Recently, I reviewed
the first three volumes of discs in this series (see review),
all of which were released during 2005. Also released in 2005
were Volumes 14 and 24. I refer readers to my earlier survey,
in which I made some general introductory comments about the
Bach Cantata Pilgrimage.
These next two volumes
in the evolving cycle maintain the high artistic and presentational
standards set by the first releases. In particular, Sir John
Eliot Gardiner’s notes are a delight and, unless otherwise stated,
quotations in this review are taken from his commentaries. Each
release also carries a note penned by one of the performers,
reflecting on the concerts in question. I particularly commend
the note in Volume 24 by organist Silas John Standage in which
he relates how last-minute technical problems with the organ
in the Schlosskirche, Altenburg nearly jeopardised the concert.
Volume 14
The performances
included here come from the very end of the Pilgrimage, when
the pilgrims celebrated Christmas 2000 in New York, fittingly
uniting the Old World and the New in the festive season, a time
of year that often seems to have brought out the best in Bach.
Christmas Day found the pilgrims in St. Bartholomew’s church,
the church where Leopold Stokowski was organist between 1905
and 1909, when he first came to the USA, during which period
he conducted his church choir in a performance of the St.
Matthew Passion.
The cantata, BWV
91 opens with an exuberant chorus, here given with all the festive
spirit imaginable. The tenor aria, ‘Gott, dem der Erden Kreis
zu klein’, is splendidly sung by James Gilchrist. I love Gardiner’s
comment about the accompaniment of “three oboes swinging along
like prototype saxophones: baroque big band music in the city
of the Village Vanguard!” Katharine Fuge and Robin Tyson combine
most effectively in the duet, ‘Die Armut, so Gott auf sich nimmt’,
with the syncopated accompaniment of violins driving the music
forward purposefully.
Then Gardiner breaks
up the liturgical chronology slightly to give us two cantatas
for the Second Day of Christmas. In BWV 121 the orchestra is
strengthened by no less than three sackbuts, which underpin
and enrich the textures in the opening chorus. James Gilchrist
is in fine, easy voice for his aria, ‘O du von Gott erhöhte
Kreatur.’ William Towers excels in the recitative. ‘Der Gnade
unermesslich’s Wesen’ and this is a good time to correct an
omission from my comments to date on this whole series of CDs.
I’m conscious that I’ve mentioned many of the aria performances
but have neglected to say much about the recitatives. Let me
hasten to correct this now. Towers’ sensitive singing in this
particular recitative seems to me to be symptomatic of the carefully
considered and committed approach to the recits, which I find
is a consistent feature of this series, no matter who the singer
is. It’s very evident that considerable thought has been given
by one and all to the meaning of the text and how best to put
it across. Returning to this particular cantata, I enjoyed very
much Peter Harvey’s account of the joyful and positive bass
aria, ‘Johannis freudenvolles Springen’. The final chorale is
superbly colourful, with those marvellous sackbuts once again
adding a special sonority.
BWV 40 is also for
the Second Day of Christmas. It opens with a strong, positive-sounding
chorus to which a pair of horns makes an important contribution
and in which the singing of the Monteverdi Choir is very incisive.
However, Gardiner draws our attention to the fact that, despite
the positive tone on the surface, the chorus is actually in
a minor key. Bach, one presumes, is drilling down into the deeper
meaning of Christmas, namely that it is the prelude to the redemptive
work of Christ. The words of this chorus translate as ‘For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy
the works of the devil.’ Later there’s a “feisty, rumbustious”
bass aria, which finds in Peter Harvey an excellent proponent.
The cantata also contains a taxing aria for the tenor soloist,
which James Gilchrist performs splendidly and in which he receives
exciting support from pairs of oboes and horns.
It’s back to Christmas
Day itself for the final item in the programme, BWV 110, shrewdly
chosen by Gardiner as the perfect end to a celebratory concert.
The opening chorus is, in fact, the Overture to the Fourth Orchestral
Suite, BWV 1069, with the addition of a pair of flutes in the
orchestra and, of course, a choir. It’s superbly celebratory
music and Gardiner’s forces deliver it with tremendous panache,
making it into a real feast for the ears. The flutes also appear
in the tenor aria ‘Ihr Gedanken und ihr Sinnen’, providing an
exquisite accompaniment to James Gilchrist’s eloquent singing.
