The Bach Cantata Pilgrimage was one
of the most remarkable musical odysseys
ever and a most remarkable tribute to
Bach in the 250th anniversary
year of his death. Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s
project to perform all Bach’s extant church
cantatas on the appropriate Sundays would
have been a remarkable thing in itself.
However, turning this into a peripatetic
project, performing in churches the length
and breadth of Europe - with a side trip
to New York thrown in at the end for good
measure - was a visionary idea that made
the project into something very special
indeed.
As is well known, when
Gardiner first mooted the idea DG intended
to record all the concerts and issue
a complete cantata cycle on CD. Sadly,
before the Pilgrimage began DG had pulled
out. Instead they issued only a dozen
CDs, several of which contained earlier
studio recordings. That abbreviated
DG series also includes some twenty
cantatas in live recordings set down
during the Pilgrimage itself and, so
far as I know, these CDs remain available.
The inability of DG
to support the project as originally
planned was a great disappointment at
the time. However, in July 2000 the
Pilgrimage came to Gloucestershire,
where I live, and I was fortunate to
attend the splendid concert given in
the wonderful surroundings of Tewkesbury
Abbey. It was noticeable that recording
equipment was in use and so I had a
flicker of hope that a few more recordings
from the Pilgrimage might eventually
see the light of day. During 2005 that
started to happen with a series of CDs
issued on a new label, Soli Deo Gloria,
set up by Gardiner and the Monteverdi
Choir precisely for this purpose. To
date there have been five releases,
the first three of which I’ll consider
here. I am excluding from this mini-survey
the recent CD, SDG 114, which
included the studio recording of the
recently rediscovered work Alles
Mit Gott, BWV 1127 since, strictly,
that is outside the scope of the Pilgrimage.
The first general point
to make about these releases is that
the packaging and documentation are
excellent. Each pair of discs is contained
in a stiff cardboard gatefold sleeve.
The one slight quibble I have is that
the holders for the discs themselves
are not very user friendly and it’s
difficult not to handle the discs when
extracting or replacing them. Inside,
as well as pictures of the churches
concerned, texts and translations, each
volume contains a note about both the
venues and the music by Gardiner himself,
These come from a journal that he kept
during the pilgrimage and are elegantly
written, packed with insights and of
absorbing interest. With one exception
all the quotations in the essay that
follows are taken from Gardiner’s notes.
The sound quality on all the CDs issued
to date has been first rate.
I hope that in due
course it will be possible for the live
recordings currently issued by DG to
be reissued under the SDG imprint. Partly
that’s because it would be fitting for
all the releases to be on one label.
But in addition I have to say that the
SDG packaging and documentation is superior
to that provided by DG though, in fairness,
the DG releases have excellent liner
notes by Ruth Tatlow.
Before commenting on
the CDs I think it’s pertinent to mention
one other release even if, strictly
speaking, it falls outside the scope
of this survey. The Pilgrimage actually
began in the dying days of 1999 with
performances of the Christmas Oratorio,
BWV 248 in the Herderkirche, Weimar
on 23 and 27 December. This very fine
performance has been released on a pair
of DVDs on the TDK label (DV-BACH0).
There’s a very good team of soloists
and Gardiner conducts a performance
that is fresh and alive. I don’t know
if SDG has any plans to release an audio
version of this performance but the
present DVD is very recommendable indeed,
especially as the set also includes
two interesting documentary films.
If I have a quibble
about the CDs issued so far it’s that
there doesn’t seem to be a discernible
pattern behind the releases. Not even
the Volume numbers are consecutive and
so far we’ve had a rather haphazard
sequence, chiefly of cantatas for Easter
and Trinity. It’s not easy to discern
a strategy behind the release schedule
so far. Most volumes to date contain
a mix of familiar and less familiar
cantatas but the quality of musical
invention is amazingly high, as is the
standard of performance.
Volume 1
The series starts very
strongly indeed. BWV 167, an early Leipzig
cantata that dates from 1723, opens
with a florid tenor aria, which Paul
Agnew despatches with panache. Later
there’s a "euphonious and pithy"
duet for soprano and alto, winningly
sung by Joanne Lunn and Wilke te Brummelstroete,
the latter a singer I don’t recall hearing
before. The splendid playing of the
oboe da caccia obbligato here is a portent
of the consistently superlative standard
of the instrumental contribution heard
on all these discs.
