Jitka Čechová SMETANA Piano Works

Born in Mělník near Prague, she received her basic musical training from Prof. Jan Novotný at the Prague Conservatoire and from Prof. Peter Toperczer at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts. Her individual musical gifts were then developed to their full during postgraduate studies under Eugen Indjic in Paris and Vitali Berzon in Freiburg. She acquired further experience during her research studies at master classes given by R. Kehrer in Weimar, E. Indjic and L. Berman in Piesťany, and Avo Kuyumjian in Prague.

Jitka Čechová has won prizes in the following international competitions: "Virtuosi per musica di pianoforte" in Ústí nad Labem (1986); the Smetana Competition in Hradec Králové (1986, 1988 and 1990); the Chopin Competition in Mariánské Lázně (1987 and 1989); and the Johann Nepomuk Hummel Competition in Bratislava, Slovakia (1991).

She has made a name for herself as a soloist, both in recitals and with orchestras, on podiums across Europe (in Austria, France, Germany, Scotland, Spain, Bulgaria, England, Slovakia) and also in South Africa. She played two extremely successful concerts with a special programme by Smetana at the International Festival in Edinburgh in 1998. She performed with the Munich Symphony Orchestra, with the South-Western Radio Symphony Orchestra, with Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, with the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK (Prague Spring Festival), Prague Chamber Philharmonia and many others Czech orchestras.

During a concert tour of Germany with the South-Western Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by P. Altrichter she premiered a piano concert that Zdeněk Lukás had composed for her, achieving spectacular success with both audiences and the critics.

Chamber music is an indispensable component of Jitka Čechová's musical identity. She brings a full emotional commitment to bear to her role as pianist in the Smetana Trio, supported by the brilliant technical basis of her solo metier. Within the Smetana Trio partnership (Jana Nováková - violin, Jan Páleníček - cello) she also plays duets with violin or cello and performs solo pieces as part of the Trio's chamber music repertoire.

Jitka Čechová records CDs for the Intercord, Supraphon, BMG, Koch International, Lotos and Cube companies. Her latest recording for the latter company were CDs with music by Liszt, Lukás, Shostakovich, Saint-Saëns, Dvořák, Smetana and Martinů.

Bedrich Smetana (1824 - 1884)

1.Macbeth. Sketch to a scene Macbeth and the Witches by William Shakespeare [9:13]

2.Curious. Transcription of the Song by Franz Schubert [4:16]
3.Ballvision (A Ball Scene in Polka Form) [4:06]
4.Bettina´s Polka in C major (1. version) [3:25]
5.Concerto Etude in C major [5:28]
Memories of Bohemia in Polka Form, Op. 12
6. Polka in A minor [2:39]
7.Polka in E minor [6:02]
Memories of Bohemia in Polka Form, Op. 13
8.Polka in E minor [2:09]
9.Polka in E flat major  [5:40]
10.On the Seashore. Concert Etude in G sharp minor, Op. 17 [5:11]
11.Concert Fantasy on Czech folk Songs [8:56]

2005 Supraphon a.s.
1 CD DDD
SU 3841-2

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VIVA! Simone Kermes sings VIVALDI

In recent years German soprano Simone Kermes has been the sensation of press and public with her Vivaldi recordings. Here is a single CD compilation of highlights from her two solo Vivaldi recordings on Archiv Produktion, Amor Sacro and Amor Profano.

Of Amor Profano, Opera magazine wrote: "Kermes's distinctive voice has an appealing smoothness and roundedness of tone... an intensely dramatic personality at work... super-precise coloratura...Kermes's technique is something to marvel at"; and Gramophone summed up: Amor profano is a role model of how a Baroque opera arias recital disc should be put together - with proper research, affection for the composer, and top-notch artistry".

Equally brilliant at Vivaldi is the Venice Baroque Orchestra directed by Andrea Marcon who also recorded a number of Vivaldi recordings for Archiv. They are a perfect accompaniment for Simone Kermes.

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741)

Nulla in Mundo Pax Sincera
1. Larghetto "Nulla in mundo pax sincera" [7:25]
2. Recitativo "Blando colore oculos mundus decepit" [1:15]
3. Allegro (Aria) "Spirat anguis inter flores" [3:10]
4. Allegro "Alleluia" [2:02]
L'Olimpiade, RV725
adapted by Andrea Marcon
Act 2
5. Siam navi all'onde [6:46]
Semiramide (RV 733)
6. Quegl' occhi luminosi (adapted by Andrea Marcon) [5:06]
Tito Manlio
adapted by Andrea Marcon
Act 2
7. Combatta un gentil cor [4:34]
8. La farfalletta (adapted by Andrea Marcon) [6:47]
In furore, R.626
9. 1. In furore iustissimae (Allegro) [5:09]
10. 2. Miserationum Pater (Recitativo) [0:59]
11. 3. Tunc meus fletus (Largo) [7:42]
12. 4. Alleluia (Allegro) [1:33]
Vivaldi: Orlando furioso RV 728
adapted by Andrea Marcon
Act 2
13. Ah fuggi rapido [2:28]
Il Giustino
adapted by Andrea Marcon
Act 3
14. Or che cinto ho il crin d'alloro [3:36]
Griselda - dramma per musica
adapted by Andrea Marcon
15. Agitata da due venti [5:31]
Catone in Utica
adapted by Andrea Marcon
Act 1
16. Se in campo armato [6:30]

Simone Kermes
Venice Baroque Orchestra
Andrea Marcon

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Gardiner BACH Cantatas Vol. 20

Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima were marked in the Lutheran liturgy – and in the Catholic Church also - as the three Sundays before the rigours of the season of Lent began.

Bach’s cantatas for Quinquagesima Sunday, also known as “Esto mihi”, were contained in Volume 21 of this series. This latest instalment includes all the surviving cantatas for the previous two Sundays.

For Septuagesima Sunday the Pilgrims visited the fifteenth century church of St. Vitus in the Dutch city of Narden. This venue had particular resonances for one of the soloists, Wilke te Brummelstroete. In the booklet she writes that it was in this selfsame church that, as a young singer, she was a member of the chorus of the Dutch Bach Society in their annual performance of St. Matthew Passion - the first time she’d sung in the work - and “a dream was born to sing there one day as a soloist.”

We can hear that dream come to fruition in BWV 144, a cantata from Bach’s first Leipzig cycle. After the vigorous fugal opening chorus, which is clearly and crisply delivered, the alto aria ‘Murre nicht, Liebster Christ’ allows us to enjoy Miss te Brummelstroete’s firm toned voice. This aria is like a stately minuet and she sings it with fine feeling. The other aria in the cantata falls to the soprano. The opening line of ‘Genügsamkeit ist ein Schatz in diesem Leben’ translates as “Contentedness is a jewel in this life” and Bach provides suitably beguiling, easeful music, including a flowing oboe d’amore obbligato. Miah Persson’s performance is a delight.

Miss Persson is even more to the fore in BWV 84 for, apart from the concluding chorale, this is for solo soprano. It begins with an aria in E minor in which the embellishments of the oboe obbligato intertwine delectably with the solo voice, providing a perfect foil to the singer. John Eliot Gardiner describes the piece as “wistful, resigned, elegiac even?” It’s a lovely aria and it’s expressively delivered. By contrast the second aria is joyful and nimble and features a playful double obbligato of oboe and violin. The music – and the performance – bears a smiling countenance. Miss Persson also impresses with her delivery of the two recitatives in this cantata, singing them lightly but with an evident feeling for the meaning of the words. I like also the treatment of the chorale, which is sung quietly and unaccompanied, thereby achieving an appropriately understated intensity.

BWV 92 is longer than the other two cantatas put together. It is based on a twelve-verse seventeenth-century hymn and is cast in no less than nine movements. Unlike the other two cantatas, the text of this piece bears no direct relation to the Gospel for the day, which related the parable of the labourers in the vineyard (Matthew 20. 1-16) Instead the text of this cantata contains what Alfred Dürr calls a “general admonition to acquiesce in whatever God sends in the way of joy or suffering.”

The cantata opens with a substantial chorale fantasia to which a pair of oboi d’amore makes a pungent contribution. There follows what Gardiner refers to as “an audacious experiment” by Bach in the form of a movement for bass in which the soloist sings strophes of the hymn, interrupting himself no less than nine times with glosses on the text in the form of free recitative. The soloist is Jonathan Brown, a member of the Monteverdi Choir, and he and Gardiner weld what might be a ramshackle structure into a convincing whole. Later on, in the seventh movement, Bach repeats the experiment in a different way. This time the chorale, richly harmonised, is sung by the choir and the interpolations are entrusted to all four soloists in turn, starting with the bass and ascending to the soprano.

Before that we hear one of Bach’s jagged, uncomfortable tenor arias, ‘Seht, seht! wie reisst, wie bricht, wie fällt’ (‘See, see, how all things snap, break, fall’). This is done by James Oxley, previously heard in Volume 21. He’s incisive and projects strongly music that Gardiner aptly describes as “impressive, but deliberately unlovely.” By contrast, the final aria in the cantata is a pastoral piece, the mood of which Dürr categorises as “cheerful, peaceful serenity.” It’s a bewitching piece in which the soprano soloist is accompanied by an oboe d’amore and pizzicato strings. Miah Persson’s performance is radiant.

The following week the Pilgrims had crossed the North Sea, returning to England and to Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire. Bach left us three cantatas for Sexagesima Sunday and, in Gardiner’s words, each of them is “characterised by his vivid pictorial imagination, an arresting sense of drama, and by music of freshness and power that lodges in the memory.”

