Bach Cantatas - What's a good entry point?

[Simon]

82 & 147 would be my recommendations to start with. But so many are sublime. What pleasure you have to come!

[JFLL]

Two which I particularly like, and aren't too well-known, are no. 34 (O ewiges Feuer) and no. 70 (Wachet! Betet!). The opening choruses in particular give a good idea of how exciting the cantatas can be – not at all the dreary stuff that people used wrongly to imagine the cantatas were. Incidentally, Gardiner said at a concert at the Cadogan Hall a year or two back that Robert Levin calls no 70 "Watch it! Beat it!".

[jayne lee wilson]

A very special collection, often overlooked among debates on performance style, is Fritz Werner's series with the Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra, with many fine soloists - and Maurice Andre's splendidly distinctive trumpet. What marks these out is their expressive intensity, the evident love and dedication the performers have for the repertoire. Anyone who admires Hermann Scherchen's approach to this music will be among friends here!
I return to them frequently, and they're packaged in 2 10-disc sets on Warners.

[jean]

I love no. 50 - Nun ist das Heil -a huge double chorus and nothing else, great fun to sing but often disappointing to listen to because it's so dense and complex.

[Thropplenoggin]

Thanks to all for the wealth of recommendations you have given me for both cantatas and recordings. I shall let you know how my odyssey proceeds.

[johnb]

A very special collection, often overlooked among debates on performance style, is Fritz Werner's series with the Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra, with many fine soloists - and Maurice Andre's splendidly distinctive trumpet. What marks these out is their expressive intensity, the evident love and dedication the performers have for the repertoire. Anyone who admires Hermann Scherchen's approach to this music will be among friends here!
I return to them frequently, and they're packaged in 2 10-disc sets on Warners.

I totally agree with you, but with the proviso that anyone expecting HIPP is likely to be disappointed.

[vinteuil]

A very special collection, often overlooked among debates on performance style, is Fritz Werner's series with the Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra, with many fine soloists .... What marks these out is their expressive intensity, the evident love and dedication the performers have for the repertoire. .

... but, as an amazon reviewer (who otherwise liked these recordings) put it :

"listeners accustomed to today's standards of period performance practice will find the predominantly legato phrasing, lack of appropriate ornamentation, and flabby rhythmic articulation disconcerting"

[Nick Armstrong]

What a wonderful snippet I heard on Breakfast this morning, the opening chorus of "Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit" BWV 115 by Suzuki and the Japanese forces: gorgeous, chromatic, spine-tingling stuff!

Further to the above, catching the Suzuki reading sent me back to the recording I have of BWV 115 - what a pleasure!

I earnestly recommend anyone to acquire Christophe Coin's performance, along with two other cantatas... and with Herr Scholl in there as a bonus. Wonderful heartfelt, intimate interpretations: good value too on amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...ZH9K55J9SQHXG1

[johnb]

... but, as an amazon reviewer (who otherwise liked these recordings) put it :

"listeners accustomed to today's standards of period performance practice will find the predominantly legato phrasing, lack of appropriate ornamentation, and flabby rhythmic articulation disconcerting"

I quite like legato phrasing! Sometimes HIPP practitioners overdo the chuggy-chuggy, etc.

The Werner recordings won't please everyone but there is a lot to enjoy in those two boxed sets.

[ardcarp]

#2

The Gonnewein performances are not at all HIPP, but that doesnt bother me at all.

No, strictly they're not, but Gonnenwein espoused many of HIPP's virtues ahead of his time. His performance of No 106 Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (a very early cantata despite its number) is simple yet very moving. Alas, I guess it's also not on CD.

[JFLL]

#2

No, strictly they're not, but Gonnenwein espoused many of HIPP's virtues ahead of his time. His performance of No 106 Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (a very early cantata despite its number) is simple yet very moving. Alas, I guess it's also not on CD.

Yes!!! I've been looking for a CD or download of his no. 106 for years, and have to make do with a rather lo-fi off-air recording. Tip me the wink if you find one.

[jayne lee wilson]

... but, as an amazon reviewer (who otherwise liked these recordings) put it :

"listeners accustomed to today's standards of period performance practice will find the predominantly legato phrasing, lack of appropriate ornamentation, and flabby rhythmic articulation disconcerting"

...yes, and whoever said that was, very audibly, wrong on all counts! Ignore them. A little learning etc.

Evidently someone who thinks that "today's standards of performance practice" is some kind of absolute touchstone, that "spirit" doesn't matter if all the "letters" are there.