Lisa Larsson | Nathalie Stutzmann
Derek Lee Ragin | Christoph Genz | Panajotis Iconomou
Monteverdi Choir | English
Baroque Soloists |
John Eliot Gardiner
Click
here for a French Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for a German Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for the English sleeve notes.
The three cantatas for the 14th Sunday after Trinity are all based
on the Gospel reading of the day, the story of Jesus’ healing of ten lepers.
Prime examples of the humanism of Bach’s basic approach and the audacity of
his musical response, they include BWV 78, with its white-hot inspiration maintained
throughout. It opens with an immense choral lament of a scale, intensity and
expressive power that match the preludes of the two surviving Passions. The
highlight of BWV 17, following its exhilarating and florid opening choral fugue
and susequent arias, is the extended final chorale, delicate and poignant. The
Feast of St Michael and All Angels was marked by Bach by a profusion of dazzling
movements, including the breathtaking BWV 50. In BWV 130 God is praised for
creating the guardian angels to protect the believer, and in BWV 19 Bach uses
his brass instruments to represent the apocalyptic encounters in heaven between
St Michael with all his angels on one side and the devil on the other.
Click CDs to play soundbites.
SDG 124 Volume 7 (2 cds) contains:
(CD1) - Cantatas for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity
BWV 25 - Es ist nichts Gesundes an meinem Leibe
BWV 78 - Jesu, der du meine Seele
BWV 17 - Wer Dank opfert, der preiset mich
(recorded: Abbaye d’Ambronay)
soloists: Malin Hartelius | Robin Tyson | James Gilchrist | Peter Harvey
(CD2) - Cantatas for the Feast of St Michael and All Angels
BWV 50 - Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft
BWV 130 - Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir
BWV 19 - Es erhub sich ein Streit
BWV 149 - Man singet mit Freuden vom Sieg
(recorded: Bremen, Unser Lieben Frauen)
soloists: Malin Hartelius | Richard Wyn Roberts | James Gilchrist | Peter Harvey
The Monteverdi Choir | The English Baroque Soloists | John Eliot Gardiner
Click
here for a French Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for a German Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for the English sleeve notes.
This second special single-cd release for Christmas in the award-winning series
of recordings from the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, includes BWV 151, one of his
most intimate cantatas. Opening with a hauntingly beautiful and consoling soprano
aria, it has pre-echoes of both Gluck and Brahms. First heard on Boxing Day
1725, BWV 57 provides us with another opportunity to enjoy Bach, who never wrote
an opera, as the best writer of dramatic declamation since Monteverdi. His response
to the text is highly personalised, and sparing in its modest forces although
strongly expressive. A movement of infectious rhythmic élan, the opening chorus
of BWV 133 conveys the exuberance and sheer exhilaration of Christmas. The Monteverdi
Choir and The English Baroque Solists give their customary brilliant performances,
making this release the must-have issue of this year’s Christmas season.
Click CDs to play soundbites.
SDG 127 Volume 15 (1 cd) contains:
Cantatas for the Third Day of Christmas
BWV 151 - Süsser Trost, mein Jesus kommt;
BWV 133 - Ich freue mich in dir;
BWV 64 - Sehet, welch eine Liebe hat uns der Vater erzeiget
Cantatas for the Second Day of Christmas
BWV 57 - Selig ist der Mann
(recorded: New York, St Bartholomew’s Church)
Soloists: Gillian Keith | Katharine Fuge | Joanne Lunn
Robin Tyson | William Towers
James Gilchrist | Peter Harvey
The Monteverdi Choir | The English Baroque Soloists | John Eliot Gardiner
Click
here for a French Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for a German Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for the English sleeve notes.
The series goes from strength to strength with the eleventh release -
Easter Cantatas from Eisenach where Bach spent the first ten years of his life,
recorded in the church of St George where he was baptised and had been a chorister.
Eisenach is where "Bach meets Luther", with the latter also having sung here
and having penned his German translations of the New Testament while confined
in the Wartburg castle which overlooks the town. The performances recorded formed
part of a service where the sense of Easter as the pivotal feast of the Lutheran
liturgical year was palpable. Bach’s setting of Luther’s hymn Christ lag
in Todesbanden, BWV 4, is one of his earliest cantatas, a bold and innovative
piece of musical drama with, at its heart, a battle between the forces of life
and death from which the risen Christ emerges as victor. In seven verses and
drawing on medieval musical roots, Bach’s setting is evidence of his total identification
with the spirit and letter of Luther’s fiery, dramatic hymn, and this comes
across clearly in this moving performance. Alongside BWV 6 & BWV 31, this magnificent
set also includes BWV 66, a skilful adaptation of a lost birthday serenata for
Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, the joyous BWV 134, composed for Easter Tuesday of
1724 and the exuberant BWV 145.
