This is another single-CD reissue from the Koopman magnum opus
complete Bach Cantatas. Like the single-disc reissue of Solo
Cantatas for Alto and Tenor which I reviewed on CC72282 – see
review
– it has a very drab cover, by contrast with the highly attractive
covers of the complete series. I suppose plain black with out-of-focus
tea lights is not inappropriate for a CD of funeral cantatas,
but I could think of something much better.
A much more serious
drawback which this new release shares with its predecessor is
the lack of texts, with not even an indication of where they may
be found. There are several websites which offer texts and translations
but if you are a serious collector of Bach cantatas you may wish
to invest in Neary M and R Stokes, J.S. Bach: The Complete
Cantatas (Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2005), containing
texts, translations and commentaries.
BWV198, also known
as the Trauer-Ode or mourning ode, was composed for the
funeral of the Electress Christiane Eberhardine on 17/10/1727.
Despite my assertion elsewhere that none of JSB’s cantatas can
be considered a dud – an assertion which I stand by – this work
is not one of my favourites; it stands uncomfortably between the
religious and secular cantatas; strictly, it belongs in the latter
category. It’s a long work when performed as a whole, as here
– originally, half was sung before the funeral oration and half
after. The music director of the university complained that he
had not been given what was essentially an academic commission,
but Bach shows awareness that he is composing for an academic
occasion in the manner of an old-fashioned tombeau and,
though much of the Ode is very beautiful, for once the old accusation
that he is an intellectual composer may be justified.
The opening chorus
is very effective, in the manner of the opening choruses of Bach’s
Passions; appropriately, much of the music from the Ode was re-used
for the lost St Mark Passion. Here and elsewhere the choir sing
well – with no concession to the one-voice-to-a-part theory, though
they never sound over-large. Their account of the final chorus
makes an effective conclusion to the cantata.
Three of the soloists
have a recitative and aria each, but poor old Klaus Mertens, the
bass, has only a recitative which precedes the final chorus.
None of the soloists offers cause for complaint, though Lisa Larson’s
pure voice sometimes develops a slightly shrill edge – much less
noticeable on second hearing – and Elisabeth von Magnus is very
slightly plummy.
Paul Agnew, the tenor,
is the best of the group, describing the sapphire house of eternity
in der Ewigkeit saphirnes Haus (track 8) most mellifluously.
His voice seems to arise by magic from the orchestral lead-in
to this aria. Mertens makes the most of his small part, though
he is a bit gruff on the deepest notes.
The pairing here is
not the most logical, for reasons which I explain below. 198
might have been better coupled with 106 (the Actus Tragicus)
and 118, as on John Eliot Gardiner’s DG Archiv recording.
BWV131, a setting
of the German text of Psalm 130, better known as de Profundis
or Out of the deep, dates from 1707. Strictly speaking,
it isn’t a funeral cantata – the German title Trauer-kantaten
is more accurate than the English translation in this respect:
the penitential occasion for which it was composed is not known
but it is usually thought to have been connected with a disastrous
fire at Mühlhausen in that year. My benchmark for this work is
the recording on Chandos CHAN0715 by Paul Daniels and Peter Harvey
with the augmented Purcell Quartet, where it is coupled with three
other cantatas from the Mühlhausen period, 1707-8: BWV4 (Christ
lag in Todesbanden), 106 (Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste
Zeit) and 196 (Der Herr denket an uns), a set of performances
so ideal in my opinion – the other cantatas involve Emma Kirkby
and Michael Chance – as almost to rule the opposition out of court.
The Chandos and Challenge
versions adopt very similar tempi for the opening sinfonia and
chorus, the bass arioso, the second chorus and the closing chorus,
but the Chandos tempo for the tenor aria Meine Seele wartet
auf den Herrn is considerably slower than that adopted by
Koopman – 7:22 against 6:04. The basic question is
whether to emphasise the waiting aspect of the words (My soul
waits for the Lord from one morning watch to the next) or the
hope to be washed clean of sin like David and Manasseh.
My money is on the
waiting tempo adopted by the Chandos performers, a tempo achieved
without making the work sound too mournful, but that doesn’t totally
rule Koopman out of court: his brisker tempo also makes sense
without sounding brusque. Herreweghe on Virgin (see below) is
on Koopman’s side here, with an even shorter time of 5:59. Joshua
Rifkin’s 4:41 on a Double Decca set containing BWV106, 131, 99,
56, 82 and 158 is surely too fast, though the set is otherwise
recommendable to those who like his one-to-a-part approach (4580872).
Both of Koopman’s
soloists are good – Mertens here losing any of the slight gruffness
which I remarked in his brief contribution to BWV198. Guy de
Mey as not quite as effective in the tenor role here as Agnew
was in that work – his voice is just a little light for my taste,
but I don’t want to make that a serious complaint: in fact, it’s
not inappropriate for the soul waiting for the Lord and his voice
blends well with the chorus. The final chorus, in which Israel
is exhorted to hope in the Lord, one of those Bach choruses that
seem to unwind inexorably, is well delivered, to round off an
effective account – which, nevertheless, doesn’t efface memories
of the Chandos version.
The recording is good
throughout and the notes helpful and informative – apart from
the absence of texts. If you want the coupling of BWV 131 and
198, you won’t go far wrong with this new reissue, but it wouldn’t
be my first choice.
Another very fine
version of BWV131 may be found on an absurdly inexpensive Virgin
Veritas twofer, conducted by Philippe Herreweghe with a distinguished
group of soloists and the Collegium Vocale (5620252, with BWV39,
73, 93, 105 and 107). You’ll find a detailed analysis of BWV131
in the review
in which I recommended this recording last year. No texts again
with this Virgin set, but at the price that’s much more excusable
than with the Challenge Classics reissue. Unfortunately, as was
the case with the Abbado version of Mahler’s Third Symphony when
I tried to find it for comparison recently, I can’t lay hands
on the Herreweghe for comparison, so you and I will have to take
my own word for it that this inexpensive version is very well
worth considering. I really must get some organisation back into
my ‘system’.
Brian
Wilson