BWV 7, another Leipzig
cantata, from the following year, opens
with a huge, imposing chorus, which
is really a chorale fantasia over a
French overture. Dietrich Henschel is
strong and ringing in his aria, ‘Merkt
und hört, ihr Menschenkinder.’
There’s another stylish contribution
from Paul Agnew, who sings the demanding
aria, ‘Des Vaters Stimme liess sich
hören’ with lovely, fluent delivery.
BWV 30 starts with
a chorus of "huge energy and fizz",
which bursts in without any orchestral
introduction, and which recurs at the
end of the work. Henschel has two arias
in this work and he’s splendidly authoritative
in both. The alto aria, ‘Kommt, ihr
angefochtnen Sünder’, is an "enchanting
gavotte" and both Wilke te Brummelstroete
and the flautist (Marten Root?) distinguish
themselves. Joanne Lunn sings her aria,
‘Eilt, ihr Stunden, kommt herbei,’ engagingly,
displaying a very secure technique.
The first cantata on
the second disc is BWV 75, the first
performance of which took place just
eight days after Bach arrived in Leipzig
in 1723 to take up his duties as Kantor.
It’s a grandly ambitious piece in two
parts, which must have made the Leipzig
congregation sit up and take notice
of their new Kantor at once. The weighty
and purposeful opening chorus is delivered
strongly. The soloists are all in good
voice. This time the soprano is Gillian
Keith and she’s very poised in her aria,
‘Ich nehme mein Leiden mit Freuden auf
mich’. I also much admired some elevated
singing from Wilke te Brummelstroete
in the aria ‘Jesus macht mich geistliche
reich.’ But the stand-out performance
in this cantata is Henschel’s trenchant
rendition of ‘Mein Herze glaubt und
liebt’ where he’s partnered by a splendid,
ringing trumpet obbligato.
BWV 39, which dates
from 1726, begins with an extended chorus
of great compositional skill and illustrative
imagination. I think it’s significant
that Gardiner devotes most of his note
on the cantata to this one movement.
When he turns from the role of commentator
to that of interpreter he builds the
chorus with real concentration and focus.
This movement, it seems to me, shows
Bach at his most innovative even though
the musical means he employs are deceptively
simple. In truth, though the following
movements are good - and very well performed
- it’s this first chorus that dominates
the work. However, the aria for soprano
with two recorders is enchanting.
BWV 20 is a mighty
cantata with a mighty title. It opens
with a dramatic chorus of great power,
which is meat and drink to the Monteverdi
Choir, who realise it superbly. Paul
Agnew is splendid in the intense, highly
strung aria, ‘Ewigkeit, du machst mir
bange.’ Gardiner’s note is one of his
most insightful and he’s particularly
good on the bass aria, ‘Gott ist gerecht
in seinen Werken’, which is masterfully
delivered by Henschel. But this fine
singer is even more commanding in his
second aria, ‘Wacht auf, wacht auf,
verloren Schafe’, which Gardiner very
aptly compares to ‘The trumpet shall
sound’ from Messiah. In summary,
this superb cantata receives a performance
that is entirely worthy of the quality
of the music.
Volume 8
The first cantata we
hear is BWV 138, another cantata from
the first Leipzig cycle and a "highly
original experimental work." It
opens with a deeply poignant chorus
that mixes chorale and recitative. Hard
on its heels, separated only by a recitative,
comes another chorus that combines chorale
and recitative, but this is very different
in style from its predecessor. Eventually
the mood of the cantata becomes more
optimistic and Gardiner and his forces
convey this change well.
BWV 51 is a cantata
that Gardiner has recorded before, a
studio recording from 1983 for Philips.
Then his soloists were Emma Kirkby and
trumpeter Christian Steele Perkins.
His tempi for the outer movements were
decidedly on the fast side in 1983 and
are pretty similar on this occasion
– indeed, his view of the whole cantata
seems very consistent. The first movement
goes off like a rocket. Malin Hartelius,
another singer new to me, is equal to
all the demands placed on her by Bach
and Gardiner jointly and she’s partnered
brilliantly by trumpeter Mike Harrison.
