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: MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS

Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Arias from Cantatas and Oratorios
Doch weichet, ihr tollen vergeblichen Sorgen from Cantata BWV8 [5:07]
Herr, so willt from Cantata BWV73 [3:32]
Wohlzutun und mitzuteilen from Cantata BWV39 [2:51]
Mein Freund ist mein from Cantata BWV140 [5:45]
Der ewig reiche Gott from Cantata BWV192 [2:53]
Mache dich, mein Herze, rein from the St. Matthew Passion, BWV244 [6:16]
Gebt mir meinen Jesum wieder from the St. Matthew Passion, BWV244 [2:55]
Cantata BWV82 ‘Ich habe genug’ [22:44]
Bist du bei mir (attr. Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, arr. Jessica Wells) BWV508 [2:37]
Teddy Tahu Rhodes (bass-baritone); Sara Macliver (soprano)
Orchestra of the Antipodes/Anthony Walker; Brett Weymark
rec. 24 March 2003, 15-17 December 2005, 12 December 2006 and 17-18 November 2008, Eugene Goossens Hall of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Ultimo Center, Sydney.
ABC CLASSICS 476 3871 [55:15]

Experience Classicsonline


That death, and the promise of a better life thereafter are central themes in Bach’s sacred output is no surprise. It would be a century before Pasteur’s connection between bacteria and disease would revolutionize medicine and sanitation practices. Effective pain-killers were practically non-existent and people died with a regularity that would be unimaginable in the modern world. Thus, people turned to charms, rituals and most importantly, religion to find comfort and cure.
 
Sebastian Bach created an enormous amount of music to be used in the four Lutheran churches in Leipzig, principally, St. Thomas Church. Over a span of fifteen years, Bach composed at least one cantata a month of which some 250 are extant. In addition to the cantatas, there is the tremendous output for organ, four passions (two are extant), Lutheran masses, the Christmas Oratorio and The Mass in b minor.
 
In dramatic music, the voice of wisdom, age and authority or in some cases malice is most often given to lower voices. In opera bass singers are cast as fathers, villains, judges, or elders in general, while tenors get to be the heroes and young lovers. In the sacred realm, it is traditional to give Jesus a bass voice to assert his authority, and to provide a sense of comfort. Teddy Tahu Rhodes has chosen a program of arias that centers on the themes of hope, exhortation, comfort and the acceptance of death. He is joined by Sara Macliver for two fetching duets cast as dialogues between Christ and the faithful soul.
 
The centerpiece of this recital is the dramatic solo cantata ‘Ich habe genug’ spoken from the point of view of a man at the end of his life, giving the summation of his earthly journey and preparing for a new life to come. Its poignant opening movement is really a resignation from life. A confession that there is nothing left on earth left to live for and a plea for the release of death. The stunning second movement, Schlummert ein is a lullaby to oneself and is one of the most beautiful melodies in the Bach canon. Such is the dramatic impact of this monumental work, that the innovative and controversial director Peter Sellars created a striking staging of the work for mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who performed the work as a dying patient clad in a hospital gown and confined to her bed connected to tubes and machines. Ironically it would be just a short time from these performances before Ms. Hunt Lieberson would succumb to cancer. Many believed this performance to be her musical will and testament.
 
Mr. Rhodes is a most expressive singer, whose deep bass hues are combined with the clarity and slight edge of the higher baritone register to result in a voice of both total authority and remarkable beauty. His ability to plumb the lowest notes of his register is balanced by a complete ease in the upper range. His is the perfect voice for Bach, who was seldom forgiving to singers, making demands on the voice that require complete control and a virtuoso technique. It is no wonder that Bach often complained that his music was seldom performed to his standards. Those standards are often well beyond even trained professional singers.
 
Other highlights include the beautiful dialogue duet Mein Freund ist mein, with its text from the Song of Songs. Mr. Rhodes is joined by soprano Sara Macliver, whose dulcet soprano is a fine match for Rhodes richly colored voice.
 
The Orchestra of the Antipodes, under two different batons, is a sensitive band, with a sweet and finely tuned string section and ample ability within its ranks to handle Bach’s often challenging obbligato parts. Many of Bach’s arias are effectively duets between the singer and a solo instrument, and none of the instrumental soloists here disappoint.
 
Excellent notes are provided by K.P. Kemp and complete texts and translations are included. ABC Classics is a new label to me, but it is obvious that the engineers at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation have their skills well in hand, giving us a recording that is as warm as it is present, as clear as it is reverberant.
 
Kevin Sutton
 

 

 

 

 

 


 


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






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.