Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Dialogue Cantatas
Cantata No.32, BWV32, Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen (First Sunday
after Epiphany, 1726) [20:48]
Cantata No.57, BWV57, Selig ist der Mann (Second Day of Christmas,
1725) [20:14]
Cantata No.49, BWV49, Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen (20th Sunday after Trinity, 1726) [23:24]
Sophie Karthäuser (soprano), Michael Volle (bass);
Members of RIAS Kammerchor;
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin/Raphael Alpermann
rec. October 2017, Teldex Studio, Berlin. DDD
Texts and translations included
Reviewed as 24/96 download with pdf booklet from
eclassical.com.
HARMONIA MUNDI HMM902368
[64:26]
Cantata No.170, Vergnügte Ruh’, beliebte Seelenlust, BWV170 (6th Sunday after Trinity, 1726) [22:15]
Trio Sonata No.3 in d minor, BWV527 [15:01]
Cantata No.35, Geist und Seele wird verwirret, BWV35 (12th Sunday after Trinity, 1726) [25:24]
Fantasia and Fugue in g minor, BWV542 [10:23]
Le Banquet Céleste [Baptiste Lopez, Caroline Bayet (violin); Deirdre Dowling
(viola); Ageet Zweistra (cello); Thomas de Pierrefeu (double bass); Patrick
Beaugiraud (oboe, oboe d’amore); Jean-Marc Philippe (oboe); Rodrigo
Gutierrez (alto oboe); Julien Debordes (bassoon); Kevin Manent
(harpsichord); Maude Gratton (organ)/Damien Guillon (counter-tenor)
rec. 2011, Église Réformée du Bouclier, Strasbourg. DDD.
Texts not included
Reissued from Zig-Zag ZZT305
ALPHA 343
[72:39]
These three ‘dialogue’ cantatas on HARMONIA MUNDI come from the
third Jahrgang or cycle which Bach composed for Leipzig, in 1725/26.
In each of these, as in the better-known pre-Advent cantata in the same
cycle, Wachet auf, BWV140, the soprano voice (the bride) addresses
Jesus (the bridegroom), whose reply is delivered by the bass.
Such a coupling is not new: Ton Koopman and his Amsterdam team recorded
BWV49 and BWV59, with BWV60 and BWV140 on Challenge CC72288 and there are
similar offerings from Oehms (Nos. 32, 57 and 58) and DG (Nos. 57, 152 and
49, download only), though no other recording, as far as I know, matches
exactly the Harmonia Mundi coupling.
Though united by the dialogue concept, these three cantatas are different
in nature, but all are well worth adding to your Bach portfolio. If in
doubt, subscribers to Naxos Music Library can hear the recording
there,
with pdf booklet. Surprisingly, BWV49, though composed for that dull time
post-Trinity, emerges as the most attractive of the three: it’s justly
singled out as a fine example of ‘tenderness and eroticism’ in Malcolm
Boyd’s classic volume in the Dent Master Musicians series. Try track 18,
the soprano’s dancing exultation Ich bin herrlich, ich bin schön and
the equally lilting concluding section on track 20, Dich hab’ ich je und je geliebet. Bach echoes the epistle for the
day, which speaks of being not drunk with excess but filled with the joy of
the spirit and the gospel is the parable of those called to the marriage
feast.1
Because of their nature, with the soloists doing almost all the work and
the chorus summing things up at the end – no chorus at all in BWV49 – it’s
especially important that the soprano and bass should be very good. Sophie
Karthäuser and Michael Volle more than meet that requirement. Karthäuser
has a light and pleasant voice, well focused but not without powerful
emotion in her pleas to Jesus.
I compared the DG recording of BWV49 mentioned above on which Rainer
Kussmaul directs the Berlin Bachsolisten. That’s a sprightly account, with
a fine bass in Thomas Quasthoff (E4776591, available to stream from
Naxos Music Library)
but Karthäuser is easily preferable to Dorothea Röschmann, not on best
form on that recording.
Several recordings use a boy soprano, which is what Bach would have
expected, as on the Teldec complete series with Nikolaus Harnoncourt (in
No.49) and Gustav Leonhardt sharing the direction of Concentus Musicus
Wien. What is lost in vocal expertise is compensated for by the purity of
the youthful voice, preferable to Röschmann’s slight plumminess. In this
case the boy is not hopelessly out-sung by the female competition and I
return to this series from time to time, but my overall preference must lie
with Karthäuser.
Volle is more bass-baritone than deep bass: on a recent Wagner recording
for Orfeo he was, indeed, described as baritone (Recording of the Month –
review). As such, he doesn’t quite convince on the lowest notes, but otherwise a
tonal range not unlike that of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau more than
compensates.
I had hoped to compare Volle with Dieskau on DG Archiv’s recently reissued
Karl Richter recordings of Bach cantatas but that collection containing one
work for each of the Sundays and major feasts doesn’t include any of these
three dialogue cantatas. I can’t resist mentioning it here, however,
because its occasional infelicities compared to more recent
historically-informed recordings don’t diminish its abiding value (4835035,
two blu-ray audio discs, or download or stream from Naxos Music Library on
separate sets for Advent and Christmas; Easter; Ascension, Whitsun and
Trinity and Sundays after Trinity I and II).
If you didn’t pick up the Richter recordings when they were around before,
now is the time to do so, but don’t let that prevent you from also going
for the new Harmonia Mundi. It may not be offered as a blu-ray and the
label dropped the SACD format some time ago, but it sounds very well in 24-bit sound,
on offer for the same price as 16-bit for an initial period.
Did I mention that the accompaniment of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
and Raphael Alpermann's expert direction clinch the deal for me?
The ALPHA reissue of a Zig-Zag recording of fairly recent provenance
reminds us how fickle the fate of a fine recording can be, but we benefit
from its reissue at a lower price. It opens with as fine an account of the
deservedly well-known BWV170 as you are likely to hear unless, like me, you
are besotted with Janet Baker’s recording (Decca Eloquence 4762684, with
Cantatas Nos. 82 and 159, download only –
review). Damien Guillon, soloist and director, is on a par with Iestyn Davis in
an all-cantata collection which includes BWV170, featuring Iestyn Davies, on
Hyperion CDA68111 –
Christmas 2016.
With the usual proviso that my press preview from Outhere came in mp3 only
and not at the ideal bit-rate, the Alpha recording is very good.
The booklet is an improvement on most of the earlier releases in this
mid-price series in that it actually tells us something about the composer
and the music but, like its siblings, it comes devoid of texts. Surely a
reprint of the original booklet with a different cover – at least that’s
preferable to the very odd original – would have been feasible;
fortunately, subscribers to Naxos Music Library can find its forebear, with
texts and translations,
there.
Johan van Veen wrote of the original Zig Zag release that it was ‘moving
and exciting’. That applies to the reissue as, also, to the new Harmonia
Mundi. Make room on your creaking shelves or hard-driven hard drive for
both.
1
Dig out your old 1662 Book of Common Prayer, which follows the same pattern
of readings as the Lutheran church of Bach’s day.
Brian Wilson
Previous reviews
Harmonia Mundi:
Stuart Sillitoe (Recording of the Month)
Alpha (original Zig Zag
release):
Johan van Veen