MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: Crotchet
Download: Classicsonline


Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Cantatas - Vol. 42
Alles nur nach Gottes Willen, BWV72 (1726) [15:07]
Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen, BWV32 (1726) [22:46]
Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen, BWV13 (1726) [20:11]
Herr Gott, dich loben wir, BWV162 (1725) [15:51]
Rachel Nicholls (soprano); Robin Blaze (counter-tenor); Gerd Türk (tenor); Peter Kooij (bass)
Bach Collegium Japan/Masaaki Suzuki
rec. Kobe Shoin Women's University Chapel, Japan, February 2008
BIS SACD 1711 [75:24]  
Experience Classicsonline


A consistently useful feature of Bach Collegium Japan's BIS Bach cantata series has been the erudite booklet notes by Klaus Hofmann. In the introductory paragraph to the essay accompanying this latest volume he reminds us of Bach's extraordinary industry - a new cantata each Sunday - during the years he worked as Kantor at the church of St Thomas, Leipzig. Some may have been lost from 1726, however, as the allotted cantata for certain Sundays has not survived. It may even be that Bach's rate of production slowed for some reason, but in any event here are four from January of that year, including one composed for New Year's Day.

I was particularly glad of the booklet notes in respect of Meine Seufzer, which takes as its starting point the wedding at Cana where Christ turned water into wine, this being the gospel passage for the particular Sunday for which this cantata was composed. It would take a canny reader, though, to work this out for himself, there being but a single, and rather oblique reference to the story in the text. Christ learned that there was no more wine from his mother, to whom he replied 'Your concern…is not mine. My hour is not yet come.' This last phrase, writes Hofmann, is what the cantata is really about, 'abandonment, hopelessness, but later also about confidence that the hour will come.' Christ's hour came with the betrayal by Judas Iscariot, and given that he fully understood his purpose on earth, and therefore his fate, we can understand that he already had presentiments of abandonment and hopelessness. All this serves to illustrate the depth of philosophical debate contained in the libretti of Bach's cantatas, and also to make one wonder how accessible were the messages to the congregations at Leipzig. In the present case, a cantata which takes as its starting point the miracle of turning water into wine is transformed into a meditation of misery and despair. Significantly, though, it is only at the point in the libretto where the vaguest reference to the miracle is made that hope begins to shine through, however dimly. It is a beautiful work, with, in particular, a long tenor aria featuring two recorders and oboe da caccia. Some might find Gerd Türk rather cool here, but he is vocally splendid, and I find that a slight trace of detachment only serves to bring out with even greater pathos the meaning of the words. He sounds oddly out of sorts, though, in Herr Gott, dich loben wir, composed for New Year's Day, but lacking the customary trumpets and fanfares which generally symbolise the joy of that particular feast. The chorus, too, earlier in the work, are rather lacking in festive spirit, and in both cases it seems that a combination of a steady tempo and certain stolid heaviness in the rhythm combine to create this effect.

The link between the cantata subject and its libretto is easy to discern in Liebster Jesu. Another well-known story is the starting point, the occasion when visiting Jerusalem that Mary and Joseph thought they had lost the child Jesus but find him in the temple debating with the elders. The voice of Christ is allotted to the bass, even though he is a child in the story, and in this Concerto in Dialogo the role of his mother - the Soul, here - is sung by a soprano. Rachel Nicholls appeared in Suzuki's recording of the B minor Mass, and now makes her cantata series debut here. I find her singing ravishing; her tuning is absolutely spot-on and she sings with striking purity and beauty of tone. Her opening aria is beautifully complemented by the playing of oboist Masamitsu San'nomiya and the closing duet of contentment with Peter Kooij is a delight. She is even more satisfying in the jewel of an aria which closes BWV72. This cantata deals with Christ healing a leper, but typically focuses on the notion of submission to Christ's will as in the leper's words '…if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.' The soprano aria rejoices in the knowledge that God's will is that mankind be saved, and therefore mankind should have faith in the will of God. Once again she is in duet with the oboe, and the aria serves as a reminder of the glorious jewels to be found hidden away in this immense series of cantatas. Earlier in the work Robin Blaze has also been given the opportunity to shine, and though the chorus has relatively little to do in these four works their contribution is excellent too. The recording - which I listened to in ordinary two-channel stereo - and the production values in general are well up to the standards of the house.

Those collecting this series can, therefore, add this one in without hesitation.

William Hedley

 
 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.