Then the listener’s ear is ravished further by the sinuous combination
of alto (William Towers) and oboe in the aria, ‘Ach Herr, was
ist ein Menschenkind’. Gilchrist and Joanne Lunn are then irrepressibly
joyful in their duet. The final aria, ‘Wacht auf, ihr Adern
und ihr Glieder’, falls to the bass soloist (Peter Harvey).
As Gardiner points out, this aria, complete with trumpets, is
a precursor of ‘Grosser Herr’ in the first cantata of Christmas
Oratorio. He describes it as “assertive, festive and brilliant”
and so it is in this performance. What a Christmas treat this
whole concert must have been for those New Yorkers lucky enough
to experience it. Thankfully it’s now preserved on disc for
us all to enjoy.
Volume 24
This set consists
of cantatas for the Easter season. The superb BWV 12 is a Weimar
cantata, dating from 1714 but heard here in its 1724, Leipzig,
revision. Bach opens with a sinfonia, which is a profound meditation
led by a keening oboe. Then he plumbs even greater depths in
the succeeding extended chorus, which later became the Crucifixus
of the B Minor Mass. The opening music of this
chorus is performed with great feeling and exemplary control.
The tempo picks up in a faster, contrapuntal central section,
which puts one in mind of passages in the Motets. William Towers
is in fine form for his recitative and aria, the latter being
a particularly inspired invention. Julian Clarkson appears for
the first time in the series to give a spirited reading of the
short aria, ‘Ich folge Christo nach.’ Mark Padmore, on the
other hand, is no stranger to the series. He’s a joy to hear
in the musically and emotionally taxing aria, ‘Sei getreu, alle
Pein’, which is decorated by a gentle trumpet chorale, marvellously
voiced and placed here. Rounded off by a stirring chorale, this
is a splendid performance of this profound cantata.
BWV 103 (1725) starts
deceptively. As Gardiner points out perceptively in his note,
the vigorous fugal opening chorus sounds joyful on the surface.
However, that’s deliberately somewhat at odds with the sentiments
of the text. He leads his forces in a robust account of this
music. It’s an astonishingly inventive movement, both in terms
of the music itself and also in respect of the scoring, in which
an important soprano recorder part is prominent. This chorus
seems to present most effectively to the listener the antithesis
between sorrow and joy. Happiness is finally attained in the
splendid tenor aria, ‘Erholet euch, betrübte Sinnen’. Both Mark
Padmore and trumpeter Niklas Eklund make this hugely demanding
aria sound almost easy in a performance of exuberant conviction.
BWV 146 is on a
huge scale, lasting some 38 minutes in this performance. Bach
adapted the first two movements of the D minor Harpsichord Concerto,
BWV 1052a for the first two movements of this cantata. First
comes a sinfonia for which, for once, the organ of the venue
itself was used rather than the portable organ that was generally
used throughout the Pilgrimage. As soon as we hear the mighty
organ of the Schlosskirche, Altenburg it’s obvious why that
choice was made. The instrument produces some wonderful sounds,
especially in its lower reaches and though its action must have
taxed the skills of organist Silas John Standage the results
amply justify the pains he took. The sinfonia emerges here as
an ambitious, grand canvass and it’s marvellously exciting –
and entertaining – to hear it done like this. Bach himself is
known to have played this instrument in 1739, shortly after
its installation, so its use here is doubly justified. Gardiner’s
marvellously apt description of it as a “Baroque ‘Mighty Wurlitzer’”
is just another example of his ability to find the mot juste
in his notes.
After the thrills
of the sinfonia Bach grafts a four-part chorus onto the music
of the slow movement of the concerto to transform it into a
superb, sustained and intense choral meditation. The recording
captures well the fine distancing effect that was achieved by
placing the choir at the rear of the church for this movement.
There follows a substantial alto aria, which is well sung by
William Towers and graced by what is rightly described as a
“radiant” violin obbligato. Brigitte Geller, a singer new to
me, has had little to do in the concert up to now but she is
heard to good effect in this cantata in a dramatic recitative
and an aria that is more emotionally relaxed. I enjoyed very
much the vigorous performance of the arresting and joyful tenor
and bass duet, ‘wie will ich mich freuen’.
