Favourite Bach Cantatas

[richardfinegold]

Sixteen hours since the last comment, I think this is a Thread that deserves a "bump".

Four years ago, finally reaching the end of my patience with all breakfast Radio, I started listening to the Bach Cantatas first thing each morning (well, not quite "first", but ... ): one Cantata each week, it very soon took the place of late afternoon listening, too - so, over the years, I have managed to hear most of the Cantatas about twenty times each (double that in cases where different recordings duplicated works that I already had in other performances) - and still have 63 to go!

What has struck me over this time is that there has not been one work that hasn't failed to surprise and delight me with its melodic, harmonic and Tonal inventiveness and expressivity, or the range of formal/structural devices, the mastery of instrumentation, the pacing and placing of ensemble balance. The more I get to know these works, the greater their entrancement. Against all odds, Bach (working to write one every week for three years alongside other works and his directing and teaching duties) pulled off the impossible and created masterpiece (and if that overused word has any meaning, it is here - these pieces are masterly constructions of a masterly imagination and sensitivity) after masterpiece. Here it isn't "heresy" to suggest that any "tend towards the routine", but ignorance.

Now, it may possibly be the case that I've been incredibly lucky, and that the "routine-tendors" all appear within the 63 I don't know yet. But, if it is "inescapable" that "some of these works are decidedly lesser in stature to the truly monumental ones" (and leaving aside the assumption that "the truly monumental" infers "greater" stature) I would be interested in hearing what criteria would lead an attentive listener "inescapably" to such a "decision".

For myself, I would recommend anyone to pick any Cantata at random and live with it for a week - and then repeat the experience with another. (The six Cantatas of the Christmas Oratorio are as good a place to begin as any) - Life, the Universe and everything will appear 42 times better as a result.

Great post, ferney, and much appreciated. I knew that there would be a strong objection to me suggesting that some of these works of somewhat routine sounding in relation to the really great ones. I have this impression when I listen to a few discs at a time; inevitably some of the works seem like valleys nestled amongst Alpine Peaks, but such valleys can also have their splendor. I do think that your idea of concentrating one one work at a time, and not absorbing many of them at one crack, is a good one. Perhaps I will try to focus on the works that will be presented in the aforementioned Church series for a week prior to their actual performance.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Great post, ferney, and much appreciated. I knew that there would be a strong objection to me suggesting that some of these works of somewhat routine sounding in relation to the really great ones. I have this impression when I listen to a few discs at a time; inevitably some of the works seem like valleys nestled amongst Alpine Peaks, but such valleys can also have their splendor. I do think that your idea of concentrating one one work at a time, and not absorbing many of them at one crack, is a good one. Perhaps I will try to focus on the works that will be presented in the aforementioned Church series for a week prior to their actual performance.

[bluestateprommer]

Perhaps a slightly gauche hijacking of this thread, as I'm not at all an aficionado of JSB cantatas, and thus don't really have a 'favorite' among them to post about here. But this is as good a thread as any to post about my most recent live JSB cantata experience, the first in a very long time, even w/o the pandemic. On an out-of-town trip, I caught a noontime concert by the Washington Bach Consort, which featured first a solo organ concerto, JSB's BWV 596, an arrangement of a Vivaldi work, followed by BWV 25, "Est ist nichts Gesundes an meinem Liebe". I took a seat in the back of the church, without realizing that I was to get an earful of organ in the opening work, as my seat was quite close to the organ pipes. Jinsun Cho, the organist, did a very fine job (and my ears didn't ring too much more than normal from the experience).

For BWV 25, the choir numbered 8 (2 each S:A:T:B) and the orchestra numbered 17. The performance was good and solid, again given that I'm a Bach cantata ignoramus. Noteworthy pandemic practices for the performance were that:
* The strings and organist all had masks.
* When the choir sung as a group, they kept their masks on. They stood in front of the orchestra when singing, understandably enough.
* However, when the tenor, bass, and soprano soloists had their solo moments, then each singer de-masked. (If memory serves, the bass didn't immediately re-mask after finishing his solo and then sitting down. But he re-masked in time for the final chorale.)

In terms of the audience and COVID:
* Proof of vaccination with ID was required at the church entrance.
* Audience cell phone #'s were taken down for contact tracing.
* Masks were mandatory for the audience during the performance and inside the church.

Per the pre-performance welcome, this was apparently the first set of live get-together performances by the Washington Bach Consort with an audience since the start of the pandemic. I recall words to the effect of "isn't it great that we're all together, live and vaccinated?".

