Something for a Friday: All of Bach

[Padraig]

All of Bach has returned. Hoorah. Today's offering . . .

Pastorella in F major – Bach

[french frank]

All of Bach has returned. Hoorah. Today's offering . . .

Pastorella in F major – Bach

Thank you, Padraig. I love these gentler organ works as a change from the thundrous roar.

[Padraig]

Thank you, Padraig. I love these gentler organ works as a change from the thundrous roar.

JSB nods his approval of the lamb, though he might possibly make reference to the tiger.

[Hitch]

Bach - Cantata: Es ist dir gesagt, Mensch, was gut ist, BWV 45. Recorded 9/3/23.

Notes from the All of Bach website:

"The words of the opening chorus of this cantata are imbued with Old Testament strictness. God has decreed what he demands of you: keeping to his word, being humble and practising love. So Bach – after a proclamation sung three times – writes a fugue, as he often does for texts about rules and laws. But he interrupts the fugue about the fact that God has spoken, interjecting the word ‘namely’ (nämlich), sung together, after which begins the enumeration of what God actually said. In this way, Bach emphasises cheerful and light-hearted obedience in this opening chorus, rather than sternness.

Bach himself had a reputation for not being a paragon of cheerful obedience at all. In 1717, he even spent a month in prison ‘due to his obstinate declaration’ (he had accepted a new job without permission). Later, this reputation also followed him to Leipzig. In 1730, part of his salary was docked ‘because the cantor is incorrigible’ (weil der Cantor incorrigibel sey). That may have been a moment for Bach to reflect on the tenor aria from this cantata, where we hear the warning: ‘obedience is rewarded: torment and scorn threaten if you transgress’.

In that case, he probably found some satisfaction in the second part of the cantata, which opens with a bass aria where Christ gives the false prophets a heated dressing-down (the text comes from the Gospel according to St Matthew): I never knew you: depart from me! The concept of obedience is thus refined: not everyone who says they obey God actually does so. In the apparently lenient closing aria, whose character is defined by a flute moving nobly forward, we also hear that those who merely pay lip service to God will “burn for all eternity”.

In retrospect, the customary “SDG” (soli Deo gloria) that Bach notated at the end of BWV 45 seems almost like a response to his earthly troublemakers: glory to God alone."

[Padraig]

Bach - Cantata: Es ist dir gesagt, Mensch, was gut ist, BWV 45. Recorded 9/3/23.

Thanks Hitch. Some new faces, some stalwarts, same great performances. Bass solo noted.

[Hitch]

Bach - Sonata in A minor, BWV 967. The harpsichordist is Emmanuel Frankenberg. Recorded 7th December 2021 and released today.

Notes from the All of Bach website:

"Not much is known about this work. It is not dated and neither is it part of a larger collection. Based on musical arguments, however, we can fortunately say something about it. It must be an early work; probably still from Bach’s time in Arnstadt - from 1703 to 1705. Bach was just twenty or so at the time, and his style was still developing. Eager to learn, he pounced on all the music he could find, whether it came from Northern Germany, Southern Germany, France or Italy. Many of Bach’s works from this period are style exercises.

This sonata is a style exercise in the Italian sonata form. Around 1700, Italian music was booming. All over Europe, musicians were enthralled by the daring harmonies, the flowing melody lines and the strong contrasts that Italy had to offer. So in this sonata, we find a couple of things that are very unusual for Bach. For instance, he goes easy on the rules of counterpoint – which Bach normally held sacred. The significance of this sort of work should not be underestimated. Much of what is heard here returns in the preludes of the Well-Tempered Clavier, for example."

[Hitch]

Bach - Cantata: Sei Lob und Ehr dem höchsten Gut, BWV 117.

Conductor (and violinist): Shunske Sato. Recorded on 21st June 2022 and released today.

Notes from the All of Bach website:

"The message of this cantata is a fairly general one, and one that was all too familiar to the devout church-goer in Bach’s day: praise and honour to him that created earth and mankind. Partly because of this, we can only guess at the precise occasion for which Bach wrote this cantata. However, it is clear that it was a festive one; maybe a wedding or a Thanksgiving service.