In fact, though I’ve always liked the
1983 recording I find I prefer Miss
Hartelius’s reading to Emma Kirkby’s
as she sounds to me to have a slightly
fuller voice. She’s beautifully expressive
in the recitative and then gives us
some exquisitely poised singing in the
aria, ‘Höchster, mache deine Güte’.
The concluding Alleluia aria is marvellously
lively. Overall, this is a first rate
account of a hugely taxing solo cantata.
BWV 99 and 100 share
the same title and are based on the
same Lutheran hymn but BWV 99 (1724)
only sets two verses of the hymn itself
whereas every one of the six movements
of the later cantata (1734/5) sets a
verse. Some may find Gardiner’s tempo
for the chorus with which BWV 99 opens
too brisk. Personally I think it’s refreshingly
bright and well suited to the words.
There’s only one solo aria in the piece,
a demandingly chromatic tenor aria with
a busy flute obbligato. James Gilchrist
sings it with his usual intelligence
and light, ringing tone. Later we hear
a duetto in which a pair of voices and
a pair of obbligato instruments interweave
contrapuntally. The performers here
articulate and inter-relate their individual
lines moist skilfully.
BWV 100 requires a
larger orchestra. The opening chorus,
which is musically similar to its counterpart
in BWV 99, is once again taken briskly.
There are no recitatives in this cantata
but the soloists are all challenged.
The demanding alto/tenor duet, which
is placed second is well done by Gilchrist
and William Towers. The following aria,
for soprano, is nicely sung but the
ear is drawn irresistibly to the hugely
testing, rippling flute obbligato. Peter
Harvey projects his bass aria strongly.
The penultimate movement is an alto
aria and it features a gorgeous oboe
d’amore obbligato. William Towers projects
the vocal line positively but I’m not
quite sure that he achieves the description
"lyrical and soothing" that
Gardiner applies to the music. However,
he still gives a very good account of
the piece. The exuberant closing chorale
is the same one that we encountered
at the end of BWV 75 (Vol. 1) albeit
with some slight augmentations to the
orchestral scoring.
The cantatas for the
Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity reveal
Bach at his expressive best and the
performances here are fully worthy of
the music. In BWV 161 we hear the ghostly
zephyrs of a pair of recorders. The
evocative sound world is highly reminiscent
of the early cantata Gottes Zeit
ist der allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106.
Robin Tyson is suitably otherworldly
in his singing of the heavenly opening
aria, ‘Komm, du süsse Todessstunde’,
from which the cantata takes its name.
Mark Padmore reveals in a booklet note
that he’d never sung this cantata before,
which enabled him to impart freshness
to the music. How I agree. To him falls
the heartfelt aria ‘Mein Verlangen’,
which he sings with superb ringing tone
and great expressiveness. On the day,
his performance must have been given
added visual impetus for he was positioned
on a ledge at the top of a stone stairway
where the pulpit should have been. For
me, despite the beauties of the opening
aria, Padmore makes ‘Mein Verlangen’
the heart of the cantata on this occasion.
Sample the marvellous open-throated
ring in his voice every time he sings
the words "verlangen" or "bald."
There’s some nicely delicate singing
by the choir in the penultimate movement
and then the recorders weave an enchanting
counter-melody round the concluding
chorale. This is a masterly cantata
which here receives a performance to
savour.
BWV 27 is another fine
work. The opening chorus is a moving
lament, punctuated by brief solo passages.
The flowing, irresistibly chirpy alto
aria, ‘Willkommen! Will ich sagen’ is
a delight, enhanced by a marvellous
cornetto part. The concluding chorale,
rather unusually, is not by Bach but
is his slight adaptation of one by a
sixteenth century composer, Johann Rosenmüller.
It’s a most happy borrowing.
The opening chorus
of BWV 8 features some marvellously
original wind sonorities. Both the orchestral
players and the chorus are on top form.
In his notes Gardiner draws an intriguing
parallel with Berlioz’s wind scoring
in L’Enfance du Christ. Mark
Padmore, the pick of a fine bunch of
soloists at this concert, sings the
aria ‘Was willst du dich, mein Geist,
entsetzen’ with exemplary technique.