Click CDs to play soundbites.
SDG 128 Volume 22 (2 cds) contains:
(CD1)
Cantatas for Easter Sunday
BWV 4 - Christ lag in Todesbanden
BWV 31 - Der Himmel lacht! die Erde jubliliert
Cantatas for Easter Monday
BWV 66 - Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen
(CD2)
BWV 6 - Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden
Cantatas for Easter Tuesday
BWV 134 - Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiss
BWV 145 - Ich lebe, mein Herze, zu deinem Ergötzen
(recorded: Eisenach, Georgenkirche)
Soloists: Angharad Gruffydd Jones | Gillian Keith
Daniel Taylor | James Gilchrist | Stephen Varcoe
The Monteverdi Choir | The English Baroque Soloists | John Eliot Gardiner
Click
here for a French Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for a German Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for the English sleeve notes.
With the twelfth release the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage moves on to Arnstadt,
where in 1703 an eighteen-year-old Bach was appointed organist of the Neue
Kirche. It is fitting that this new release opens with the astonishing
BWV 150 Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, now generally accepted to be
Bach’s very first church cantata and possibly composed for the Neue Kirche
at some stage during his time as organist. We enter a different world with BWV
67 Halt im Gedächtnis Jesum Christ. From the superb opening chorale
fantasia, the music vibrates with a pulsating rhythmic energy and a wealth of
invention. Evidently much thought went into the planning of this impressive
cantata, the first in a sequence of five leading up to Whit Sunday. Hard on
the heels of Bach’s magnificent cantatas for Low Sunday came three pastoral
cantatas all inspired by the twenty-third Psalm. Recorded during the opening
concert of the Festival International Echternach in the Grand Duchy
of Luxembourg, BWV 104 Du Hirte Israel, höre, from Bach’s first Leipzig
cycle, displays the clearest of aspiring, upward tonal designs. BWV 112 Der
Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt is a late addition to Bach’s chorale-cantata
cycle. All five verses of this superb cantata are tailored to the expression
of the text, the music imaginatively and cunningly conceived, an example of
Bach drawing on his experience and skill to articulate his religious convictions
and to exhort, stimulate and charm his listeners.
Click CDs to play soundbites.
SDG 131 Volume 23 (2 cds) contains:
Cantatas for the First Sunday after Easter
BWV 150 - Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich
BWV 67 - Halt im Gedächtnis Jesum Christ
BWV 42 - Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats
BWV 158 - Der Friede sei mit dir
Cantatas for the Second Sunday after Easter
BWV 104 - Du Hirte Israel, höre
BWV 85 - Ich bin ein guter Hirt
BWV 112 - Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt
(recorded: Arnstadt, Echternach)
Soloists: Katharine Fuge | Gillian Keith | Daniel Taylor
William Towers | Charles Daniels | Norbert Meyn | Stephen Varcoe
The Monteverdi Choir | The English Baroque Soloists | John Eliot Gardiner
Click
here for a French Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for a German Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for the English sleeve notes.
With the thirteenth release the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage moves
on to Köthen and Frankfurt. Bach
arrived in Köthen as 'Kapellmeister and director of our chamber music' in 1717.
Köthen provides one of the most cheerful programmes of the whole Trinity season.
After so many consecutive weeks of fire and brimstone comes the huge relief
of three genial, celebratory pieces. The opening chorus of BWV 69a Lobe den
Herrn, meine Seele is freely composed and on the grandest scale. Bach is
exultant, profiting from the colour contrasts available from the three groupings
of his orchestra (brass, woodwind and strings).
In 1725 Bach came up with another winner, BWV 137 Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen
König der Ehren It is a comparative rarity, his first cantata to have been
constructed as a series of chorale variations in over twenty years. The highlight
of the Frankfurt programme arguably is BWV 77 Du sollt Gott, deinen Herren
lieben. Once again Bach does not disappoint. Here is one of those breathtaking,
monumental opening choruses that defy rational explanation.
Click CDs to play soundbites.