BWV 18 is a Weimar cantata, probably composed in 1713. The original scoring was unusual in that Bach dispensed with violins completely and instead wrote no fewer than four separate viola lines as well as basso continuo. A revision in 1724 saw the addition of a pair of recorders and it’s this later scoring that’s used here. In the opening sinfonia the pleasing contrast between the husky violas and the piping recorders is immediately apparent. The third movement is a most original conception. The tenor and bass soloists each have two passages of recitative, sung alternately, each one of which is followed by a short passage in which the choir sings lines from Luther’s litany known as the German Prefatory. The second recit for tenor, arrestingly delivered by James Gilchrist, is especially dramatic. There’s only one aria, which is brightly sung by Gillian Keith. The accompaniment is interesting as all the violas play in unison with the recorders doubling their line at the octave. Described like that, it doesn’t sound very interesting but in fact the contrast in timbres has a piquant fascination.

The title of BWV 181 must rank as among the strangest in all the cantatas. Dürr translates it as “Frivolous flutter-spirits” but even better, I think, is the rendition by Richard Stokes, which is used in the booklet. He comes up with “Frivolous flibbertigibbets.” The Gospel for the day (Luke 8. 4-15) is the parable of the Sower and the reference in the cantata’s title is to the fickle folk who, like birds, devour the seed that falls on the ground. Dürr states that the scoring originally omitted wind instruments but that flute and oboe parts were added for a revival sometime between 1743 and 1746. Gardiner includes these instruments.

The cantata opens with an admonitory bass aria, commandingly sung by Stephan Loges, which includes a reference to the fallen angel Belial. Almost every volume in this series seems to yield at least one particularly choice phrase from Gardiner’s notes. Writing of this aria, which he describes as “a witty, Hitchcockian evocation”, he says this: “It could almost serve as a soundtrack to a cartoon film; a gaggle of flighty, giggly teenage girls being bounced out of a nightclub by Belial and his henchmen.” The third movement is a tenor aria, of which Gilchrist gives a biting performance. The obbligato part, thought to be for violin, is lost and Dürr suggested that, though it might be possible to compose a replacement, “the result could not be expected to accord even approximately with Bach’s intentions” since the manuscript offers meagre clues. Well, for this performance Robert Levin composed an obbligato and I have to say that whilst I wouldn’t claim a fraction of Dürr’s scholarship, the ensuing result sounds completely convincing to me. The exuberant final chorus is something of a display piece, uniting all the forces and adding the festive touch of a trumpet part. Was this Bach permitting himself one last bit of indulgence before the austerities of Lent?

I wouldn’t dissent from Gardiner’s judgement that BWV 126 is “a stunning, combative work.” The text is drawn from a variety of sources and is a real statement of how embattled are the adherents of Lutheranism in what was a turbulent world. In the very first movement, a chorus, Luther’s words translate as follows:

Uphold us, Lord, in Thy Word
And fend off murderous Papists and Turks
Who wish to topple Jesus Christ,
Thy son, from his throne.

Thus the tone for the whole cantata is set. In this movement Bach is at his most energetic and dynamic with the addition of a trumpet imparting a martial flavour to the music, as do the scintillating driving rhythms. The following tenor aria, ringingly sung by James Gilchrist, isn’t too hectic at the start but before long Bach introduces volleys of semi- and demisemiquavers into the vocal line. Gilchrist is equal to Bach’s demands but I do wonder if the music isn’t just too elaborate for its own good.

The subsequent bass aria tests both the soloist, Stephan Loges, and also his partner, David Watkins, who has a fiendishly angry cello obbligato to play. Dürr rightly observes that “a truly Old Testament zeal against the enemies of the things of God” pervades this obbligato. Both singer and cellist project this powerful aria strongly. At the end of this fire and brimstone cantata comes a two-verse chorale, which is a heartfelt plea for peace and good governance. The Monteverdi Choir sings it with ample expression and the final Amen is glowing. This is quite an extraordinary piece. So far as I am aware there was no political or religious instability in Leipzig or its environs at this time and one wonders what impelled Bach to compose such a piece – or his anonymous librettist to compile such a text.

The standards of performance and presentation are as high in this latest instalment of Gardiner’s cantata cycle as they have been in previous issues. The series continues its impressive progress. (John Quinn, MusicWeb International)

Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750
For Septuagesima
Nimm, was dein ist, und gehe hin BWV 144
1. Coro Nimm, was dein ist, und gehe hin
2. Aria: Alt Murre nicht, lieber Christ
3. Choral Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan
4. Recitativo: Tenor Wo die Genügsamkeit regiert
5. Aria: Sopran Genügsamkeit ist ein Schatz in diesem Leben
6. Choral Was mein Gott will, das g’scheh allzeit
Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Glücke BWV 84
1. Aria: Sopran Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Glücke
2. Recitativo: Sopran Gott ist mir ja nichts schuldig
3. Aria: Sopran Ich esse mit Freuden mein weniges Brot
4. Recitativo: Sopran Im Schweiße meines Angesichts
5. Choral Ich leb indes in dir vergnüget
Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn BWV 92
1. Coro (Choral) Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn
2. Choral e Recitativo: Bass Es kann mir fehlen nimmermehr!
3. Aria: Tenor Seht, seht! wie reißt, wie bricht, wie fällt
4. Choral: Alt Zudem ist Weisheit und Verstand
5. Recitativo: Tenor Wir wollen nun nicht länger zagen
6. Aria: Bass Das Brausen von den rauen Winden
7. Choral e Recitativo: Sopran, Alt, Tenor, Bass Ei nun, mein Gott, so fall ich dir
8. Aria: Sopran Meinem Hirten bleib ich treu
9. Choral Soll ich denn auch des Todes Weg

For Sexagesima
Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt BWV 18
1. Sinfonia
2. Recitativo: Bass Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt
3. Recitativo e Litania: Tenor, Bass Mein Gott, hier wird mein Herze sein
4. Aria: Sopran Mein Seelenschatz ist Gottes Wort
5. Choral Ich bitt, o Herr, aus Herzens Grund
Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister BWV 181
1. Aria: Bass Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister
2. Recitativo: Alt O unglücksel’ger Stand verkehrter Seelen
3. Aria: Tenor Der schädlichen Dornen unendliche Zahl
4. Recitativo: Sopran Von diesen wird die Kraft erstickt
5. Coro Lass, Höchster, uns zu allen Zeiten
Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort BWV 126
1. Coro (Choral) Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort
2. Aria: Tenor Sende deine Macht von oben
3. Recitativo e Choral: Alt, Tenor Der Menschen Gunst und Macht
wird wenig nützen
4. Aria: Bass Stürze zu Boden, schwülstige Stolze!
5. Recitativo: Tenor So wird dein Wort und Wahrheit offenbar
6. Choral Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich

2009 Monteverdi Productions Ltd
2 Compact Discs
Volume 20 SDG 153

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Gardiner BACH Cantatas Vol. 19

John Eliot Gardiner's "Bach Pilgrimage" has had its rough spots and its brighter moments, this two-disc set being among the latter, owing much to its strong vocal soloists and distinctive, distinguished instrumental playing. Typically, the performances were recorded live, this time in two very fine venues--England's Old Royal Naval College Chapel in Greenwich, and Romsey Abbey, Hampshire. These six cantatas are primarily vocal soloist vehicles, but they also feature some of Bach's more colorful uses of instruments, including bassoon (the alto/tenor duet in BWV 155), oboe d'amore (BWV 3), recorders (BWV 81), and oboe da caccia (tenor aria in BWV 13), as well as his formidable flair for the dramatic, theatrical, and picturesque, from storms at sea to rushing, cascading water to rising mists, and of course, the matchless musical evocations of pain, grief, longing, and joy.

For the most part, Gardiner eschews personalizing Bach's creations--except for the very slow bass aria in BWV 13, magnificently (and bravely) sung by Gerald Finley, and the odd, overly emphatic chorale singing--and the results are very satisfying, sensibly-paced, carefully balanced interpretations of these rarely heard (and recorded) Epiphany cantatas. As mentioned, the soloists are uniformly fine, and the orchestra, with little rehearsal time during this project, admirably demonstrates its long-standing expertise in Bach and in baroque style. Gardiner apparently felt sorry for the little-used choir, so he added to the concerts the motet Jesu, meine Freude BWV 227, the most difficult of Bach's works in this genre--and interestingly, this is the one spot where more rehearsal would have been beneficial. The "all-about-me" liner notes from Gardiner's journal offer occasional worthwhile insights into his interpretive choices, and the sound is very good, with only occasional audience noise. (David Vernier)

Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750

For the Second Sunday after Epiphany
Mein Gott, wie lang, ach lange? BWV 155
1. Recitativo: Sopran Mein Gott, wie lang, ach lange?
2. Aria (Duetto): Alt, Tenor Du musst glauben, du musst hoffen
3. Recitativo: Bass So sei, o Seele, sei zufrieden!
4. Aria: Sopran Wirf, mein Herze, wirf dich noch
5. Choral Ob sich’s anließ, als wollt er nicht
Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid I BWV 3
1. Coro (Choral) Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid
2. Recitativo e Choral Wie schwerlich lässt sich Fleisch und Blut
3. Aria: Bass Empfind ich Höllenangst und Pein
4. Recitativo: Tenor Es mag mir Leib und Geist verschmachten
5. Aria (Duetto): Sopran, Alt Wenn Sorgen auf mich dringen
6. Choral Erhalt mein Herz im Glauben rein
Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen BWV 13
1. Aria: Tenor Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen
2. Recitativo: Alt Mein liebster Gott lässt mich annoch
3. Choral: Alt Der Gott, der mir hat versprochen
4. Recitativo: Sopran Mein Kummer nimmet zu
5. Aria: Bass Ächzen und erbärmlich Weinen
6. Choral So sei nun, Seele

