BBC Music Magazine

SDG147 - Bach Cantatas Vol 5 (27 Nov 2008)

**** [4 stars]

The six pieces in this set belong to Bach’s Leipzig period, when they were performed on the Eighth and Tenth Sundays after Trinity. John Eliot Gardiner’s fervent approach to this music is evident above all in the many fine choruses, notably in those belonging to the chorale-based Cantatas BWV101 and BWV178. The last-mentioned begins with one of Bach’s most impressive chorale fantasias, in which Gardiner emphasises the declamation of the chorale melody with a vigour recalling Karl Richter’s. Gardiner, though, brings an altogether more poetic dimension to the music, especially in the arias which are lightly articulated and unashamedly allied to the dance rhythms on which they are often based.

The Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists are technically superb and expressive throughout: the opening chorus of Es ist der gesagt (BWV45), a wonderful concertante piece, is exhilarating in its crisp response to Bach’s supple vocal writing. The soloists are more variable. Christoph Genz is consistently rewarding, but Brindley Sherratt sounds rough-hewn and unfocused in BWV178. Though on stronger form in the dramatic bass arioso of BWV45 – one of the happiest moments for me in Bach’s entire oeuvre – he lacks commanding authority. Robin Tyson sings the intimately addressed alto aria of BWV45 with limpid eloquence, but is hard-edged in comparison with warner-sounding Daniel Taylor.

Despite such inconsistencies, Gardiner’s expressive range, unfettered by fashionable dogma, achieves compelling results on a level only intermittently achieved by rivals.

Nicholas Anderson