This set of cantatas covers
a large part of Bach’s compositional career, from his time as
organist at Mühlhausen, in his early twenties, to his first
years as cantor in Leipzig. Other than an observation in the
notes that these works “belie the image of the stern, aged contrapuntalist
of popular myth”, there seems to be no connection – of season,
theme or soloist – between them. In the light of such themed
collections – some of Herreweghe’s own recordings for Harmonia
Mundi, for example – and completed or ongoing cycles of the
cantatas, it would be easy for the present set to be ignored.
Please do not ignore it.
For a minimal outlay (around £9 or even less in the UK) here
be treasure indeed – two hours of it. These are excellent performances,
excellently recorded, utterly absorbing. My only criticism,
as usual with this series, is that the notes are minimal – about
one page each in English, French and German. The French notes
are not a translation of the English, as the German notes are:
they are actually more informative, listing, for example, the
Sundays on which the cantatas were performed.
There is a note to say
that sung texts are available online at www.virginclassics.com,
but I’ve been down that road before and never managed to find
the promised goodies. The same goes for promises of finding
librettos at the emiclassics parent site. In any case, there
are several sites where information about, texts and scores
of the Bach cantatas, in German and in translation, may be found.
A good place to start is bachcantatas.com.
To begin with Cantata 131
on this site.
Here you will discover that the text is taken from Psalm 130
(‘Out of the depths I cry to thee, O Lord’) with the central
stanzas from Bartholomäus Ringwaldt, that the cantata was composed
at Mühlhausen in 1707, and you will be able to download the
German text, several English translations and versions in other
languages, the vocal score, in German and English, with piano
accompaniment, commentaries by various eminent commentators,
etc. (Be warned that the music is contained in quite a large
file – 49 pages – and that the English in the score is a paraphrase,
designed to be sung, not an exact translation.) There are also
links to all current CDs containing this cantata – including
the current Herreweghe set. If you follow this hyperlink, you
will also be able to find similar information relating to the
other cantatas on these CDs.
If, as is generally believed,
this is the earliest of Bach’s cantatas to have survived, what
a wonderfully developed work it is. Just as Sibelius in his
first two symphonies is clearly influenced by Tchaikovsky but
is already recognisably ‘Sibelian’, so, too, in this early work
Bach is wholly himself. Though the occasion was probably penitential
– marking a disastrous fire – it certainly does not sound morbid.
Despite being in a minor key, even the opening words, ‘Out of
the depths …”, marked adagio, are set reflectively rather
than mournfully and in the sinfonia which precedes them,
the oboe sounds placid rather than plaintive. Significantly,
though the words are cries from the depths, it is the highest
voices, sopranos and altos, who enter first. At letter C the
tempo changes to vivace – a confident, not a despairing
call to the Lord to hear. At letter F, the bass and the choral
sopranos duet on the words ‘If thou, Lord, shalt count our sins
..” the tempo changes to andante but the mood remains
positive. The soprano melody, based on Ringwaldt’s chorale
‘Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut’, necessarily sounds
slower – and calmer? – because the minims and semibreves of
the chorale contrast with the bass’s quavers and semiquavers
– a prayer for mercy set against the expectation of forgiveness.
Even the words ‘am Holz mit Todes-schmerzen’, referring to the
atoning suffering of Jesus on the cross, are not dwelled upon:
this was music for a Lutheran congregation, not a Calvinist
one.
The section beginning as
adagio (letter K) soon changes to largo (letter
L) and is reflective rather than morbid. The marking lento
at the beginning of the tenor/choral altos duet (10 bars before
letter O) appears to be editorial but appears to be appropriate
for this section in which the male soloist again expresses confidence
while the alto melody is again based on ‘Herr Jesu Christ, du
höchstes Gut’. The Fugue which concludes the work (from letter
V) with the promise of release from sin matches the vivace
fugue at the end of the opening chorus and is dance-like in
character. This final section progresses from adagio
(letter T) via un poc’allegro a mere three bars later,
adagio again (U), allegro (9 bars later) to the
fugue itself (V).
I have analysed this cantata
in some detail because my view of it is at odds in some respects
with the commentaries on the website to which I have referred.