For the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig BWV 26
(For the Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity)
1. Coro Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig
2. Aria: Tenor So schnell ein rauschend Wasser schießt
3. Recitativo: Alt Die Freude wird zur Traurigkeit
4. Aria: Bass An irdische Schätze das Herze zu hängen
5. Recitativo: Sopran Die höchste Herrlichkeit und Pracht
6. Choral Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig
Jesus schläft, was soll ich hoffen? BWV 81
1. Aria: Alt Jesus schläft, was soll ich hoffen?
2. Recitativo: Tenor Herr! warum trittest du so ferne?
3. Aria: Tenor Die schäumenden Wellen von Belials Bächen
4. Arioso: Bass Ihr Kleingläubigen, warum seid ihr so furchtsam?
5. Aria: Bass Schweig, aufgetürmtes Meer!
6. Recitativo: Alt Wohl mir, mein Jesus spricht ein Wort
7. Choral Unter deinen Schirmen
Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit BWV 14
1. Coro Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit
2. Aria: Sopran Unsre Stärke heißt zu schwach
3. Recitativo: Tenor Ja, hätt es Gott nur zugegeben
4. Aria: Bass Gott, bei deinem starken Schützen
5. Choral Gott Lob und Dank
Motet: Jesu, meine Freude BWV 227
Jesu, meine Freude
Es ist nun nichts Verdammliches
Unter deinem Schirmen
Denn das Gesetz des Geistes
Trotz dem alten Drachen
Ihr aber seid nicht fleischlich
Weg mit allen Schätzen!
So aber Christus in euch ist
Gute Nacht, o Wesen
So nun der Geist
Weicht, ihr Trauergeister

2006 Monteverdi Productions Ltd
2 Compact Discs
Volume 19 SDG 115

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You can download here: CD One / CD Two

Gardiner BACH Cantatas Vol. 18

This last pair of discs actually takes us back to the very beginning of the journey, presenting Christmas and Epiphany music given in the two cities most closely associated with Bach before we move on to Hamburg.

As well as their performances of some Christmas cantatas, Gardiner and his team began the pilgrimage in Weimar with splendid performances of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, which were captured on a DVD, which has been available for some time. Unsurprisingly the same quartet of fine soloists that featured in those performances were involved in the Christmas Day festivities that open the first disc in this present set.

 It would be hard to imagine a more positive start to the proceedings than the jubilant opening chorus of BWV 63, a cantata that was probably first heard in this very city of Weimar. The attack of the Monteverdi Choir is thrilling: “Christians etch this day in metal and marble” is the opening exhortation and these singers truly inspire the listener with their enthusiasm. Here Bach conveys the joy of Christmas superbly and the choir responds wholeheartedly. Bernarda Fink, who sings so beautifully in the contemporaneous account of Christmas Oratorio, produces a warm tone in a deeply expressive rendition of the recitative that follows, making one regret that this disc represents her sole contribution to the Cantata Pilgrimage. A little later she and Christoph Genz combine to excellent effect in the duet aria ‘Ruft und fleht den Himmel an’ and before that Claron McFadden and Dietrich Henschel also afford much pleasure in the duet ‘Gott, du hast es wohlgefüget’. The closing chorus, festive with trumpets, is really exciting: here Bach and the performers pull out all the stops.

The Christmas Day programme also included BWV 191. Though this isn’t a cantata it more than justifies its place. It’s an adaptation of three sections from the Gloria of the B Minor Mass, which was probably arranged by Bach for a special service of thanksgiving in Leipzig on Christmas Day 1745. The first movement, ‘Gloria in excelsis’ is substantially the same as the corresponding section from the Mass. Then comes what is more familiar in the Mass as the duet ‘Domine Deus’, followed by the chorus ‘Cum Sancto Spiritu’ In these two movements Bach adapts the music from the B Minor Mass, not entirely successfully, to fit Latin words. The whole performance is a joy but the final movement, ‘Sicut erat in principio’, is especially remarkable. The music is exuberant enough but Gardiner’s singers and players deliver it with such zest that one is just swept along on the flood tide. The fugal section – ‘et nunc et semper’ – is exhilarating and one can only marvel at the articulation of Bach’s writing by the singers. What a start to the Pilgrimage!

 For the Feast of Epiphany the scene shifts to Leipzig. BWV 65 is a very fine cantata and it’s done really well here. The opening chorus is superbly sung and played. Later on the tenor aria, ‘Nimm mich dir zu eigen hin’, is orchestrated with great richness by Bach and James Gilchrist gives a distinguished account of the vocal line. His tone is firm and he gives a pleasing lift to the rhythms. This performance offers a foretaste of the way in which he was to become a cornerstone of the whole project along with Peter Harvey, who excels in the bass aria ‘Gold aus Ophir ist zu schlecht’.

Gilchrist and Harvey are also to the fore in BWV 123. The tenor aria, ‘Auch die harte Kreuzesreise’, anticipating the Crucifixion, strikes a mood of “almost unbearable pathos” in Gardiner’s words. James Gilchrist’s voice is ideal for this music, which he sings with great eloquence especially in the high-lying passages at the top of so many of Bach’s phrases. The bass aria, ‘Lass, o Welt, mich aus Verachtung’, is completely different, benefiting hugely from the simple, withdrawn style that Peter Harvey brings to it.

The next stop on the Pilgrimage was Hamburg where a trio of cantatas for the First Sunday after Epiphany was heard. Alfred Dürr draws attention to the “striking directness” of Bach’s writing in BWV 154. James Gilchrist was on duty again and he’s commanding and impassioned in the opening aria, though here and there I thought I detected that the playing of the EBS string players wasn’t quite unanimous. The cantata is slightly unusual in that, though it’s not in two parts, there’s a chorale in the middle, forming the third movement; this is in addition to the usual concluding chorale. Michael Chance, who made surprisingly few appearances during the project, is on hand for the alto aria, ‘Jesu, lass dich finden’, which he sings well. He then joins with Gilchrist in the penultimate movement, the optimistic duet aria, ‘Wohl mir, Jesus ist gefunden.’

There are two particularly noteworthy features in BWV 124. One is the extraordinarily ornate oboe d’amore part that courses through the opening chorus. The other is the tenor aria, ‘Und wenn der harte Todesschlag’. Here, as Sir John puts it, Bach “opens his locker to unleash a torrent of dramatic effects to portray the ‘fear and terror’ that accompanies ‘the cruel stroke of death’.” The result is a theatrical, wide ranging aria of which James Gilchrist is fully the master. He receives magnificent support from the oboe d’amore player (Marcel Ponseele?).

The final offering in the programme is BWV 32, which is another of Bach’s dialogues between the Soul (soprano) and Jesus (bass). It begins with a beseeching soprano aria, enriched by a deeply felt oboe obbligato. Claron McFadden sings it most impressively. In the bass aria, ‘Hier, in meines Vaters Stätte’, Peter Harvey is completely convincing as Vox Christi while in the dialogue recitative that follows both singers offer some really characterful singing – sample Miss McFadden’s delivery of the passage beginning ‘Wie lieblich ist doch deine Wohnung’. Before the choir sings the chorale the dialogue culminates in a duet in which the Soul and Jesus are joyfully reunited. Here, as Gardiner says, Bach “seems to throw caution to the winds”. The music is life-enhancing and both singers communicate it vividly. Sir John tells us that this number had to be repeated as an encore and I’m not surprised. It’s good that there’s a concluding chorale to end what is the final disc in this series to be released, as it enables The Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists to have the last word at the end of yet another excellent set of cantata performances.

It’s with very mixed feelings that I contemplate the end of this series of Bach cantata discs. I’m sorry that the conclusion has been reached and I shall miss the arrival of another pair of discs in their distinctive and stylish packaging. But, putting that aside, the response must be one of celebration and admiration. There are several other good Bach cantata cycles available, not least those by Koopman and Suzuki and it’s clear from what I’ve read of those two cycles – and the limited sampling I’ve done of Suzuki’s - that both are considerable achievements in their own right. But this Gardiner series is unique, being the product of a year-long journey around Europe and featuring live performances, albeit with some editing. I’m lost in admiration for the commitment and sheer physical stamina of the musicians, to say nothing of the prodigious musicianship that produced, often under demanding conditions and tight time constraints, such consistently expert and convincing performances. And it’s important to remember that, even for seasoned performers such as these, much of the music will have been completely new to them. Each one of these releases has included in the booklet a short essay by one of the performers describing their reactions to the Pilgrimage and it’s abundantly clear that the venture made a profound impression on them and enriched them, not just musically but spiritually as well.

While on the subject of the booklets it’s right to mention that the documentation has been exceptional, especially the notes. Actually, the word “notes” is almost demeaning. The essays by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, taken from the contemporaneous journal that he compiled during the pilgrimage, have been consistently illuminating and stimulating. More than that, time and again he’s proved himself adept at finding just the right phrase to describe the music. I’d say he’s done for the Bach cantatas, albeit at a shorter length, what Graham Johnson did for Schubert lieder with his notes accompanying the Hyperion Schubert song CDs. I hope Sir John’s journal will be published in book form one day.

Sir John has been well served by his soloists throughout the enterprise. In what is a very much a personal and subjective choice, my favourite soprano soloists have been Katharine Fuge, Magdalena Kožená and Joanne Lunn. The alto soloists have been a little more variable but the highly contrasted voices of Nathalie Stutzmann and Robin Tyson have offered great pleasure. Several very fine tenor soloists have graced the proceedings, including Paul Agnew and Mark Padmore, though James Gilchrist has made the strongest impression of all. Among the basses Peter Harvey has been the stand-out performer, though I was glad to encounter Gotthold Schwarz, a singer I’d not heard before.

The soloists tended to come and go throughout the Pilgrimage but The Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists have been ever-present, albeit there have been some changes to personnel in their ranks from time to time. To them fell the task of mastering fresh material – much of it previously unknown to them – nearly every week for a full year. Given the technical difficulty of much of the music it is a colossal achievement, both individual and collective, that the standard of performance has remained so consistently high, especially when one factors in the issues of travelling and the problems inherent in rehearsing and performing in so many different venues, many of which were scarcely designed for concert-giving, even by relatively small forces.