The words of the libretto are by Johann Jacob Schütz, who was one of the big men behind Pietism. This ‘religion of the heart’ was a Lutheran movement that arose in the seventeenth and eighteenth century as a reaction to the rigid dogmas of Protestantism. The ordinary man or woman had to be able to fully understand the hymns, and the most important thing was the individual experience of faith. The chorus ‘Gebt unserm Gott die Ehre’ contributes to this, repeatedly reminding the church-goer that our good fortune is thanks to God, and to him alone.

It is questionable whether Schütz would have agreed to Bach’s music, as Pietists preferred church music to be simple. But it is beyond doubt that Bach understood the meaning of the text. Each of the nine verses – this is one of Bach’s longer cantatas – has its own character. Even the repeated final sentence keeps recurring in a variation. The nine numbers are divided over three chorale arrangements, three recitatives and three arias – one for each soloist. The alto aria ‘Ich will dich all mein Leben lang’ has sometimes been described as one of Bach’s most inspired moments."

[Padraig]

Noted, Hitch, thank you. AoB site up again. Great performances once more from orchestra, chorus and soloists. I do miss hearing the contralto voice.

[Hitch]

Bach - French Suite no. 2 in C minor, BWV 813.

Harpsichordist: Pierre Hantaï. Recorded 29th June 2021, released 15th February 2024.

Notes from the All of Bach website:

"‘Every note in the right place’ – is what you sometimes hear about Bach’s music. That, of course, is the master’s trademark: the music sounds as if it’s just meant to be like that, and other notes are almost unthinkable. Yet we know that Bach’s music wasn’t written down perfectly all at once from his head. Bach, too, rewrote and changed things, and it was apparently sometimes a real struggle to find the ‘right place’ for all the notes.

This is seldom so clearly the case as in this second ‘French’ suite. The first two parts in particular – the Allemande and the Courante – exist in four or five successive versions. In both cases the earlier versions are shorter and more symmetrical, and they have other variants, like the occasional less complex bass line or simply different musical choices. Here and there, it is also apparent in the other parts of the suite how Bach changed his mind, albeit on a smaller scale.

Not just in the individual parts, but also in the form of the suite as a whole, Bach is torn between several ideas: one minuet, two minuets… or no minuet at all? The first version, notated by Bach in 1722 in the Klavierbüchlein for his new wife Anna Magdalena, initially had no Minuet. It was only later that he added a note that a minuet should be inserted at the end of the book. Some later sources have a second minuet as well, which is not unusual in Bach’s keyboard suites.

The earlier versions of this suite were already good, and if you heard them first, you would never think that some of the notes were not in the right place. Precisely because Bach wanted to make an improvement somewhere, the relationship of the whole shifted, so he felt the necessity to make adjustments elsewhere as well. Until all the notes – once again – were in the right place."

[Padraig]

Bach - French Suite no. 2 in C minor, BWV 813.

Harpsichordist: Pierre Hantaï. Recorded 29th June 2021, released 15th February 2024.

Caught it earlier, Hitch. Thank you. It's back up again on AoB site. Harpsichord pieces not my favourite listening - I prefer hearing the suites on the piano.

[Hitch]

Caught it earlier, Hitch. Thank you. It's back up again on AoB site. Harpsichord pieces not my favourite listening - I prefer hearing the suites on the piano.

Pianos are easier on the ears methinks but harpsichords sound well in cavernous church spaces. Here's to the next one.

[Hitch]

Bach - Cantata: Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn, BWV 1127.

Netherlands Bach Society cond. by Hans-Christoph Rademann. Soprano: Kristen Witmer. Recorded 10th March 2023, released 7th March 2024.

Notes from the All of Bach website:

"A cheerful work that was discovered just before it was lost forever.

A blessing in disguise. That is what you might call the survival of this strophic aria by Bach. The music was only discovered by a German musicologist in 2005, jotted down in Bach’s own hand on the last two blank pages of a short pamphlet from 1713 containing the printed text of the work.

The copy with Bach’s notes on it turned up in the Duchess Anna Amalia Library, in Weimar, the town where Bach was working in 1713. The poem in twelve strophes is a flattering occasional work for the duke’s birthday, and takes his motto as its starting point: “Everything with God and nothing without him”. The poem incorporates another clever trick, because if you take the first letter of a word in a set place in each strophe, they spell out the duke’s name “WILHELM ERNST”.

