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

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
Sound Samples & Downloads

Johann Sebastian BACH (1685 - 1750)
Cantatas for the complete liturgical year, Vol. 12
Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende, cantata for the 16th Sunday after Trinity (BWV 27) [14:53]
Wer sich selbst erhöhet, der wird erniedriget werden, cantata for the 17th Sunday after Trinity (BWV 47) [20:17]
Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz, cantata for the 15th Sunday after Trinity (BWV 138) [16:51]
Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn, cantata for the 18th Sunday after Trinity (BWV 96) [18:21]
Gerlinde Sämann (soprano), Petra Noskaiová (contralto), Christoph Genz (tenor), Jan Van der Crabben (bass); La Petite Bande/Sigiswald Kuijken
rec. 21 - 22 September 2009, Academiezaal, Sint-Truiden, Belgium. DDD
Lyrics and translations included
ACCENT ACC25312 [70:22]

Experience Classicsonline


This is the twelfth volume of a project called 'Cantatas for the complete liturgical year'. For this series Sigiswald Kuijken chooses one cantata for every Sunday and feast-day of the ecclesiastical year. This disc contains four cantatas, written for the 15th to the 18th Sundays after Trinity. They are performed in a different order on the disc, "for musical reasons", as Kuijken writes in the booklet. He doesn't explain what these musical reasons are. One of them could be that Cantata 47 ends with a stanza of the same hymn which builds the core of the next, BWV 138. In this review I follow the liturgical order, beginning with Cantata 138. 

Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz
(BWV 138) is the earliest cantata here and dates from 1723. It was performed only months after Bach started his activities as Thomaskantor in Leipzig. The subject is connected to the gospel reading of the 15th Sunday after Trinity: St Matthew 6, vs 24-34. Here Jesus urges his disciples not to live in fear because of a lack in faith, but rather trust in God's direction of their lives. It is a chorale cantata: three of the original 14 stanzas are used. The opening chorus is rather unusual in that Bach creates a dialogue between the soloists - expressing the toils and tribulations of everyday life - and the stanzas of the hymn. Most recitatives end with a question which is then answered in lines from the hymn. The alto, for instance, sings: "Who, then, will stand by me in my grief?" The hymn then answers: "Your Father and your Lord God, who stands by you in all distress". This thought is then continued in the recitative for tenor: "If he does not help today, then he will nonetheless help me tomorrow". This recitative turns into the next aria without interruption. In this the bass expresses trust in God: "In God lies my confidence, my faith lets him rule".
 
The same procedure of a dialogue between soli and tutti returns in the opening section of Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende (BWV 27) which is for the 16th Sunday after Trinity and dates from 1726. The gospel reading of the day (St Luke 7, vs 11-17, about the raising of the young man from Nain) is the reason for general thoughts about life and death. One could consider this as a kind of memento mori. The first line of the hymn which opens the cantata, "Who knows how near is my end?", is answered by the soprano in a recitative: "Dear God alone knows". The tenor of the cantata is expressed in the recitative 'Mein Leben hat kein ander Ziel': "For all is well that ends well". It leads to a positive approach to death, as is expressed in the alto aria: "'Welcome', I will say when death comes to my bed". There are two obbligato instruments: an oboe da caccia and an organ. Kuijken suggests the organ could be a symbol of heavenly music and the oboe da caccia an instrument blown by an angel. In the last aria the bass says farewell to the world: "Good night, you worldly tumult!" The latter is evocatively depicted by the strings. The cantata closes with a wonderful five-part setting of the hymn 'Welt, ade! ich bin dein müde' by Johann Rosenmüller. It is the only time Bach uses material by someone else.
 