At several points his precise placing
of each in a series of high, staccato
quaver is most skilful. The bass aria
‘Doch weichet, ihr tollen, Vergeblichen
Sorgen!’ is a life-enhancing dance.
Here there’s a fine spring in the step
of the superb flautist (Rachel Beckett?)
and Thomas Guthrie sings it well. We’ve
heard little of soprano Katharine Fuge
up to now but she’s meltingly lovely
at the start of her recitative. A strongly
affirmative chorale puts the seal on
a splendid performance.
At the beginning of
BWV 95 Bach once again demonstrates
an original approach to chorales. The
short interjections by the solo tenor
(Mark Padmore) add another different
dimension. Gardiner obtains a sprightly
performance and especially relishes
the section of the movement, which he
describes as having "something
of a jam session feel." Mark Padmore
delights in the "mesmerising"
aria, ‘Ach, Schlage doch bald, sel’ge
Stunde’, where we are also treated to
some superb wind playing.
Volume 10
BWV 48 opens with a
deeply moving chorus, which gives the
cantata its title. It’s sung with fine
feeling by the Monteverdi Choir. William
Towers is highly persuasive in his aria.
James Gilchrist has the aria ‘Vergibt
mir Jesus meine Sünden’, which
has a relatively low-lying tessitura
– for once! It’s preceded by a recitative,
which he delivers most characterfully.
Gardiner’s note for
BWV 5 is, even by his standards, especially
perceptive and interesting. He directs
a sturdy account of the opening chorus.
Then Gilchrist, in fine voice, has what
Gardiner rightly describes as the "entrancing"
aria, ‘Ergiesse dich reichlich, du göttliche
Quelle’. This aria, when I first heard
it years ago, sung raptly by Kurt Equiluz
for Harnoncourt in the groundbreaking
Telefunken cycle, was, for me, an early
awakening to the beauties of Bach’s
vocal music. Not only is the vocal line
wonderfully mellifluous but also the
aria is graced by a viola obbligato,
felicitously described by Gardiner as
one of "tumbling liquid gestures."
What a superb description! Happily,
this outstandingly lyrical aria is splendidly
achieved here. Peter Harvey is authoritative
in the bass aria, ‘Verstumme, Höllenheer’
and he’s supported by a superb solo
trumpet.
BWV 90 is included
here because the timing of Easter in
2000 meant an insufficient supply of
Sundays after Trinity. It opens with
a biting, fiery tenor aria. James Gilchrist
is just as good in this as he was in
the lyrical effusions of BWV 5. Peter
Harvey is once again in alliance with
the trumpeter for the aria, ‘So löschet
im Eifer der rächender Richter’
and once again both musicians rise splendidly
to the occasion.
Harvey carries virtually
the entire burden of BWV 56, except
for the concluding chorale, for this,
of course, is one of Bach’s celebrated
solo cantatas. The extended first aria,
‘Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen’,
finds him producing some fine and sensitive
singing. He spins a long legato line.
Then, in the succeeding recitative he
is eloquent and dignified. The mood
changes for the second aria, ‘Endlich,
endlich wird mein Joch’. This is almost
perky music. Harvey gives a buoyant
performance and the solo oboe partners
him delightfully. This is a fine performance
of the cantata.
The choices of some
venues on the pilgrimage were especially
apposite and surely none more so than
that of the Schlosskirche, Wittenberg,
where our pilgrims marked the Feast
of Reformation. This was the very church
on whose door in 1517 Martin Luther
is said to have nailed his famous 95
Theses, the signal for what became the
Reformation. Not surprisingly, this
major date in the Lutheran calendar
inspired Bach. Cantata BWV 79 opens
with a splendid, majestic chorus, to
the textures of which horns and timpani
add richness. It’s fervently performed
here. Straight afterwards, in a stroke
of genius, Bach provides a great contrast
through the intimacy of the scale of
the alto aria ‘Gott ist unser Sonn und
Schild’ but immediately after this the
fireworks start again with the ebullient
fanfares of a horn-enriched chorale.
The whole performance of this cantata
is exciting and committed.