SDG 134 Volume 6 (2 cds) contains:
Cantatas for the Twelfth Sunday Trinity
BWV 69a - Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele
BWV 137 - Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren
BWV 35 - Geist und Seele wird verwirret
Cantata for the Thirteenth Sunday Trinity
BWV 77 - Du sollt Gott, deinen Herren, lieben
BWV 164 - Ihr, die ihr euch von Christo nennet
BWV 33 - Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ
(recorded: Jakobskirche, Köthen & Dreikönigskirche, Frankfurt)
Soloists: Katharine Fuge | Gillian Keith | Nathalie Stutzmann | Robin Tyson
Christoph Genz | Jonathan Brown | Peter Harvey
The Monteverdi Choir | The English Baroque Soloists | John
Eliot Gardiner
Click
here for a French Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for a German Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for the English sleeve notes.
The fourteenth release was recorded at the 59th and final
concert in John Eliot Gardiner's triumphant year-long adventure, in a packed
- and hushed - St Bartholomew's New York. It opens with Bach's great double-choir
motet, Singet dem Herrn BWV 225. BWV 152 Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn
follows. Bach shapes this intimate chamber piece, scored only for soprano, bass
and six instruments, as a spiritual and musical journey.
BWV 122 Das neugeborne Kindelein, a chorale cantata composed in 1724
as part of Bach's second mini-Christmas cycle for Leipzig, is as close to the
traditional Christmas carol-like image of the infant Jesus as Bach ever got.
BWV 190 Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied! was composed for New Year's
Day 1724, of which the first two movements have had to be partially reconstructed
since only the voice lines and two violin parts survived. Between the psalm
verses Bach inserts two lines from Luther's vernacular version of the Te Deum
(1529). These he assigns to the traditional liturgical plain-chant delivered
in long notes by the choir in octaves, a technique of musical relief of which
he was a master - and which is hugely imposing in performance.
A year later, as part of his third Leipzig cycle, Bach presented BWV 28 Gottlob!
nun geht das Jahr zu Ende, a fitting title to sum up the parallel sense
of loss and fulfilment, relief and regret within the Monteverdi Choir and English
Baroque Soloists at the very end of a year-long, life-changing experience.
Click CDs to play soundbites.
SDG 137 Volume 16 (1 cd) contains:
Motet
BWV 225 - Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied
Cantatas for Sunday after Christmas Day
BWV 152 - Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn
BWV 122 - Das neugeborne Kindelein
BWV 28 - Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende
Cantata for New Year's Day
BWV 190 - Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied!
(recorded: St Bartholomew's, New York)
Soloists: Gillian Keith | Katharine Fuge | Joanne Lunn
Daniel Taylor | James Gilchrist | Peter Harvey
The Monteverdi Choir | The English Baroque Soloists | John
Eliot Gardiner
Click
here for a French Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for a German Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for the English sleeve notes.
The first of SDG's 2008 releases combines cantatas for Whit
Tuesday and Trinity Sunday. Brandenburg Concerto No.3 precedes the two surviving
Cantatas for Whit Tuesday. Pressed for time at the end of a busy Whit weekend
during his first year in Leipzig, Bach based BWV 184 Erwünschtes Freudenlicht
(1724) on a hasty revision of a lost Cöthen secular cantata. One might momentarily
mistake the second movement of this cantata as the origin of the celebrated
duet from Lakmé, before considering the long odds of Delibes ever having
clapped eyes on this obscure piece. The pastoral mood continues a year later
in BWV 175 Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen (1725). This is a more elaborate
work, the eighth of the nine consecutive texts Bach set by Christiane Mariane
von Ziegler.
Recorded in St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall after one of the more dramatic journeys
on the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, the first cantata for Trinity Sunday, BWV 165
O heil'ges Geist- und Wasserbad, was composed in 1715 in Weimar. It is
a true sermon-in-music, based on the Gospel account of Jesus' night-time conversation
with Nicodemus on the subject of 'new life'. A grand French-style overture heralds
the start of BWV 194 Höchsterwünschtes Freudenfest. The cantata seems
to have begun life as a secular Cöthen piece some time between 1717 and 1723,
and was then adapted for the dedication of the new organ at Störmthal (2 November
1723). The programme ends with the genial and uplifting work, BWV 129 Gelobet
sei der Herr, mein Gott.
Click CDs to play soundbites.