Despite the avalanche of music and the criss-cross travelling throughout Europe – and to New York at the very end – there’s never been any feeling of undue haste or superficiality about these performances. You never get the feeling “Today’s Sunday, it must be Belgium – and such-and-such a cantata”. As I said, each of the volumes has included a short essay by one of the performers, all of which have been interesting and enlightening. A sense of camaraderie has come out time and again and, even more so, a sense of their humility before Bach’s genius. It was particularly instructive, however, to read the comments by Katharine Fuge (Vol. 9) in which she related that each week the performers received not only their music for the forthcoming week’s concerts but also photocopies of the scriptural readings prescribed for that Sunday’s liturgy and “notes giving us the context of Bach’s life at the time each cantata was written. Perhaps we would learn that a particularly fine trumpeter had been in town or, more poignantly, that one of his children had recently died.” That attention to detail and the determination that these were to be much more than a series of concerts goes a long way to explaining why this series of recorded performances seems so often to penetrate to the heart of what this wonderful music is about.

This isn’t quite a complete cantata cycle. Some cantatas were issued, either in live or studio performances by DG Archiv and those have been omitted from the SDG series, presumably for contractual reasons. I append a list of the cantatas concerned. There aren’t that many and I believe that the recordings can still be bought as DG Archiv issues. However, I hope that in due course it will be possible for SDG to release them under their own imprint. (John Quinn, MusicWeb International)

DISC 1

Christen, atzet diesen Tag, BWV 63
Recitative: O selger Tag! O ungemeines Heute! (Alto)
Aria: Gott, du hast es wohl gefuget (Soprano, Bass)
Recitative: So kehret sich nun heut das bange Leid (Tenor)
Aria: Ruft und fleht den Himmel an (Alto, Tenor)
Recitative: Verdoppelt euch demnach (Bass)
Chorale: Hochster, schau in Gnaden an (Chorus)
Gloria in excelsis Deo, BWV 191
Gloria in excelsis Deo (Chorus)      
Duet: Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui sancto (Soprano, Tenor)
Sicut erat in principio (Chorus)      
Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen, BWV 65
Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen (Chorus)
Chorale: Die Kon'ge aus Saba kamen dar (Chorus)
Recitative: Was dort Jesaias vorhergesehn (Bass)
Aria: Gold aus Ophir ist zu schlecht (Bass)
Recitative: Verschmahe nicht, du meiner Seele Licht (Tenor)
Aria: Nimm mich dir zu eigen hin (Tenor)
Chorale: Ei nun, mein Gott, so fall ich dir (Chorus)
Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen, BWV 123
Recitative: Die Himmelssussigkeit, der Auserwahlten Lust (Alto)
Aria: Auch die harte Kreuzesreise (Tenor)      
Recitative: Kein Hollenfeind kann mich verschlingen (Bass)      
Aria: Lass, o Welt, mich aus Verachtung (Bass)
Chorale: Drum fahrt nur immer hin, ihr Eitelkeiten (Chorus)
     
DISC 2
Mein liebster Jesus ist verloren, BWV 154                
Aria: Mein liebster Jesus ist verloren (Tenor)
Recitative: Wo treff ich meinen Jesum an (Tenor)
Chorale: Jesu, mein Hort und Erretter
Aria: Jesu, lass dich finden (Alto)
Arioso: Wisset ihr nicht, dass ich sein muss (Bass)
Recitative: Dies ist die Stimme meines Freundes (Tenor)      
Aria: Wohl mir, Jesus ist gefunden (Alto, Tenor)      
Chorale: Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht      
Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht, BWV 124
Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht (Chorus)
Recitative: Solange sich ein Tropfen Blut (Tenor)      
Aria: Und wenn der harte Todesschlag (Tenor)
Recitative: Doch ach! Welch schweres Ungemach (Bass)
Aria: Entziehe dich eilands, mein Herze, der Welt (Soprano, Alto)      
Chorale: Jesum lass ich nicht von mir (Chorus)
Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen, BWV 32
Aria: Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen (Soprano)
Recitative: Was ist's, dass du mich gesuchet? (Bass)
Aria: Hier, in meines Vaters Statte (Bass)
Recitative: Ach! heiliger und grosser Gott (Soprano, Bass)
Aria: Nun verschwinden alle Plagen (Soprano, Bass)      
Chorale: Mein Gott, offne mir die Pforten (Chorus)

2010 Monteverdi Productions Ltd
2 Compact Discs
Volume 18 SDG 174

You can buy it on Amazon
You can downloas here: CD One / CD Two

Gardiner BACH Cantatas Vol. 17

Though this is Volume 17 in the cycle we are taken right back to the start of the Pilgrimage. After splendid performances of the Christmas Oratorio in the Herderkirche, Weimar immediately before and after Christmas 1999, which have been available on DVD for some time (see review), the Pilgrimage really began in earnest with these concerts in Berlin as the new year, and the new millennium, began.

There are six surviving Bach cantatas for New Year’s Day, including Fallt mit Danken, fallt mit Loben, the fourth cantata of the Christmas Oratorio. Another one, the jubilant Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied! BWV190, was given in the very last concert of the Pilgrimage and was included in Volume 16 (see review). On this CD Gardiner gives us the other four New Year cantatas.

BWV 143 probably dates from 1708 and as such is a Mühlhausen cantata, though there are some doubts as to whether or not the music is actually by Bach. Alfred Dürr’s judgement is that the work is “perhaps a little colourless in invention”. It’s interesting to note that, unlike the other three New Year’s Day cantatas included here, the text bears no real relation to the Epistle or Gospel readings appointed for the day in the Lutheran liturgy. The orchestra includes timpani and three horns. The two key soloists are the tenor and the bass and it’s interesting to see that the singers here, James Gilchrist and Peter Harvey, were also involved in the very last concerts of the Pilgrimage, twelve months later. As we’re discovering with the progressive releases of the CDs, both singers were to be cornerstones of the whole venture and on their respective showings in this concert it’s not hard to see why.

The tenor has two arias in BWV143. Gilchrist does well in the first of them, ‘Tausendfaches Unglück, Schrecken’, but the second aria, ‘Jesu, Retter deiner Herde’, is even better suited to his voice and he spins its long vocal lines seamlessly. The short bass aria, in which the orchestra’s three horns join, is dispatched imperiously by Harvey. The cantata concludes with a vigorous chorus, which is excitingly done by the Monteverdi Choir, though it doesn’t seem to me to represent Bach at his extrovert best.

There’s nothing “colourless” about BWV41, which is a superb cantata. The orchestral scoring is even more resplendent than that for BWV143. In place of the three horns Bach employs three trumpets and he adds a trio of oboes to the mix. It begins with a huge choral fantasia, aptly described by Gardiner as having “epic sweep”. The chorale melody is in the soprano line, while below and around it Bach weaves a virtuoso display of vocal counterpoint. The Monteverdi Choir is quite superb in this movement, with the festive trumpets and drums adding great brilliance. Around the midway point Bach unexpectedly interpolates a short section of slower, more reflective music, which is a masterstroke. This is swiftly left behind in an exciting display of fugal pyrotechnics before Bach returns to his opening material to conclude this astonishing, thrilling movement.

There’s no anti-climax, however, for the stream of invention continues with a delectable pastoral soprano aria, charmingly sung by Ruth Holten and decorated by the oboes. Dürr gives the translation of the first two lines of this aria as

Let us, O highest God, so complete the year
That the end may be like the beginning

Bach’s wonderful music fits this lovely idea like a glove. The tenor aria ’Woferne du den edlen Frieden’, winningly sung by Gilchrist, features a fine obbligato for violoncello piccolo. . The instrumental part is splendidly done but, even so, it’s Gilchrist’s clear, expressive singing that particularly catches the ear. The bass recitative that follows is interesting on account of the brief, vehement interjection by the choir of the phrase ‘Den Satan unter unsre Füsse treten’ (“Let Satan be trodden under our feet”), which Gardiner perceptively suggests was Bach’s way of “voicing the whole congregation’s New Year resolution.” The exultant finale chorale is decorated by fanfares from the trumpets and drums. This fine cantata receives a stirring performance.

BWV 16 was first heard one year later, in 1726. As Gardiner says, it is “concise and pithy” and it’s the most modestly scored of the cantatas we’ve heard thus far. Despite its relative brevity there are some notable movements. One such is the aria ‘Lasst uns Jauchzen, lasst uns freuen’, a forthright piece in which the excellent Peter Harvey and the choir combine to good effect. The tenor aria ‘Geliebter Jesu, du allein’ features an oboe da caccia obbligato and one relishes the contrasting timbres of voice and instrument. The text is a heartfelt expression of trusting faith, beautifully echoed in Bach’s music, and Gilchrist puts the aria across marvellously.

To conclude we are offered BWV171. This seems to begin in media res, as Bach plunges into an energetic fugal chorus without so much as a note of instrumental introduction. Two violins weave a dancing obbligato round the tenor aria ‘Herr, so weit die Wolken gehen’. This piece provides a stern test for James Gilchrist’s breath control but he passes the examination with ease. The soprano aria ‘Jesus soll mein erstes Wort’ is a parody of a movement from Bach’s secular cantata BWV205. Gardiner isn’t quite as convinced as Alfred Dürr that the transfer works, feeling that the revised word underlay doesn’t quite fit the music. What does work, without doubt, is Ruth Holton’s light airy singing. In the closing chorale Bach reprises the fanfares with which he burnished the corresponding movement in BWV41. Gardiner suggests in his notes that this was a reminder to the Leipzig congregation of the music Bach had previously given them. I have to say I do wonder how many of the good burghers of Leipzig would have had such good memories.

In the year 2000 the Sunday after New Year fell on the very next day so there was no rest for the Pilgrims. If their programme for that day looks short this is because only two cantatas for that Sunday have survived so that the audience were also treated to two cantatas from Christmas Oratorio. Gardiner points out the almost seismic shift of mood as compared with New Year’s Day but this is perhaps not surprising since the Gospel for the day relates the Massacre of the Innocents and the Flight into Egypt.