It was a fair hike from the Metro station to get to the church. (Interesting how the walk back always feels shorter, on the second experience.) But it was well worth it, a very nice way to spend noontime in DC.

[gurnemanz]

The great thing about these cantatas is that there are so many of them that the discovery of new favourites or re-discovery of old favourites is always possible. No 81 Jesus schläft, was soll ich hoffen? from Harnoncourt on the Teldec complete set was my lucky random choice last Sunday morning. Also an excellent video from Netherlands Bach Society

[ardcarp]

I'll nominate BWV 106 'Actus Tragicus'

I'm a bit late replying to a post from 2014! But BWV 106 (Gottes Zeit) is also one of may favourite cantatas, for the following reasons:

1. The recorders, as mentioned
2. The wonderfully soul-searing viol da gamba
3. Because of its early date, the less sectionalised and more continuous structure
4. The fairly brief but glorious bass and tenor solos
5. The soprano solo in Ja Komm Herr Jesu which ends 'up in the air'. Absolutely unique for JSB.

[richardfinegold]

I didn’t remember this thread at all. For whatever reason Bach Cantatas just haven’t been a part of my life lately and this thread stimulates me to go back there. Have there been any significant cycles since Suzuki? The only candidate that springs to mind is JEG

[hmvman]

I didn’t remember this thread at all. For whatever reason Bach Cantatas just haven’t been a part of my life lately and this thread stimulates me to go back there. Have there been any significant cycles since Suzuki? The only candidate that springs to mind is JEG

Worth checking the Netherlands Bach Society 'All of Bach' project: https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/allofbach There are some very fine cantata performances here, beautifully recorded and filmed.

[rauschwerk]

Bach's cantatas for the feast of St Michael are very striking. BWV130 has a splendid bass aria with trumpets and drums which depicts the war in Heaven.

[Padraig]

Worth checking the Netherlands Bach Society 'All of Bach' project: https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/allofbach There are some very fine cantata performances here, beautifully recorded and filmed.

I remember ferney describing his strategy of playing one a week. I tried that but never got near the finishing line. In any case I have found that that might be the wrong objective; the Cantatas, like much music in general, I best enjoy when I come upon them by chance. The All of Bach programme is a mid point between completism and serendipity, which suits me fine.

[ardcarp]

Worth checking the Netherlands Bach Society 'All of Bach' project: https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/allofbach There are some very fine cantata performances here, beautifully recorded and filmed.

from me too. I hugely admire Jos van Veldhoven (Director until recently, I think) who always had such a good rapport with his players and singers, never pushing the music where it didn't want to go.

[Dermot]

Many years ago, I was a regular attender at the Sunday afternoon performances of Bach cantatas, organised and conducted by John Beckett, which were held in St Ann's Church, Dublin. Before each cantata was performed, the conductor gave a brief introduction to the work. One Sunday, cantata 30, Freue dich, erloste Schar, was to be performed. In his introductory talk, Mr Beckett described the aria beginning, Kommt, ihr angefochtnen Sünder, as ''delicious''. It certainly is and is music that always makes me want to dance with joy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr1mZ98RiJo

[jonfan]

I didn’t remember this thread at all. For whatever reason Bach Cantatas just haven’t been a part of my life lately and this thread stimulates me to go back there. Have there been any significant cycles since Suzuki? The only candidate that springs to mind is JEG

Suzuki is peerless in the cantata stakes IMHO, not only in the fine quality of performance and sound but that he believes in what is being sung and played. There are two new fine Suzuki Passion recordings that are very much superior to his previous efforts, the St John being recorded at Cologne just before lockdown in 2020.
If there’s one cantata to take to a desert island it’s BWV 127 and if there’s one aria from that then it’s Carolyn Sampson singing ‘Herr Jesu Christ, wahr’ Mensch und Gott.’

[ostuni]

Yes, that soprano aria from Cantata 127 is very lovely (incidentally, its text begins 'Die Seele ruht in Jesu Händen’: 'Herr Jesu Christ is the opening chorus). It's one of many cantatas that, as a baroque flute/recorder player, I've been fortunate enough to play over the years. Incidentally, thinking of Dermot's #26, the first Bach cantatas I played in were under John Beckett's direction, in the mid-1970s - a wonderful musician, and unforgettable character!

[ardcarp]

BWV 82

https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-82/?gclid=CjwKCAjw2bmLBhBREiwAZ6ugo95V73Lp42W7yd0cVPBQniXpBHvCAaV4ON5fFkAA0d_5PBf9dZjVYBoC3lUQAvD_BwE

is one of my faves.