These commentaries use such terms as ‘plaintive’, ‘profoundly
penitential’, ‘predominantly sober’, ‘sombre’, ‘anxious’ and
‘trembling’. These qualities do exist in the music, but in
a subordinate role: the overall tone is hopeful and Herreweghe’s
performance rightly subordinates the negative qualities to the
positive. It would hardly be possible to imagine a performance
which more exactly chimed with my interpretation of the mood
of this cantata – or, indeed, of Bach’s religious music as a
whole. Even in the closing sections of the great Passions the
mood conjured by the music is reflective rather than mournful
– the ‘sure and certain hope’ of the moderate reform tradition
against the anxiety of the puritan, forever uncertain whether
he is one of the elect.
In his early years at Leipzig,
Bach continued to employ some of the techniques he had used
at Mühlhausen – the interwoven chorale, employed in Cantata
131, is found again in Cantatas 93 and 107 on this set – but,
miraculously, he even managed to improve on what was already
near-perfection. Invidious as it is to single out one work,
105 would probably have the greatest appeal, especially in such
an excellent performance.
The final cantata, ‘Why
art thou so troubled?’, was composed in Leipzig in 1724 for
the 7th Sunday after Trinity: the Epistle for that
day (Rom.6 19-23) speaks of the forgiveness of sin and the promise
of eternal life, while the Gospel (Mark 8 1-9) deals with the
feeding of the four thousand. The text is not from either of
these readings but relates to them – a hymn by the Lutheran
pastor Johann Heermann (1585-1647) on the theme of trust in
God. The score
for this cantata is less unwieldy (24 pages) with the text in
German only: English and other translations are also available
on the main page for this
cantata. Once again Herreweghe’s performance captures the mood
of this cantata excellently, as it does of the other five cantatas
on these discs.
The solo vocal contributions
are all first-class: neither here nor in the choral singing
did I find any cause for criticism. The minimal notes do not
indicate the size of the chorus but it clearly represents a
compromise between the one-voice-to-a-part position and the
over-large choir. The orchestra, too, is an ideal size; both
it and the chorus perform excellently. The recording is also
excellent. With works spanning a wide range of Bach’s output,
from the conservatism of the one Mühlhausen work to his second
Leipizg cycle – though there is nothing here for the major festivals
– this set would serve as an ideal introduction to the cantatas.
These recordings of the
cantatas are also available on a 4-CD set together with the
short Lutheran Masses in equally fine performances. At even
less than twice the price of the current 2-CD set (around £13
in the UK) some may prefer to obtain the cantatas in this form
(5 61721 2). One small word of warning: I have seen the acoustic
for the Masses described as over-reverberant.
Two other Virgin Veritas
2-CD sets of Bach’s choral music offer excellent value: the
Magnificat, Easter Oratorio and Cantatas 4, 11/249b and
50 with the Taverner Consort and Players/Parrott on 5 61647
2 and Cantatas 51, 82a, 84, 199, 202 and 209 with Nancy Argenta
and the Ensemble Sonnerie/Huggett on 5 61644 2. My recommendation
of all three sets is the more cogent for the fact that none
of them came to me as review copies: they were all purchased
by me and I listen to them and the many other Bach cantatas
in my collection regularly – an excellent way to end a hectic
day. You can’t go wrong with a Bach cantata. Remember that
their original liturgical function provided a similar welcome
break in the middle of the 4-hour-long Hauptgottesdienst
or main Sunday service in Leipzig.
There are also good 2-CD
bargain recordings of the B-minor Mass and the St Matthew Passion
from Virgin Classics but for these works my loyalty to the excellent
Archiv/Gardiner sets is unshaken. And these are available unbelievably
inexpensively, together with the Christmas Oratorio and St John
Passion in a 9-CD box set, 469 769 2.
Those who are bitten by
the Bach cantata bug, as I have long been, may wish to go for
one of the complete or near-complete sets currently available
or ongoing from Gardiner, Koopman, Suzuki or the older DG/Richter,
Hänssler/Rilling and Telefunken/Harnoncourt/Leonhardt editions.
Whilst I have some discs from all these series in my collection,
I continue to resist putting all my eggs in one basket: these
works lend themselves to a variety of performing styles. Two
of the cantatas on this Herreweghe set, for example, nos. 39 and
93, are also on Karl Richter’s set of Ascension-Whitsun-Trinity
Cantatas (439 380 2, 6 CDs for around £32) and, while it is true
that, as expected, the Richter versions are slower (slightly slower
in 39, more so in 93) they are still excellent within their own
terms, with splendid singing from the likes of Edith Mathis and
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
Brian
Wilson