BWV 153 is in many respects a turbulent cantata. The opening chorus is vehement – in Gardiner’s words it seems as if it “should be delivered as a collective shout or clamorous plea, upbraiding God”. Certainly the Monteverdi Choir attacks the music vigorously. Later comes a searing tenor recitativo, after which the second chorale comes as something of a respite. But the respite is short lived for the tenor aria that follows, ‘Stürmt nur, stürmt, ihr Trübsalsweter’ (“Rage then, rage, affliction’s storms”) is a fiery piece that would not have been out of place in one of Bach’s Passions. In the subsequent bass recitative, splendidly articulated by Harvey, Bach and his librettist start to change the mood to one of solace and confidence in Christ, but not before the grim reality of Herod has been confronted. The more tranquil mood continues in the dance-like alto aria ‘Soll ich meinen Lebenslauf’. This is warmly sung by Sally Bruce-Payne, a singer who I don’t think we’ve encountered in previous volumes. The cantata ends with a three-verse chorale, which is delivered in a delightfully sprightly fashion.

BWV 58 is a most economic cantata, requiring only soprano and bass soloists and modest instrumental forces. This was probably a deliberate and pragmatic decision by Bach in order to give a rest to his choristers after the vocal rigours of Christmastide and before the impending celebration of Epiphany. The resulting cantata is one of those in which the bass is cast as vox Christi while the other soloist, on this occasion the soprano, represents the Soul. The cantata has the same title as BWV3, a cantata for the Second Sunday after Epiphany, encountered already in Volume 19 (see review). This is because both include some words from the same sixteenth-century Lutheran hymn by Martin Moller. It seems that BWV58, though it probably originated in 1727, only survives in a revision dating from 1733 or 1734. One of the best sections of the cantata, the aria ‘Ich bin vergnügt in meinem Leiden’ was composed as part of that revision. Ruth Holton sounds touchingly vulnerable in this aria and the plangent violin obbligato complements her singing beautifully. Both she and Peter Harvey sing excellently throughout this cantata.

As will be evident from my comments, the performance standards in this latest volume are fully up to what we’ve come to expect as the standards of the house. So too are the notes by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. It’s highly stimulating to read his Pilgrimage journal on an instalment basis but I hope that sooner or later the entire journal will be published in book form to be enjoyed from start to finish.

I made a particular point of listening to the first of these two discs on New Year’s Day, simply for pleasure. It’s hard to imagine a better way of greeting an incoming year than with Bach’s wonderful, uplifting music, particularly as the perfect antidote to these troubled times in which we live. (John Quinn, MusicWeb International)

Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750
For New Year’s Day
Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele II BWV 143
1. Coro Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele
2. Choral: Sopran Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ
3. Recitativo: TenorWohl dem, des Hülfe der Gott Jakob ist
4. Aria: Tenor Tausendfaches Unglück, Schrecken
5. Aria: Bass Der Herr ist König ewiglich
6. Aria: Tenor con Choral Jesu, Retter deiner Herde
7. Coro (Choral) Halleluja
Jesu, nun sei gepreiset BWV 41
1. Coro (Choral) Jesu, nun sei gepreiset
2. Aria: Sopran Lass uns, o höchster Gott, das Jahr vollbringen
3. Recitativo: Alt Ach! deine Hand, dein Segen muss allein
4. Aria: Tenor Woferne du den edlen Frieden
5. Recitativo: Bass e Coro Doch weil der Feind bei Tag und Nacht
6. Choral Dein ist allein die Ehre
Herr Gott, dich loben wir BWV 16
1. Coro (Choral) Herr Gott, dich loben wir
2. Recitativo: Bass So stimmen wir
3. Aria: Bass e Coro Lasst uns jauchzen, lasst uns freuen
4. Recitativo: Alt Ach treuer Hort
5. Aria: Tenor Geliebter Jesu, du allein
6. Choral All solch dein Güt wir preisen
Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm BWV 171
1. Coro Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm
2. Aria: Tenor Herr, so weit die Wolken gehen
3. Recitativo: Alt Du süßer Jesus-Name du
4. Aria: Sopran Jesus soll mein erstes Wort
5. Recitativo: Bass Und da du, Herr, gesagt
6. Choral Lass uns das Jahr vollbringen

For the Sunday after New Year
Schau, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind BWV 153
1. Choral Schau, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind
2. Recitativo: Alt Mein liebster Gott, ach lass dich’s doch erbarmen
3. Arioso: Bass Fürchte dich nicht, ich bin mit dir
4. Recitativo: Tenor Du sprichst zwar, lieber Gott, zu meiner Seelen Ruh
5. Choral Und ob gleich alle Teufel
6. Aria: Tenor Stürmt nur, stürmt, ihr Trübsalswetter
7. Recitativo: Bass Getrost! mein Herz
8. Aria: Alt Soll ich meinen Lebenslauf
9. Choral Drum will ich, weil ich lebe noch
Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid II BWV 58
1. Aria: Bass con Choral: Sopran Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid
2. Recitativo: Bass Verfolgt dich gleich die arge Welt
3. Aria: Sopran Ich bin vergnügt in meinem Leiden
4. Recitativo: Sopran Kann es die Welt nicht lassen
5. Aria: Bass con Choral: Sopran Ich hab vor mir ein schwere Reis

2008 Monteverdi Productions Ltd
2 Compact Discs
Volume 17 SDG 150

You can buy it on Amazon
You can download here: CD One / CD Two

Gardiner BACH Cantatas Vol. 16

This disc contains the very final concert, the fifty-ninth, of Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s Bach Cantata Pilgrimage. This was the last of three concerts given in New York to conclude the Pilgrimage. We’ve already had one disc devoted to Christmas cantatas, performed on Christmas Day itself, and its companion, recorded at a concert given just two days later. Now here’s the final Christmas instalment.

It must have been quite an emotional occasion for the Pilgrims, knowing that this was the end of their journey – a journey of discovery and celebration. Gardiner makes that clear in his notes, but even if he had not done so anyone who has followed the series to date would have guessed as much from the comments that various performers have made in their own recollections, printed in earlier booklets.

The concert begins not with a cantata but with a motet, Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 225.This was a most intelligent piece of programming since the concert was to close with the cantata that bears the same title. The motet begins with infectious joyfulness – Sir John refers to the “joyous, spirited singing” – but the Monteverdi Choir is no less alive to more reflective moments in Bach’s piece. This means that the central section is marvellously poised. In the outer stretches of the work, however, they provide singing of superb clarity, full tone and rhythmic vivaciousness.

BWV 152 contrasts very strongly with the motet. This is a work from Bach’s Weimar period and it is scored for very modest forces indeed. A solo soprano and a bass are accompanied by just six instrumentalists – recorder, oboe, viola d’amore, viola da gamba and a continuo, comprising cello and organ. Alfred Dürr suggests, in his definitive study of the cantatas, that perhaps, after the other musical demands made on the Weimar musicians during the Christmas period, Bach had very limited forces available to him and made a virtue of necessity in his scoring. The result is a wonderfully intimate creation, which is sung delightfully by Gillian Keith and Peter Harvey.

Harvey, one of the rocks of this whole series, is in fine voice. Gillian Keith also excels, especially in the sublime aria, ‘Stein der über alle Schätze’. Here the recorder and viola d’amore intertwine sinuously in support of her touching singing. This is a wonderfully delicate movement and the fragility of the music contrasts pointedly with the much more emphatic bass recitatives that are placed on either side of it. There’s no concluding chorale. Instead the cantata ends with a dialogue between the Soul (soprano) and Jesus (bass), which is very well done here. This wasn’t a cantata with which I was very familiar so I’m particularly delighted to find it in such an excellent performance.

Next we hear BWV 122, a Leipzig piece. This is based on an old hymn, dating from 1597, which would have been familiar to the Leipzig congregations. Peter Harvey has a challenging aria, which, predictably, he puts across very well. I like Katharine Fuge’s lovely, pure tone in the following recitative and then she and James Gilchrist combine most effectively in a terzetto, in which they’re joined by the altos of the choir, who sing the chorale melody beneath the soloists’ florid lines.

The first two cantatas have been predominantly reflective in tone. Now, however, the decks are cleared for some serious rejoicing, beginning with BWV 28. Against a sprightly accompaniment Joanne Lunn opens the proceedings with what Dürr calls a “joyful, dance-like song of thanksgiving.” This is an engaging, smiling piece of singing; not only is Miss Lunn characterful but she’s also technically assured. There follows a magnificent chorus, which finds the Monteverdi Choir on stunning, incisive form. Gilchrist is at his most expressive in the recitative ‘Gott ist ein Quell’ and then he and Daniel Taylor are terrific in the sprightly duet ‘Gott hat uns im heurigen Jahre gesegnet.’

But you sense that the whole concert has been building up to the performance of BWV 190. This cantata has come down to us with only a fragmentary orchestral score and Gardiner and his colleagues engaged in some well-informed reconstruction. For example, timpani and a trio of trumpets have been added to the opening chorus, to thrilling effect and, as we shall see, there’s an even more inspired piece of re-scoring later on.

The piece opens with a chorus that is nothing less than an outbreak of unbridled rejoicing. On this occasion the music is invested with the sort of vital, virtuoso singing and playing for which Gardiner has become renowned. He and his performers convey a life-enhancing optimism. One senses that everyone was on their toes to provide the Big Finish to the Pilgrimage. The cantus firmus interjections from Luther’s German Te Deum are especially fervent but then so is the whole of this chorus; it’s a really spine tingling performance.

