BaL 11.06.16 - JS Bach: Cantata BWV198 'Laß, Fürstin, laß noch einen Strahl'

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

0930
Building a Library: Jonathan Freeman-Attwood recommends a recording of JS Bach's 'Funeral Ode' for the Queen of Poland BWV198 from among available versions.
This secular cantata was written on the death of Christiane Eberhardine, the Electress of Saxony and Queen of Poland, who was particularly beloved by the people of Saxony for her devotion to her Lutheran faith. Bach employed a rich orchestration and used what was reported to be an "Italian style" of composition. It is one of his very greatest cantatas and deserves to be much better known than it is.


Available versions:

Thomanerchor Leipzig & Gewandhaus Orchester, Georg Christoph Biller

Nancy Argenta (soprano), Giullemette Laurens (mezzo-soprano), Coro Radio Svizzera, Ensemble Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis (download)

Nancy Argenta, Michael Chance, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Stephen Varcoe, The Monteverdi Choir, The English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner

Ingird Schmithusen, Charles Brett, Howard Crook& Peter Kooy, La Chapelle Royale, Philippe Herreweghe

Rotraud Hansman, Helen Watts, Kurt Equiluz, Max van Egmond, Concerto Amsterdam, Monteverdi Chor Hamburg, Jurgen Jurgens

Lisa Larsson, Elizabeth von Magnus, Paul Agnew & Guy de Mey & Klaus Mertens, The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Ton Koopman

Jan Patrick O'Farrell, René Jacobs, John Elwes, Harry van der Kamp, Leonhardt-Consort, Collegium Vocale, Concentus Musicus Wien, Hanover Boys' Choir, Gustav Leonhardt

Ruth Holton, Sytse Buwalda, Knut Schoch, Bas Ramselaar,Holland Boys Choir, Netherlands Bach Collegium, Pieter Jan Leusink

Katharine Fuge, Carlos Mena, Jan Kobow, Stephan Macleod & Francis Jacob, Ricercar Consort, Philippe Pierlot

Arleen Augér, Aldo Baldin, Mechthild Georg, Philippe Huttenlocher, Gabriele Schreckenbach, Württembergisches Kammerorchester, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Gächinger Kantorei, Helmuth Rilling

Vienna Academy Chamber Choir, Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Hermann Scherchen

Carolyn Sampson, Joanne Lunn, Robin Blaze, Gerd Türk & Dominik Wörner, Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki

Leipziger Universitätschor, Pauliner Barockensemble, David Timm, Wolfgang Unger

[vinteuil]

... further details of recordings available here :

http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV198.htm

I like the Andrew Parrott / Taverner Consort very much :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0000062CX

[Nick Armstrong]

Just the Gardiner recording on Archiv here. Always up for new illumination on the Cantatas. Suzuki can be very good, Herreweghe usually is (especially in the less exuberant ones)... and the Parrott is tempting (seems to be readily available and deserving of a place in post #1 - must have been a relief after the Tchaikovsky list, Alpie )

[richardfinegold]

Chalk one up for Streaming vs CDs. I spent ten minutes trying unsuccessfully scanning the Suzuki series online to see which Volume of the 40 + CD series contains this work. After giving up in frustration it took one attempt to bring up multiple versions on Spotify.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

- must have been a relief after the Tchaikovsky list, Alpie )

Indeed it was.

I too have just one - the Rilling, in the Hanssler Complete Bach set. I have the JEG cantata set, but this one isn't in it.

[vinteuil]

Chalk one up for Streaming vs CDs. I spent ten minutes trying unsuccessfully scanning the Suzuki series online to see which Volume of the 40 + CD series contains this work. After giving up in frustration it took one attempt to bring up multiple versions on Spotify.

... well, it would have been frustrating - because bwv 198 does not feature in the 55 CDs of Suzuki's 'Bach Sacred Cantatas'

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01BXWH34E

- but it does feature as volume 6 of Suzuki's 'Bach Secular Cantatas'

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B019ZILMCC

I'm not sure why streaming wins out over CDs here - a google of bwv 198 and suzuki should find it...

[gurnemanz]

Small point on the list above: The Leonhardt recording is coupled here with BWV 199 which has soprano Barbara Bonney and conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt who are not on BWV 198, which has a boy soprano. I have it via the Teldec complete Bach on USB and very good it is.

The cantata was composed as a funeral ode for the wife of August the Strong, Elector of Saxony, at the request of the University of Leipzig and first performed in 1727 with Bach directing from the harpsichord in the Universitätskirche, a fact that will have poignant associations for Leipzigers, of whom my wife is one, because that fine church, having survived the war virtually intact was dynamited by the East German regime in 1968. Painful to watch video here.

[Pulcinella]

Small point on the list above: The Leonhardt recording is coupled here with BWV 199 which has soprano Barbara Bonney and conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt who are not on BWV 198, which has a boy soprano. I have it via the Teldec complete Bach on USB and very good it is.

The cantata was composed as a funeral ode for the wife of August the Strong, Elector of Saxony, at the request of the University of Leipzig and first performed in 1727 with Bach directing from the harpsichord in the Universitätskirche, a fact that will have poignant associations for Leipzigers, of whom my wife is one, because that fine church, having survived the war virtually intact was dynamited by the East German regime in 1968. Painful to watch video here.

Sadly, I found the boy soprano (from the Vienna Boys' Choir, presumably) rather painful to endure too, on listening to the Leonhardt recording recently, when I saw that the work was lined up for BaL.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Small point on the list above: The Leonhardt recording is coupled here with BWV 199 which has soprano Barbara Bonney and conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt who are not on BWV 198, which has a boy soprano.

Thank you. I was bit confused.

[BBMmk2]

Just the Gardiner recording on Archiv here. Always up for new illumination on the Cantatas. Suzuki can be very good, Herreweghe usually is (especially in the less exuberant ones)... and the Parrott is tempting (seems to be readily available and deserving of a place in post #1 - must have been a relief after the Tchaikovsky list, Alpie )

I haven't many JSB Cantatas, so this will be a good Bal for me, especially one so richly scored, as EA says. I like the sound of those ones you have mentioned, Cali, so
maybe they'll be in the final mix? :)

[richardfinegold]

... well, it would have been frustrating - because bwv 198 does not feature in the 55 CDs of Suzuki's 'Bach Sacred Cantatas'

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01BXWH34E

- but it does feature as volume 6 of Suzuki's 'Bach Secular Cantatas'

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B019ZILMCC

I'm not sure why streaming wins out over CDs here - a google of bwv 198 and suzuki should find it...

I'm at work, listening to the Spotify in the background...it's a new work for me, as the only Suzuki discs that I have must come from the 'Sacred' pile

[Pulcinella]

I haven't many JSB Cantatas, so this will be a good Bal for me, especially one so richly scored, as EA says. I like the sound of those ones you have mentioned, Cali, so
maybe they'll be in the final mix? :)

Without detracting in any way from the sterling work Alpie does, BBM, I think you'll find that the 'blurb' comes from the R3 schedule website!
That's why he sometimes has to distance himself from it.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Without detracting in any way from the sterling work Alpie does, BBM, I think you'll find that the 'blurb' comes from the R3 schedule website!
That's why he sometimes has to distance himself from it.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Just a reminder about this BaL tomorrow.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

JF-A started with an interesting point - the cantata is neither wholly secular nor wholly sacred.