The following week
the show moved on to Warwick, a late change of plan in the face
of complications in Warsaw, which had been the intended destination
for the Fourth Sunday of Easter. BWV 166, which was the first
item on the programme, opens with a bass arioso. I thought that
I detected a suggestion or two that Stephen Varcoe was not quite
at his best here, the voice sounding just a little thin. But
he’s a highly experienced singer and he still puts across words
and music convincingly – and I have to say that I enjoyed his
subsequent singing very much. James Gilchrist is in fine voice
for the “serene meditation” of the aria ‘Ich will an den Himmel
denken’. The alto aria, ‘Man nehme sich in Acht’ is an extrovert,
virtuoso piece, which seems to test Robin Tyson, accomplished
singer though he is. The cantata ends with a chorale, which
begins most effectively, the choir hushed and a cappella. This
provides a telling contrast to the outgoing alto aria that precedes
it.
BWV 108, which dates
from 1725, has some structural similarities with BWV 166, which
had been composed in the previous year. Gilchrist has another
demanding aria, this time a much more spirited one than that
which fell to him in BWV 166. Once again he rises fully to the
occasion. There have already been several opportunities in this
series for him to demonstrate his prowess as a Bach tenor and
this is another. In passing it should be said that on the evidence
of the discs so far issued Gardiner has chosen his tenor soloists
for this whole project particularly well. Besides Gilchrist
the excellence of both Paul Agnew and Mark Padmore has already
been noted. At the centre of BWV 108 lies a vigorous polyphonic
chorus, which the Monteverdi Choir sings with tremendous assurance
and spirit, after which Robin Tyson sings the important alto
aria well.
Finally we hear
BWV 117. The date of composition of this cantata is uncertain;
it dates from between 1728 and 1731 and the occasion for which
it was penned is not certain. However, it fits in well with
the two companion works in this programme, not least in terms
of its subject matter. Gardiner is surely right to suggest in
his notes that whatever the occasion was it was a significant
one. It opens with a celebratory and positive chorus, which
later reappears to close the work. Though Bach eschews the use
of trumpets here the music is still very festive in tone. There’s
another fine tenor aria to enjoy and an equally imposing, more
reflective one for the bass. Both are stylishly sung by Messrs.
Gilchrist and Varcoe respectively. There’s also an engagingly
perky alto aria and I found this piece, and Robin Tyson’s singing
of it a delight.
These two volumes
in this evolving series continue in every respect the extremely
high standards set in the previous issues. There are currently
two other significant Bach cantata cycles in progress. These
are the surveys by Ton Koopman and by Masaaki Suzuki. Both series
have attracted much praise and though I haven’t heard any of
the Koopman discs, other than on the radio, those from the Suzuki
cycle that have come my way have impressed me very much. I am
not really in a position to make any detailed comparisons between
these rival cycles. What I will say, however, is that this Gardiner
series is so far very fine indeed and is promising much. The
fact that his performances stem from live performances does
give them a certain ambience and immediacy, I think. Of course,
one doesn’t know how much editing has taken place (I understand
that the dress rehearsals were also taped as a precaution).
However, my guess would be that editing has been kept to a minimum;
these performances consistently have the feel of a genuine performance
and, indeed, convey a palpable sense of occasion.
If you’re already
collecting either the Koopman or Suzuki cycles then economic
realities will probably prevent you from collecting the Gardiner
discs as well. Even so I’d recommend sampling this intriguing
and stimulating series. If pressed to choose from the sets that
have been released to date I think I’d plump for Volume 1, which
was discussed in my previous survey, and Volume 14. However,
all the five sets I’ve heard to date are excellent and will
give much pleasure.
This is shaping
up to be a series of considerable importance and, of course,
if it can be completed, it will have the distinction of being
the first Bach cantata cycle to be composed entirely of live
performances. I recommend these two latest additions to the
series with great enthusiasm
John Quinn
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Volume 14:
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Katharine Fuge,
Joanne Lunn (sopranos); William Towers, Robin Tyson (altos); James Gilchrist
(tenor); Peter Harvey (bass)