Later comes a duet for tenor and bass soloists, ‘Jesus soll mein alles sein.’ In an inspired piece of scoring, Gardiner allots the obbligato to the viola d’amore. The obbligato part consists largely of “chains of wistful, gestural arabesques bouncing off a silent main beat” (Gardiner). The effect is quite ravishing. One might have feared that the delicate, husky sound of the viola d’amore would be swamped by the singers. However, without holding back, Gilchrist and Harvey sing with such exemplary control and taste that everything fits together beautifully. Gardiner chose to repeat this movement as the second and final encore at the end of the concert and it’s a nice thought that this was the last music to be heard during the Pilgrimage. The thought is all the more poignant since the violist, Katherine McGillvray, died last year aged just thirty-six; the CD is dedicated to her memory.

After this luminous duet comes a tenor recitative. It was the final solo of the concert and, therefore, of the Pilgrimage and it’s fitting that this should have been entrusted to James Gilchrist, since he’s been another mainstay of the whole enterprise. He produces a marvellously weighted, nuanced piece of singing, which typifies the skill and perception of so many of his contributions to the Pilgrimage.

All that remains is the final, affirmative chorale, which, as performed here, seems to be a summation and a salute to the genius of Bach. This performance anticipated by a few hours the New Year for which the cantata was written. As such, it looked back on a year of homage to Bach and celebration of his music in the 250th anniversary year of his death. But the performance also seems to look forward with confidence, perhaps because Gardiner and his team felt inspired and refreshed by their shared and individual experiences during the course of the Pilgrimage. For the Pilgrims this marked journey’s end. For those of us who are reliving their journey through the medium of CD we have many more volumes in prospect. The next instalment is keenly awaited but for now this splendid disc will sustain us. (John Quinn, MusicWeb International)

Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750
For the Sunday after Christmas
Motet: Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied BWV 225
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied
Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn BWV 152
1. Sinfonia
2. Aria: Bass Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn
3. Recitativo: Bass Der Heiland ist gesetzt
4. Aria: Sopran Stein, der über alle Schätze
5. Recitativo: Bass Es ärgre sich die kluge Welt
6. Duetto: Soprano, Bass Wie soll ich dich, Liebster der Seelen, umfassen?
Das neugeborne Kindelein BWV 122
1. Coro (Chorale) Das neugeborne Kindelein
2. Aria: Bass O Menschen, die ihr täglich sündigt
3. Recitativo: Sopran Die Engel, welche sich zuvor
4. Terzetto con Choral Ist Gott versöhnt und unser Freund
5. Recitativo: Bass Dies ist ein Tag
6. Choral Es bringt das rechte Jubeljahr
Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende BWV 28
1. Aria: Sopran Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende
2. Coro (Chorale) Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren
3. Recitativo ed Arioso: Bass So spricht der Herr
4. Recitativo: Tenor Gott ist ein Quell
5. Aria (Duetto): Alt, Tenor Gott hat uns im heurigen Jahre gesegnet
6. Choral All solch dein Güt wir preisen
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied! BWV 190
(For New Year’s Day)
1. Coro Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied!
2. Choral e Recitativo: Bass, Tenor, Alt Herr Gott, dich loben wir
3. Aria: Alt Lobe, Zion, deinen Gott
4. Recitativo: Bass Es wünsche sich die Welt
5. Aria (Duetto): Tenor, Bass Jesus soll mein alles sein
6. Recitativo: Tenor Nun, Jesus gebe
7. Choral Laß uns das Jahr vollbringen

2007 Monteverdi Productions Ltd
1 CD DDD
Volume 16 SDG 137

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Sol Gabetta IL PROGETTO VIVALDI 2

Sol Gabetta is the young female superstar of the cello. The Argentine-French cellist, who speaks six languages fluently, has captured the hearts of audiences in many countries with her playing and her charisma. Sol has received prestigious awards: she won three Echo Klassik prizes in Germany, received Argentina’s Gardel Prize as “artist of the year“ in three consecutive years and in 2010 won the prestigious Gramophone Award as “young artist of the year”.

For her fifth recording for Sony Music and the first on the Sony Classical label, Sol Gabetta has teamed up with her own ensemble, the Cappella Gabetta, a small ensemble that plays baroque music on period instruments, which was founded by Sol Gabetta and her brother Andres Gabetta (lead violin). Sol and Andres have chosen this group of musicians so that they can make music among friends and explore works of the Baroque and Early Classical genres.

On the new album, entitled Il Progetto Vivaldi 2, Sol Gabetta and Cappella Gabetta perform beautiful Italian cello concertos. Three deservedly popular concertos composed by Antonio Vivaldi are coupled with a rarely recorded sonata by Vivaldi and a charming cello concerto by Leonardo Leo, a Neapolitan composer. The CD also includes a world premiere recording, a cello concerto by Giovanni Benedetto Platti, an Italian composer who worked in Germany between 1730 and 1763. The cello concerto by Platti was recently discovered near Würzburg in the archive of a castle of Duke of Schönborn. The Vivaldi concertos which Sol Gabetta has chosen for this recording were also discovered in this archive.

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741)

Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra, RV 423

1. I. Allegro (04:02)
2. II. Largo (03:03)
3. III. Allegro (03:48)
Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra, RV 416

4. I. Allegro (04:00)
5. II. Adagio (03:56)
6. III. Allegro (02:52)
Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra, RV 420

7. I. Andante (04:14)
8. II. Adagio (03:39)
9. III. Allegro (03:43)
Sonata for Violoncello and Basso continuo, RV 42

10. I. Preludio. Largo (03:56)
11. II. Allemanda. Andante (02:34)
12. III. Sarabanda. Largo (03:54)
13. IV. Giga. Allegro (02:12)

Leonardo Leo (1694 - 1744)
Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in D major

14. I. Andantino grazioso (04:00)
15. II. Con bravura (02:59)
16. III. Larghetto, con poco moto (03:55)
17. IV. Allegro di molto (01:20)
18. V. Fuga (02:30)

Giovanni Benedetto Platti (c.1697 - 1763)
Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in D minor, Op. 657

19. I. Non tanto allegro (03:42)
20. II. Adagio (03:05)
21. III. Alla breve. Fuga (04:02)

Sol Gabetta

Capella Gabetta

Andres Gabetta

2011 Sony Music Entertainment

1 CD DDD

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Gardiner BACH Cantatas Vol. 15

Two of the cantatas date from 1725 and since BWV 57 is actually prescribed for the second Day of Christmas it’s fascinating to think that the congregation of St. Thomas’s, Leipzig heard the first performances of BWV 57 and BWV 151 on consecutive days!

Sir John admits in his notes, which are superb as usual, that BWV 151 was completely new to him. It’s unusual in that it opens with an aria which accounts for over half of the work, nearly 10:00 in this performance. It’s an enchanting soprano aria with a marvellous flute obbligato. Bach enriches the scoring by having an oboe d’amore doubling the first violin part. Gardiner speculates that the outer sections of the aria may suggest Mary singing a lullaby to her newborn son. Gillian Keith gives a performance of disarmingly loveliness. What Gardiner rightly calls an “inspirational” aria inevitably dominates the whole cantata but I am not complaining.

BWV 57 is a dialogue cantata in which the bass soloist takes the part of God and the soprano is the Soul. Peter Harvey, already established through previous releases as a cornerstone of the Pilgrimage project, compels attention in the opening aria, ‘Selig ist der Mann’. He is partnered by Joanne Lunn who, in the following recitative offers compelling singing. She follows this with the aria, ‘Ich wünschte mir den Tod, den Tod’. Gardiner describes this as “one of those tragic triple-time dances at which Bach excelled.” Miss Lunn gives a deeply felt performance of it, receiving fine support from the English Baroque Soloists. Gardiner is not afraid to set a generous, broad tempo and he and all the performers dig deep under the skin of this wonderful music. Peter Harvey is commanding in the “show-stopping battle aria”, ‘Ja, ja, ich kann die Feinde schlagen’. Joanne Lunn is superb in her concluding aria but what really caught my ear was her contribution to the duet recitative that comes before it. She begins with some meltingly beautiful phrases and invests the whole recitative with life.

BWV 64 opens with a short chorus in which the Monteverdi Choir offers splendidly animated singing. Bach’s inspired inclusion of a trio of sackbuts in the orchestra adds marvellous depth and gravitas to the overall sound. I liked very much the silvery soprano that Gillian Keith produces for her aria, ‘Was die Welt in sich hält’ and in the penultimate movement, an alto aria, the delightful oboe d’amore obbligato contrasts with and complements the timbre of Robin Tyson’s voice.

Finally, BWV 133 begins with an exuberantly festive chorus and in the aria ‘Getrost! es fast ein heil’ger Leib’ Robin Tyson puts across very well an excited joy at the meaning of the Incarnation. Throughout this concert there are disappointingly few opportunities to hear that fine tenor, James Gilchrist – there isn’t a single tenor aria to be found! In the recitative allotted to him in this cantata he makes us realise what we’ve missed. By contrast, the programme is a feast for lovers of the soprano voice and a third excellent singer, Katharine Fuge, appears in this cantata. She sings the aria, ‘Wie lieblich klingt es is den Ohren’ with wide-eyed joy. I loved the way she switches the mood to tender regret in the more reflective central section.