In many opening sections of his cantatas Bach displays his mastery of counterpoint and his ability to connect text and music. A brilliant example is certainly the opening of Wer sich selbst erhöhet, der soll erniedriget werden (BWV 47), for the 17th Sunday after Trinity. It is dominated by the form of the fugue, but Bach also eloquently expresses the content of the text which is a quotation of the last verse of the gospel reading of that Sunday, St Luke 14, vs 1-11: "Whoever exalts himself shall be abased, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted". The opposition of arrogance and humility are expressed by ascending and descending figures, and through the antiphonal use of the two oboes versus the strings. The soprano aria 'Wer ein wahrer Christ will heißen' expresses this contrast in a different way. The opening motif of the violin in the A section is taken over by the basso continuo in the B section. "'Arrogance' is with which the servant (the bass accompaniment) undertakes the chief rôle!", Sigiswald Kuijken writes. The violin part is quite virtuosic, and was probably orginally written for an obbligato organ. According to the German Bach scholar Alfred Dürr this part was replaced by a violin in a revival of the cantata in the late 1730s.
 
Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn (BWV 96) is another chorale cantata, written for the 18th Sunday after Trinity. It follows a more traditional pattern in that only the first and the last stanza of the hymn (Elisabeth Creutziger, 1524) are used unaltered, whereas the three stanzas in between are reworked in the form of recitatives and arias. The title refers to the gospel reading of that Sunday, St Matthew 22, vs 34-46. Here Jesus asks the Pharisees about the Messiah, pointing out that David has called him his Lord, whereas at the same time he is the son of David. The central thought is expressed in the alto recitative: "The great Son of God whom David already in spirit honoured as his Lord". Notable is the fact that the chorale melody is given to the alto, who is supported by a horn and two oboes to make the melody more clearly audible. The instrumental scoring is striking because of the participation of a flauto piccolo, a descant recorder in f" which plays quick figurations during the opening section. This lends it a pastoral character which can be explained by the fact that this chorale has traditionally often been associated with Epiphany, which is reflected by calling Jesus the "morning star". The highlight of this cantata is the tenor aria with transverse flute, 'Ach, ziehe die Seele mit Seilen der Liebe': "Ah, draw my soul with bands of love". The drawing is expressed by a motif of three adjacent notes, symbolising the leading role of Jesus in the life of the faithful. The bass aria 'Bald zur Rechten, bald zur Linken' expresses the inconstancy of human nature, moving to the right (ascending figures) and then to the left (descending figures), and begging for Jesus' guidance.
 
In reviews of previous discs in this series I have been critical about the performances of the soloists and the ensemble as a whole. On occasion I have found real expressive power wanting and a lack of depth. In general I am much more positive about this volume. The tutti sections are given excellent performances in which the blending of the voices is of great importance, making Bach's polyphonic web as transparent as possible. In the dialogues between soli and tutti in Cantatas 138 and 27 there is a complete coherence between soli and tutti which is one of the positive effects of the one-voice-per-part approach.
 
The solo parts are generally performed well. In particular Gerlinde Sämann has grown considerably during this project. Her performances have become much more expressive. The soprano aria with violin in Cantata 47 is one of the highlights of this disc, with beautiful playing by Sigiswald Kuijken. Another highlight is the tenor aria from Cantata 96, sung eloquently by Christoph Genz. He is even better in the recitatives in BWV 138 and 27; it seems this form suits him particularly well. Jan Van der Crabben also delivers good performances. It is just a shame that his German pronunciation is correct, but not really idiomatic. Petra Noskaiová sings allright, but I have always had some reservations because I find her interpretations rather bland. That hasn't changed: the alto aria in Cantata 27 is beautifully sung, but without real depth.
 
The booklet contains a very extended analysis of the cantatas by Sigiswald Kuijken, the reading of which I strongly endorse. I am not that happy with the English translations of the lyrics. In order to understand the connection between text and music a more literal translation would have been preferable. In my translations in this review I have made use of Alfred Dürr's book, The Cantatas of J.S. Bach (Oxford University Press, 2005).
 
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
 
Masterwork Index: Bach cantatas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


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.