SDG 138 Volume 27 (2 cds) contains:
BWV 1048 - Brandenburg Concerto No.3
Cantatas for Whit Tuesday
BWV 184 - Erwünschtes Freudenlicht
BWV 175 - Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen
(recorded: Holy Trinity, Blythburgh)
Soloists: Lisa Larsson | Nathalie Stutzmann
Christoph Genz | Stephen Loges
Cantatas for Trinity Sunday
BWV 194 - Höchsterwünschtes Freudenfest
BWV 176 - Es ist ein trotzig und verzagt Ding
BWV 165 - O heil'ges Geist- und Wasserbad
BWV 129 - Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott
(recorded: St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall)
Soloists: Ruth Holton | Daniel Taylor
Paul Agnew | Peter Harvey
The Monteverdi Choir | The English Baroque Soloists | John
Eliot Gardiner
Click
here for a French Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for a German Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for the English sleeve notes.
The SDG's release of Bach Cantatas for the Fourth and Fifth Sundays
after Trinity opens with BWV 24 Ein ungefärbt Gemüte, recorded in Tewkesbury
Abbey as part of The Cheltenham Festival. A far earlier piece follows, BWV 185
Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe was composed in Weimar in 1715 to
a text by Salomo Franck and revived by Bach in Leipzig in 1723 and again in
1746/7. Strikingly different in mood is BWV 177 Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu
Christ, composed in 1732, a chorale cantata based on Agricola's hymn set
unaltered and with no recitatives.
The second CD was recorded in Mühlhausen, where a twenty-two year old Bach took
up his second professional post. It lasted for just one year, from June 1707
to 1708. This programme includes BWV 71 Gott ist mein König. There is
nothing else quite like Gott ist mein König in Bach's oeuvre. No other
work of his is laid out on such a grand scale in terms of its deployment of
four separate instrumental 'choirs', set against a vocal consort of four singers,
an optional Capelle of ripienists and an organ.
Click CD to play soundbites.
SDG 141 Volume 3 (2 cds) contains:
Cantatas for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity
BWV 24 - Ein ungefärbt Gemüte
BWV 185 - Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe
BWV 177 - Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ
(recorded: Tewkesbury Abbey)
Soloists: Magdalena Kozená | Nathalie Stutzmann
Paul Agnew | Nicolas Teste
Cantatas for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity
BWV 71 - Gott ist mein König
BWV 131 - Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir
BWV 93 - Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten
BWV 88 - Siehe, ich will viel Fischer aussenden
(recorded: Blasiuskirche, Mühlhausen)
Soloists: Joanne Lunn | William Towers
Kobie van Rensburg | Peter Harvey
The Monteverdi Choir | The English Baroque Soloists | John
Eliot Gardiner
Click
here for a French Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for a German Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for the English sleeve notes.
SDG's spring 2008 release combines Cantatas for the Fifth Sunday
after Easter with those written for the Sunday after Ascension Day. The first
set of Cantatas were recorded in Dresden. It was here that Bach had been crowned
unopposed keyboard champion in 1717, and also where the first two movements
of what we now know as the B minor Mass were first performed in 1733. The opening
cantata, BWV 86 Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch is a great example
of Bach's skill to reinforce religious texts and their meanings. The final piece
in the programme is BWV 97 In allen meinen Taten, a cantata without liturgical
designation first performed in 1734. It uses the haunting Heinrich Isaac hymn
tune 'Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen' in both its opening and concluding movements.
Recorded in Sherborne Abbey, BWV 150 Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich has
no specified liturgical designation but is particularly apt in the period between
Easter and Ascension. The two Leipzig cantatas Bach wrote for Exaudi share the
title Sie werden euch in den Bann tun. BWV 44 was composed as part of
Bach's first Leipzig cycle in 1724 and BWV 183 followed a year later. To balance
the performance of BWV 150, the disc ends with Johann Christoph Bach's five-voiced
motet Fürchte dich nicht. This is an uplifting programme recorded in
a perfect acoustic setting.
Click CD to play soundbites.
SDG 144 Volume 25 (2 cds) contains:
Cantatas for the Fifth Sunday after Easter
BWV 86 - Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch
BWV 87 - Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten in meinem Namen
BWV 97 - In allen meinen Taten
(recorded: Dresden)
Soloists: Katharine Fuge | Robin Tyson
Steve Davislim | Stephen Loges
Cantatas for the Sunday after Ascension Day
BWV 44 - Sie werden euch in den Bann tun I
BWV 150 - Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich
BWV 183 - Sie werden euch in den Bann tun II
Fürchte dich nicht - Johann Christoph Bach
(recorded: Sherborne)
Soloists: Joanne Lunn | Daniel Taylor
Paul Agnew | Panajotis Iconomou
The Monteverdi Choir | The English Baroque Soloists | John
Eliot Gardiner
Click
here for a French Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for a German Translation of the sleeve notes.
Click
here for the English sleeve notes.
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