This programme is a delight from start to finish and the music shows Bach’s skill and perspicacity at responding in different ways to differing aspects of the Lutheran interpretation of the Christmas message. As ever in this series the standard of performance is spectacular and Sir John is a superb guide to the music, whether as conductor or annotator. This unfolding series goes from strength to strength and I look forward with the keenest possible anticipation to further releases in 2007. (John Quinn, MusicWeb International)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
For the Third Day of Christmas
Sehet, welch eine Liebe hat uns der Vater erzeiget BWV 64
1. Coro Sehet, welch eine Liebe
2. Choral Das hat er alles uns getan
3. Recitativo: Alt Geh, Welt! behalte nur das Deine
4. ChoralWas frag ich nach der Welt
5. Aria: SopranWas die Welt
6. Recitativo: Bass Der Himmel bleibet mir gewiss
7. Aria: Alt Von der Welt verlang ich nichts
8. Choral Gute Nacht, o Wesen
Süßer Trost, mein Jesus kömmt BWV 151
1. Aria: Sopran Süßer Trost, mein Jesus kömmt
2. Recitativo: Bass Erfreue dich, mein Herz
3. Aria: Alt In Jesu Demut kann ich Trost
4. Recitativo: Tenor Du teurer Gottessohn
5. Choral Heut schleußt er wieder auf die Tür
Selig ist der Mann BWV 57
(For the Second Day of Christmas)
1. Aria: Bass Selig ist der Mann
2. Recitativo: Sopran Ach! dieser süße Trost
3. Aria: Sopran Ich wünschte mir den Tod
4. Recitativo (Dialogo): Bass, Sopran Ich reiche dir die Hand
5. Aria: Bass Ja, ja, ich kann die Feinde schlagen
6. Recitativo (Dialogo): Bass, Sopran In meiner Schoß liegt Ruh und Leben
7. Aria: Sopran Ich ende behende mein irdisches Leben
8. Choral Richte dich, Liebste, nach meinem Gefallen
Ich freue mich in dir BWV 133
1. Coro (Choral) Ich freue mich in dir
2. Aria: Alt Getrost! es fasst ein heil’ger Leib
3. Recitativo: Tenor Ein Adam mag sich voller Schrecken
4. Aria: Sopran Wie lieblich klingt es in den Ohren
5. Recitativo: Bass Wohlan, des Todes Furcht und Schmerz
6. Choral Wohlan, so will ich mich

2006 Monteverdi Productions Ltd
1 CD DDD
Volume 15 SDG 127

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Gardiner BACH Cantatas Vol. 14

These days we have to be reminded that Easter, not Christmas, is the primary festival of the church year. (In Bach’s Leipzig, of course, Good Friday was the most important day of the musical year.) Nevertheless, Christmas was a major celebration at that time and place, with services on Christmas and the next two days, followed by observances on New Year’s day, the first Sunday of the New Year, and Epiphany. Consequently, Bach created considerable music for the season. The present disc, Volume 14 in the series, features two Christmas cantatas, BWV 91 (1724) and 110 (1725), and two cantatas for the day after Christmas, BWV 40 (1723) and 121 (1724).
Cantata 91, from the year of chorale cantatas, imbues Luther’s Christmas hymn, Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, with a feeling of anticipation and exhilaration unusual even for Bach. Budding excitement in the opening chorus finally erupts in striking syncopations. The final chorale is enhanced by fanfare-like expressions from the brass. Another chorale cantata is BWV 121, based on Christum wir sollen loben schon. It begins with a more subdued choral movement, but a joyful air is introduced by the subsequent tenor aria and reinforced by a jaunty aria for bass. Cantata 40 does not belong to the chorale-cantata cycle, but three of the seven movements after the opening chorale fantasia are straightforward chorale settings. Most resplendent of these four cantatas is No. 110, which opens with a choral re-make of the third movement of the Fourth Orchestral Suite.
Gardiner’s preface again reminds us that the Cantata Pilgrimage was not undertaken as a recording project; the recordings are fortuitous by-products of the Pilgrimage. The concert captured on this disc, which took place in New York City on Christmas Day, 2000, was the third-to-last in the whole enterprise. One might reasonably have excused any evidence of fatigue at that point, but there is none in evidence; rather, the energy generated by the performances is quite extraordinary. For listeners who wish to sample the series before committing themselves to it, this single disc may provide an auspicious starting point. Most enthusiastically recommended.
Incidentally, in reviewing earlier releases from the Pilgrimage, I noted the sterling attendance record of violist Colin Kitching. A letter from Clifford Bartlett of Early Music Review noted that Kitching is the Monteverdi Choir’s librarian. But, alas! He didn’t make it to the Big Apple, so Sir John will be the only person to have participated in every one of the Pilgrimage recordings. (George Chien)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
For Christmas Day
For the Second Day of Christmas
Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ BWV 91
(For Christmas Day)
1. Coro (Choral) Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ
2. Recitativo e Choral: Sopran Der Glanz der höchsten Herrlichkeit
3. Aria: Tenor Gott, dem der Erden Kreis zu klein
4. Recitativo: Bass O Christenheit!
5. Aria (Duetto): Sopran, Alt Die Armut, so Gott auf sich nimmt
6. Choral Das hat er alles uns getan
Christum wir sollen loben schon BWV 121
(For the Second Day of Christmas)
1. Coro (Choral) Christum wir sollen loben schon
2. Aria: Tenor O du von Gott erhöhte Kreatur
3. Recitativo: Alt Der Gnade unermesslich’s Wesen
4. Aria: Bass Johannis freudenvolles Springen
5. Recitativo: Sopran Doch wie erblickt es dich in deiner Krippe?
6. Choral Lob, Ehr und Dank sei dir gesagt
Dazu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes BWV 40
(For the Second Day of Christmas)
1. Coro Dazu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes
2. Recitativo: Tenor Das Wort ward Fleisch und wohnet in der Welt
3. Choral Die Sünd macht Leid
4. Aria: Bass Höllische Schlange
5. Recitativo: Alt Die Schlange, so im Paradies
6. Choral Schüttle deinen Kopf und sprich
7. Aria: Tenor Christenkinder, freuet euch!
8. Choral Jesu, nimm dich deiner Glieder
Unser Mund sei voll Lachens BWV 110
(For Christmas Day)
1. Coro Unser Mund sei voll Lachens
2. Aria: Tenor Ihr Gedanken und ihr Sinnen
3. Recitativo: Bass Dir, Herr, ist niemand gleich
4. Aria: Alt Ach Herr, was ist ein Menschenkind
5. Aria (Duetto): Sopran, Tenor Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe
6. Aria: BassWacht auf, ihr Adern und ihr Glieder
7. Choral Halleluja! Halleluja! Gelobt sei Gott

2005 Monteverdi Productions Ltd

1 CD DDD

Volume 14 SDG 113

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Gardiner BACH Cantatas Vol. 13

