The years in which fans of Bach's cantatas depended on the complete series conducted by Leonhardt and Harnoncourt, which became known as 'Das Kantatenwerk', are now far behind us. Nowadays there are also complete series by Koopman, Gardiner and Suzuki, among others, and in addition to these and other complete recordings, new recording series are already being worked on. Someone who is also venturing
… into this is the Belgian conductor Sigiswald Kuijken with his ensemble La petite bande. This CD is part four of the series and contains four cantatas. Kuijken is a well-known advocate of authentic performance practice (if anyone still dares to use that term) and has gained a reputation for fairly idiosyncratic interpretations. Also in this recording a sometimes typical unpolished sound can be heard, as in the opening chorus of Sie, all aus Saba bowls (BWV.65). That does not alter the fact that, like almost everyone nowadays, he no longer has the arias sung by boy sopranos and altos, although Bach unmistakably did. What is particularly striking about any CD with Bach cantatas is the inexhaustible musical richness. This CD does not disappoint either. From the remarkable recitatives from Schau, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind (BWV.153) to the effective tenor aria 'O Schwert, das durch die Seele dringt' from Mein liebster Jesus is lost (BWV.154): a CD like this is a sequence of highlights. (JvG) What is particularly striking about any CD with Bach cantatas is the inexhaustible musical richness. This CD does not disappoint either. From the remarkable recitatives from Schau, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind (BWV.153) to the effective tenor aria 'O Schwert, das durch die Seele dringt' from Mein liebster Jesus is lost (BWV.154): a CD like this is a sequence of highlights. (JvG) What is particularly striking about any CD with Bach cantatas is the inexhaustible musical richness. This CD does not disappoint either. From the remarkable recitatives from Schau, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind (BWV.153) to the effective tenor aria 'O Schwert, das durch die Seele dringt' from Mein liebster Jesus is lost (BWV.154): a CD like this is a sequence of highlights. (JvG)more
