Bach Cantata Box Set: JEG

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Eagerly anticipating the Gardner Bach set tomorrow.

[hafod]

I see that Amazon are now offering it for £138 - that's a pretty good deal for 56 CDs.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bach-Cantata...rdiner+box+set

£116 at Hive (posted a few days ago on the Bargains thread).

http://www.hive.co.uk/cd/bach-cantatas/18015788/

[Keraulophone]

Now that Tarzan is no longer ruining Gramophone, one can peruse the rag less warily than hitherto, viz Alain de Botton's antipenultimate page article in which he reveals that his earliest experience of classical music was though his father, despite being an atheist, playing Bach Cantatas on the living room hifi every weekend.

Although de Botton has dubious things to say about other classical composers, he has an interesting slant on live vs recorded music, amongst other (pseudo-)philosophcal observations. 'Listening to CDs in cars is for me the very best way to take in music', he writes. (I recall Edward Greenfield enthusing about the novel experience of listening in his car to the Solti Ring, which had just been issued on cassette; this was in pre-Walkman days, and IIRC he was en route to Bayreuth.)

A de B's love of the Cantatas remains undimmed since his youth: 'The music of the [Bach] Cantatas is utterly enchanting, suggesting depths of passion and longing that seem to have no equivalents in the rest of life... If I had to choose a particulary favourite recording, it would have to be Nikolaus Harnoncout's played by Concentus Musicus Wien... but ...I have no desire ever to hear Harnoncout's ensemble live. What would be the point of sitting uncomfortably in a chair in a chapel, when I might be in a car speeding away to the Swiss uplands?'

Oh dear.

But I do have a soft spot for that pioneering Harnoncourt / Leonhardt set with male voiced choirs (initially including King's Cambridge), not least in Telefunken LP format complete with full miniature scores, having had their then new Ascension Oratorio (BWV 11) LP to hand when having the good fortune to study it as an A-level set work.

Re the JEG box, I think I'll pass, but continue to cherry-pick to add to those already acquired eg Ein feste Burg (Vol.10).

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

£116 at Hive (posted a few days ago on the Bargains thread).
http://www.hive.co.uk/cd/bach-cantatas/18015788/

Now you've really upset me.

[Bryn]

Now you've really upset me.

Not me though. Already having the earlier 22 disc Archiv box of "Sacred Masterpieces [and] Cantatas" I hesitated about getting this one but have now ordered from Hive. Many thanks for the tip, hafod.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

There's no need to gloat.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

But I do have a soft spot for that pioneering Harnoncourt / Leonhardt set with male voiced choirs (initially including King's Cambridge

I think that these performances stand the test of time extremely well, and, in many ways, still sets the standard for all later recordings. It remains the only version that uses boy soloists (the voices that Bach wrote for), and whilst a couple of them put the enamel on your teeth in danger, most of them have a charm and fragility that I find utterly beguiling: a couple, indeed, deliver performances that I find so touching that no adult soprano - not even the wonderful Ruth Holton - gets close. Bach really knew how to write for the voices at his disposal. And Paul Esswood is my favourite male alto in this repertoire.

[gurnemanz]

I think that these performances stand the test of time extremely well, and, in many ways, still sets the standard for all later recordings. It remains the only version that uses boy soloists (the voices that Bach wrote for), and whilst a couple of them put the enamel on your teeth in danger, most of them have a charm and fragility that I find utterly beguiling: a couple, indeed, deliver performances that I find so touching that no adult soprano - not even the wonderful Ruth Holton - gets close. Bach really knew how to write for the voices at his disposal. And Paul Esswood is my favourite male alto in this repertoire.

I recently got the Harnoncourt/Leonhardt set, as part of the Teldec Complete Bach on USB and have been enjoying dipping in to the Cantata recordings. I found an interesting interview with the Boy Alto, now Bass, Panito Iconomou, which includes the following comments on the use (or not) of boys for the alto part:

Why didn't you do Cantata BWV 169 that seems to be recorded at the same time as the BWV 168/177?

It’s funny because the only risk NH would have taken by “giving” me that cantata would have been incurring Paul Esswood’s wrath….. The only reason why us boy altos got a shot at recording cantatas at all was the fact that there were a lot of soprano/alto duets between BWV 163 and BWV 179 and NH wanted a well prepared “duo” if possible. There were several other solos for altos as well, and we got those after he had heard that Christian Immler and I were quite capable of singing the first couple of cantatas. That was the time, when we also got the solos in the St. John’s passion (BWV 245). Paul had recorded almost all alto solos up to date (with the exception of some by René Jacobs) so NH thought it was all right to record some with boys as well. He still kept the “cherries” (like BWV 169) for Paul, though and didn’t use another boy alto after 1986, when Christian’s and my voice broke. We two would remain the only boy altos to record several cantatas with NH.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

£116 at Hive (posted a few days ago on the Bargains thread).
http://www.hive.co.uk/cd/bach-cantatas/18015788/

I don't know what's happened in the intervening days, but that isn't the JEG box. So I've cheered up.

[Dave2002]

I don't know what's happened in the intervening days, but that isn't the JEG box. So I've cheered up.

So who's gloating now? Schadenfreude lives!

[Bryn]

I don't know what's happened in the intervening days, but that isn't the JEG box. So I've cheered up.

Where did you get that (dis)information?

The distributor is shown as Sdg and if you click on the first artist mentioned there (Joanne Lunn) it brings up illustrations of discs from the JEG series. A similar situation applies to the other two artists with links there.

[That said, the tack listing given at http://www.hive.co.uk/cd/bach-cantatas/18015788/ quite clearly does not match the 56 CD set - only 33 are shown and they start with BWV167, so not all is well with that page.]

[gurnemanz]

Also listed here

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Where did you get that (dis)information?

The distributor is shown as Sdg and if you click on the first artist mentioned there (Joanne Lunn) it brings up illustrations of discs from the JEG series. A similar situation applies to the other two artists with links there.

All I saw were Gilchrist recordings. The only similarity to the Gardiner appeared to be the number of CDs in the set. Even the release date was 14 days early.
However, I'm sure you are right.

[MickyD]

I think that these performances stand the test of time extremely well, and, in many ways, still sets the standard for all later recordings. It remains the only version that uses boy soloists (the voices that Bach wrote for), and whilst a couple of them put the enamel on your teeth in danger, most of them have a charm and fragility that I find utterly beguiling: a couple, indeed, deliver performances that I find so touching that no adult soprano - not even the wonderful Ruth Holton - gets close. Bach really knew how to write for the voices at his disposal. And Paul Esswood is my favourite male alto in this repertoire.

I couldn't agree more - I love the "warts and all" of these performances and treasure the handsome 60 CD box set I bought before it was brought out in the budget version.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well, the JEG box arrived this afternoon. So far, I've heard just one cantata - quite superb.