Liturgical observance in Leipzig forbade the use of figural music during services after the First Sunday of Advent until Christmas so, since many of his pre-Leipzig cantatas have not survived, we have very little liturgical music by Bach for the Advent season but what we have is of high quality. Sir John made studio recordings of the three cantatas for Advent Sunday as long ago as 1992 (DG Archive 437 372-2, later 463 588-2) but I’d say that collectors who already have that disc should acquire the new version also even if, like me, they don’t discard the studio versions, which still have a great deal to offer.
Luther’s great hymn, ‘Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland’, a German reworking of the medieval Advent hymn ‘Veni redemptor gentium’ is at the heart of all three of these cantatas. However, in BWV 61, a Weimar cantata from 1714, only the opening chorus uses lines from that hymn. In that first movement Bach inventively combines the old hymn chant onto the form of a French Overture with a light, fugal central episode. The performance here is strong and imposing. Tenor Jan Kobow sings well in the aria ‘Komm, Jesu, komm zu deiner Kirche’ but for some reason that I can’t quite pin down I prefer the sound of Anthony Rolfe Johnson in Gardiner’s 1992 recording. On that occasion Gardiner’s tempo was marginally faster too and I think that speed is preferable. That aria is followed by a short bass recitativo, which Alfred Dürr refers to as “the true high point of the work”. The way in which Dietrich Henschel veils his tone imparts a fine sense of anticipation and mystery. In the earlier studio version Olaf Bär goes for the same effect but, well though he does it, I think Henschel is even more successful. The following soprano aria, ‘Öffne dich, mein ganzes Herze’ is sung meltingly by Joanne Lunn.
BWV 62 is a Leipzig cantata, dating from 1724. Unlike BWV 61, Bach takes his entire text from Luther’s hymn. The opening chorus is a muscular composition, in which the Saviour is urgently beseeched to come. There follows a substantial tenor aria, ‘Bewundert, o Menschen, dies grosse Geheimnis’, aptly described by Dürr as “joyfully soaring”. I like Kobow in this movement and his breath control in Bach’s long phrases is admirable. However, Rolfe Johnson also excels in the 1992 recording and conveys, perhaps, in his tone a greater sense of wonder and eagerness. I think he’s helped also by the fact that in 1992 Gardiner paced the music just a fraction more swiftly. The other aria in this cantata is for the bass. It’s described by Gardiner as having a “pompous, combative character” and he speculates that it may have been a dry run for the ‘Grosser Herr’ aria in Part I of Christmas Oratorio. The aria in BWV 62 is not as memorable as that one but Dietrich Henschel projects it strongly.
BWV 36 achieved its final form in Leipzig in 1731 as an Advent cantata. However, as Dürr points out, its first movement and arias went through at least three prior incarnations in secular cantatas from1725 onwards. In 1731 Bach reworked the material into a substantial two-part cantata, divided into two parts. Unusually - perhaps uniquely - among the cantatas it contains no recitatives. Instead the arias are punctuated by chorale movements in various guises.
Gardiner describes the opening chorus as “ a spiritual madrigal - capricious, light textured and deeply satisfying once all its virtuosic technical demands have been met.” Needless to say, the Monteverdi Choir meet all those technical demands - of which there sound to be quite a number - and deliver a deft yet emphatic account of this fine movement. The third movement is a lovely, light tenor aria in which a favourite idea of the soul as the bride and Christ as the bridegroom is addressed. Kobow’s singing is appealing and the oboe d’amore obbligato complements his voice delightfully. However, the real delight of the cantata lies in the soprano aria ‘Auch mit gedämpften, schwachen Stimmen’. Gardiner refers to this as “a berceuse of pure enchantment” and the performance by Joanne Lunn completely justifies that judgement. Her singing is touching and radiant and she’s partnered most delightfully by the muted violin obbligato of Maya Homburger. This delectable performances lasts for 9:32 and it’s not a second too long. I suspect that for many in the audience at Köln this may have been, as it was for me, the highlight of the whole concert.
Leaving behind them the restored Romanesque church in Köln the Pilgrims moved on to the Michaeliskirche in Luneburg, a church that traces its origins back to the late fourteenth century. This was to be their last stop at a church with a direct association with Bach. Here the fifteen-year-old Bach sang as a member of the church’s ‘Mattins Choir’ and the performers used as a changing room the choir room, where, presumably, Bach prepared for services.
BWV 70 was designated for the Twenty-sixth Sunday after Trinity in Leipzig, where it was first heard in 1723. However, it more than qualifies for a place in this programme since it was originally composed in 1716, during Bach’s Weimar years, for the Second Sunday in Advent - in Weimar, unlike in Leipzig, cantatas were allowed in church services throughout Advent. Since the scriptural messages of the two Sundays were not dissimilar the cantata text sufficed for both. However, for Leipzig Bach added recitatives and a chorale. The cantata opens with an exciting, anticipatory chorus and Bach includes a trumpet in the orchestra to impart a sense of occasion. The Monteverdi Choir gives a superb account of it. A forceful bass recitativo emerges without a pause from the chorus. After such an electrifying start the more easeful alto aria, sung with poise by Michael Chance, comes as something of a relief. I enjoyed the soprano aria, ‘Lasst der Spötter Zungen schmähen’, which is a forthright piece, well dispatched by Brigitte Geller. Also worthy of note is the tenor aria, ‘Hebt euer Haupt empor’, a confidence-inspiring piece. Jan Kobow’s singing is perfectly attuned to the mood of this fine, striding aria.
After this aria come two strongly contrasted movements for the bass soloist. Dietrich Henschel is bitingly dramatic in the apocalyptic recitativo, which comes first, but then he relaxes beautifully for what Dürr rightly calls the “otherworldly, transfigured” aria, ‘Seligster Erquickungstag’, which contains a short vigorous central section between two marvellously lyrical sections. The juxtaposition of these two movements is something of a coup by Bach, one which Henschel and Gardiner bring off splendidly.
BWV 132, another Weimar piece, dating from 1715, is, I suppose, the only truly Advent piece here in the sense that it has come down to us in its original form as an Advent cantata. Its most remarkable movement is the first one, an enchanting but hugely demanding soprano aria. Brigitte Geller and the excellent oboist - Michael Niesemann, I presume - negotiate it with freshness and great skill. Kobow and Henschel both sing their solos well and Michael Chance injects drama and tonal variety into his recitativo before giving an elegant and expressive account of the aria ‘Christi Glieder, ach bedenket’. Incidentally no chorale survives for this cantata so Gardiner tacks on the chorale from another cantata, BWV 164.
To conclude, we hear one of Bach’s most popular cantatas, BWV 147.This is another Weimar Advent cantata - for the Fourth Sunday - originally composed in 1716. Bach was unable to use it in Leipzig for the same liturgy so he adapted it in 1723 for the Feast of the Visitation (2 July). In so doing he added three recitatives and, crucially, he dropped the original chorale and replaced it with a new one, which he also inserted part way through what had now become a two-part work So, perhaps the most celebrated part of the cantata was the fruit of its Leipzig revision.
It’s a work Gardiner has recorded before. He set down a studio version for DG in March 1990 (431 809-2, later 463 587-2). That earlier performance has many virtues but there is a snag in that it was recorded - along with BWV 140 - in a church in Shaftesbury, Dorset, and for some reason the microphones were placed at a distance from the performers, giving the recording a rather recessed sound.
In both recordings Gardiner and his choir impart an irrepressible energy to the opening chorus, which Bach decorated with a glorious slivery trumpet part. The new Pilgrimage account is tremendously vital though the earlier performance was taken at a pace that’s the tiniest fraction steadier; that aids articulation without compromising energy.
Jan Kobow sings the following tenor recitative, ‘Gebenedeiter Mund!’ well enough. But turn to Anthony Rolfe Johnson in the earlier recording and you hear something rather special. The thoughtfulness and sweetness of tone that he deploys is quite disarming. Dare one say he brings a touch of fantasy to the movement, which Kobow, for all his virtues, doesn’t attempt. Also, in this movement the distancing of the DG recording is rather beneficial for once. Later on in the cantata comes the aria ‘Hilf, Jesu, hilf, dass ich auch dich bekenne’. Kobow sings it well but Rolfe Johnson makes much more of the words and, in addition, in this music I prefer his more plangent tone.
Michael Chance is common to both recordings and he sings very well on both occasions. In the aria ‘Schäme dich, o Seele, nicht’ the very slightly steadier speed that Gardiner adopts in 2000 is preferable, I think, and Chance benefits also from being more immediately recorded this time round. When it comes to the bass numbers Dietrich Henschel has far more vocal presence and character than Stephen Varcoe displayed in 1992. He has more vocal amplitude as well, especially in the lower register of the voice, and that’s particularly welcome in the big aria ‘Ich will von Jesu Wundern singen’ - where he’s partnered splendidly by trumpeter Gabriele Cassone. Gardiner’s Pilgrimage soprano also has the edge over her earlier rival. The soprano aria, ‘Bereite dir, Jesu, noch itzo die Bahn’, is a beguiling piece, decorated with a lovely violin obbligato. The Pilgrimage team - Brigitte Geller and violinist Maya Homburger - give a winning account of it. Ruth Holton sings well for Gardiner in 1992 but, by comparison with Miss Geller’s fuller tones, her voice sounds rather small and piping and she’s another singer who doesn’t benefit from the recessed DG recording.
The famous chorale illustrates the care with which this 2000 performance has been approached. It would be easy to sing it in the same fashion twice - and I’m sure we’ve all heard instances of that. But Gardiner appreciates that the two stanzas of words have a different import. So, first time round the singing is reasonably forthright, though very cultured. At the end of the cantata, however, the first four lines are sung in a gentle, trusting way. For the fifth and sixth lines the singing becomes much more affirmative before the last two lines are delivered in a similar fashion to the first four. It’s a small point, perhaps, but a telling one. It goes without saying that both times the chorale appears it’s sung with fine expression. I think that this new version of the cantata eclipses Gardiner’s earlier recording but I shan’t be discarding my copy, if only for the singing of Anthony Rolfe Johnson.
So, with Advent worthily celebrated in two German cities, the Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic for their own journey’s end in New York. Where we, who are collecting the CDs as they appear, will next encounter them remains to be seen. However, this latest instalment, which as usual contains excellent documentation and benefits from very good engineering, is another fine addition to Gardiner’s excellent cantata cycle on disc. (John Quinn, MusicWeb International)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
For the First Sunday in Advent
Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland I BWV 61
1. Coro (Ouverture) Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland
2. Recitativo: Tenor Der Heiland ist gekommen
3. Aria: Tenor Komm, Jesu, komm zu deiner Kirche
4. Recitativo: Bass Siehe, ich stehe vor der Tür und klopfe an
5. Aria: Sopran Öffne dich, mein ganzes Herze
6. Choral Amen, Amen!
Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland II BWV 62
1. Coro Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland
2. Aria: Tenor Bewundert, o Menschen, dies große Geheimnis
3. Recitativo: Bass So geht aus Gottes Herrlichkeit und Thron
4. Aria: Bass Streite, siege, starker Held!
5. Recitativo (Duetto): Sopran, Alt Wir ehren diese Herrlichkeit
6. Choral (Duetto) Lob sei Gott, dem Vater, g’ton
Schwingt freudig euch empor BWV 36
Part I
1. Coro Schwingt freudig euch empor
2. Choral: Sopran, Alt Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland
3. Aria: Tenor Die Liebe zieht mit sanften Schritten
4. Choral Zwingt die Saiten in Cythara
Part II
5. Aria: Bass Willkommen, werter Schatz!
6. Choral: Tenor Der du bist dem Vater gleich
7. Aria: Sopran Auch mit gedämpften, schwachen Stimmen
8. Choral Lob sei Gott, dem Vater, g’ton

For the Fourth Sunday in Advent
Wachet! betet! betet! wachet! BWV 70
(For the Twenty-sixth Sunday after Trinity)
Part I
1. Coro Wachet! betet! betet! wachet!
2. Recitativo: Bass Erschrecket, ihr verstockten Sünder!
3. Aria: Alt Wenn kömmt der Tag
4. Recitativo: Tenor Auch bei dem himmlischen Verlangen
5. Aria: Sopran Lasst der Spötter Zungen schmähen
6. Recitativo: Tenor Jedoch bei dem unartigen Geschlechte
7. Choral Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele
Part II
8. Aria: Tenor Hebt euer Haupt empor
9. Recitativo con Choral: Bass Ach, soll nicht dieser große Tag
10. Aria: Bass Seligster Erquickungstag
11. Choral Nicht nach Welt, nach Himmel nicht
Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn! BWV 132
1. Aria: Sopran Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn!
2. Recitativo: Tenor Willst du dich Gottes Kind
3. Aria: Bass Wer bist du?
4. Recitativo: Alt Ich will, mein Gott, dir frei heraus bekennen
5. Aria: Alt Christi Glieder, ach bedenket
6. Choral Ertöt uns durch dein Güte
Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben BWV 147
(For the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
Part I
1. Coro Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben
2. Recitativo: Tenor Gebenedeiter Mund!
3. Aria: Alt Schäme dich, o Seele, nicht
4. Recitativo: Bass Verstockung kann Gewaltige verblenden
5. Aria: Sopran Bereite dir, Jesu, noch itzo die Bahn
6. Choral Wohl mir, dass ich Jesum habe
Part II
7. Aria: Tenor Hilf, Jesu, hilf, dass ich auch dich bekenne
8. Recitativo: Alt Der höchsten Allmacht Wunderhand
9. Aria: Bass Ich will von Jesu Wundern singen
10. Choral Jesus bleibet meine Freude

2009 Monteverdi Productions Ltd
2 Compact Discs
Volume 13 SDG 162

You can buy it on Amazon.com
You can download here: Disc One / Disc Two