Bach thus tailored this piece. If he had performed it again during his lifetime, he would certainly have done something original with the acrostichon. Our recording of this piece was made possible by MWH4Impact. Hence, in this recording, we perform three stanzas centred on the letters M, W and H.

Bach’s cheerful music and key – he opted for C major – emphasise the festivity of the occasion. His chosen form, too, is rather more expansive (and thus more festive) than an ‘ordinary’ strophic aria, as those familiar to us from Schemelli’s Gesangbuch, for example. The voice is ushered in by an instrumental introduction, and instead of just a voice and basso continuo, each strophe ends with a refrain played by a full string ensemble.

So much for the blessing. And what about the disguise? The pamphlet in Weimar was temporarily removed from the library for restoration and research, along with similar occasional works. Shortly afterwards, in September 2004, a catastrophic fire reduced the library to ashes. After being lost for nearly three hundred years, Bach’s Alles mit Gott narrowly escaped never being discovered at all."

[Padraig]

Bach - Cantata: Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn, BWV 1127.

Netherlands Bach Society cond. by Hans-Christoph Rademann. Soprano: Kristen Witmer. Recorded 10th March 2023, released 7th March 2024

Many thanks, Hitch. I really enjoyed this Cantata and this performance. Soprano and ensemble working so well together. Some new younger faces noticed this week as well as the usual stalwarts led from the front by my favourite cellist. What a cluster of stellar performers they are, consistently excellent.

As it is March 7th, I thought I would share this spot with some contrasting music of a religious nature. Today is a feast day of Thomas Aquinas, the anniversary of his death. He is said to have composed this chant, sung in my school each March 7. I don't usually mention this, but I'm not just 'Padraig', as advertised, but 'Padraig A'. My father had high hopes for me. Sorry Pa.

Adoro te devote | Catholic music - YouTube

optional listening

[Hitch]

Thank you for the link, Padraig. I'm not sure Bach would tolerate non-denominationalism (now there's a word), but I'm fine with it. As for All of Bach - well, what a legacy the Netherlands Bach Society is creating.

[Hitch]

Bach - Cantata: Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen, BWV13.

Netherlands Bach Society conducted by Shunske Sato (also violin), Walloon Church, Amsterdam. Recorded on 27th August 2021, released 21st March 2024.

Notes from the All of Bach website:

"Christianity is one of the religions where suffering plays a main role: the suffering of Jesus on the cross, but certainly also the everyday suffering in our worldly life. Bach wrote this cantata for a date in the liturgical calendar that he associated strongly with suffering: the second Sunday after Epiphany. That is not immediately obvious, as the set sermon for this date concerns a cheerful miracle: Jesus turns water into wine at the Wedding at Cana. But Bach and his librettist read this as a metaphor for Jesus’s salvation, which will transform worldly suffering into heavenly bliss. So the aria comprises two parts. In the first part, Bach portrays the sorrow, and in the second the transcendence of the world.

Nevertheless, the emphasis here is on the suffering, as demonstrated by the title aria for tenor. Right from the start, this lament has an unusual instrumentation: two recorders and an oboe da caccia, a great uncle of the cor anglais, with a deeper register and a bittersweet timbre. Although the two recorders enter with the theme, the oboe da caccia goes on to play a leading role in the accompaniment. The part weaves itself in loops around the tenor part, like the fine decoration on an Arab relief. “My sighs, my tears, cannot be counted”, sings the tenor, approaching despair. The movement continues with an alto recitative, which has an impressive ending, where Bach stretches out the word “wenen” to unbearable lengths. The chorale that follows is a highlight. Bach borrows the melody from the Genevan Psalter. Bach lends colour to the sombre melody through a cheerful harmonic palette, thus imbuing it with ecstatic energy.

The second part remains subdued, but the text becomes more hopeful. Yet it is still made up largely by a rather grim aria for bass, in a minor key. It’s no use weeping and wailing, he says. That won’t help your grief at all. It’s cold comfort. The accompaniment from two recorders and violins in unison does lend liveliness to the whole, and the harmony even seems to hold a ray of hope. The accompaniment ascends at the end of phrases, and Bach briefly modulates to major, and in the middle section the harmony also shifts more in that direction. But the real comfort only comes in the closing chorale: the sincere belief that “it goes as it goes”(translated literally from the German), but that God always gives counsel, even in the most bitter of suffering."