Next we hear a very
short cantata, BWV 192. It consists
of just three movements: two choruses
framing a duet for soprano for soprano
and bass. It’s not, perhaps, one of
the most memorable of the cantatas but
its placement here is shrewd and satisfying
for it acts almost as a musical sorbet
between the much more substantial fayre
of the other two cantatas on this disc.
BWV 80 is, of course,
one of Bach’s most famous cantatas.
Here proceedings are enlivened greatly,
for practical reasons explained in the
notes, by the addition to the orchestra
of a bass sackbut. This imparts a "Breughel-like
swagger to the music", producing
some wonderfully thunderous low notes.
The Monteverdi Choir is in full cry
in the opening chorus, no doubt spurred
on by the presence of the bass sackbut
as well as by the occasion itself. Joanne
Lunn is gorgeously delicate in the plaintive
sections of the aria, ‘Komm in mein
Herzenshaus’. The choir is involved
twice more. They display splendid energy
in the central chorale and the affirmative
strength they bring to the concluding
chorale is most involving. By a piece
of serendipity (or adroit planning)
the Pilgrimage moved straight from Wittenberg,
the cradle of the Reformation, to Rome
for its next concert. Gardiner recounts
that in a little concluding speech the
pastor of the Schlosskirche sent them
on their way, mischievously enjoining
them to "Carry the good work on
to Rome."
Actually, at the time
of writing the Rome concert has yet
to be released on CD. In fact the next
release finds the Pilgrims spending
Christmas in New York, as we shall see
in due course.
The first releases
in this series have garnered a good
deal of critical praise. It is to be
hoped that this is mirrored in sales
for, presumably, that is the factor
that will determine whether or not SDG
can issue a complete cycle of the cantatas.
I hope very much that they will be able
to do this. For one thing, if the standard
of the initial releases is maintained
then the full cycle will be a very significant
addition to the discography of Bach’s
cantatas. But more than that, this is
more than a studio-made series of discs.
It’s the aural record of a major musical
undertaking and an act of homage. As
such it not only deserves but, in my
opinion, demands to be preserved for
posterity. As I write this the omens
are good with two further sets, Volumes
19 and 21 just announced for release.
I’ll hope to report again after visiting,
as it were, a few more stops on the
Bach Cantata Pilgrimage.
I mentioned earlier
that the performances come across as
much more than just concerts. Already
in these early releases I detect a palpable
atmosphere, a rather special commitment
and a sense of something extraordinary
unfolding. Perhaps this will be only
fully apparent when, one hopes, the
complete cycle has appeared on CD. However,
I’ve heard enough already to make me
believe that these recordings document
a very special achievement. In support
of this view let the last word, for
now, be from one of the performers.
During the Pilgrimage some musicians,
soloists especially, took part in some
concerts and then left the venture to
return later. One such was baritone,
Dietrich Henschel. He sang in the performances
of Christmas Oratorio
in December 1999 and then rejoined the
Pilgrimage for the concerts in June
2000 (Volume 1.) Here is part of what
he says in a note accompanying those
CDs.
"I had already
found a different quality in the inaugural
concert of the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage
in Weimar at Christmas 1999, one which
gave me a special excitement…….[In June
2000] I joined forces with them again.
Their pilgrimage had progressed, their
way of performing had evolved – they
had become spiritually familiar with
one another. Their obvious understanding
of the substance of the music had gained
a unique quality as a result of continuous
exposure and experimentation during
rehearsals…..Never before had I been
so overwhelmed by the power and strength
of an entire ensemble of professional
musicians forged into a community united
by a common spiritual goal."
A remarkable testimony,
the accuracy of which, I suggest, is
readily apparent when listening to these
discs. I am impatient for further instalments
and recommend these initial CDs enthusiastically.
John Quinn
Visit the Bach
Cantata Pilgrimage webpage for reviews of other releases
in this series
Katharine Fuge, Malin Hartelius, Gillian Keith,
Joanne Lunn (sopranos); Wilke te Brummelstroete,
William Towers, Robin Tyson (altos); Paul Agnew,
James Gilchrist, Mark Padmore (tenors); Julian
Clarkson, Thomas Guthrie, Peter Harvey, Dietrich
Henschel (basses) 
