Bach, J S: Cantata BWV90 'Es reißet euch ein schrecklich Ende'

“Patches of engaging music-making here, though giving more insight into 1960s Hamburg than 1720s Leipzig. Choruses are often woolly, soloists vary from off-the-voice big voices to insecure, boyish sounds.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2009 ***

“There is unpredictable excitement in the random way the fruits of John Eliot Gardiner's Bach Pilgrimage are being released, as the next steps of that memorable year are retraced with autumn cantatas from Leipzig (19th Sunday after Trinity) and three Reformation pieces.
Volume 10 represents another compelling reminder of what Gardiner can achieve in Bach when he has the wind behind him – 'living' these works appears to have fired the imagination.
The largest work here is Ein feste Burg (No 80) whose gothic arches of sound find rasping advocacy in the Schlosskirche on the site where Luther preached. His famous hymn is most effectively fortified with a rousing bass sackbut in the first chorus. Here and in the outstanding sister-piece Gott, der Herr (No 79), the performances are distinguished by a palpable immediacy.
The cathartic duet 'Wie selig' (No 80) from William Towers and James Gilchrist is a treasure.
The quality of music never lets up in Potsdam.
Wo soll ich fliehen hin (No 5) is one of the finest of Bach's chorale cantatas, its hymn nurtured by an arresting concerto style which conveys the gnawing presence of sin and the yearning to escape its insidious influence. The contrast between its opening fantasia and the radiant tenor aria 'Ergiesse' is skilfully negotiated: James Gilchrist relishes the transformation of the chorus's 'flight' motif into one of tactile pleasure as the divine spring washes away all man's blemishes.
Mention must be made of Peter Harvey's cultivated and flexible bass. Joanne Lunn is perhaps not ideal but the chorus and orchestra are in stirring form and the recorded sound is captivating.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“…Gardiner's lively and articulate responses to Bach's dance rhythms… refresh and enliven the music, often in a quite distinctive way. The mighty fugal chorus of Ein Feste Burg (BWV 80) comes off splendidly, with Bach's quotation of the hymn melody in the uppermost and lowest strands of the score emerging from the full textures with forceful energy.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2005 ****

“Masaaki Sukuki here brings us four more fine cantatas, of which Wachet! betet! betet! wachet! (No 70) stands apart as one of Bach's most graphically dramatic and cohesive choral achievements. The first movement is justly celebrated, its tautness, forbidding fanfares and diminished chords representing the coming of Christ and the Last Judgement. The apocalyptic backdrop fascinated early interpreters of Bach in the 1950s and '60s, notably Felix Prohaska with his menacing pacing and sepia-like textures offset against a Viennese elegance.
Suzuki's direction is more pressing and urgent in style; his less theatrical, more meticulous approach allows the filigree in the instrumental writing to emerge in a way too rarely heard.
Koopman (Erato) has the edge in conveying a more harrowing perspective to the first movement, but the remainder of the cantata is beautifully crafted by Suzuki, demonstrating the artistic conviction and vocal bravura of Robin Blaze in 'Wenn kommt' (though his soaring tones are heard to even better effect in No 60). The pivotal aria in No 70 is the radiant 'Hebt euer Haupt empor', a succinct piece whose openheartedness requires something more than Gerd Türk and Suzuki can give.
The most compelling performances on this disc are in the busy counterpoint, such as the opening chorus of No 40, 'Dazu ist erschienen', the vibrant tenor aria 'Christenkinder', which shows off BCJ's exemplary wind section, and (to return to the horror of Judgement) the peerlessly executed bass aria of No 90, where Peter Kooij and the obbligato trumpet of Toshio Shimada find the perfect synergy. But it's in the stirring and decidedly prescient Sturm undDrang quality of No 60, O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, that Suzuki's infectious grasp of pulse, biting accentuation and luminous textures take fullest flight: he entertains no half-measures in the opening chorus. All round, yet another prestigious addition to the series.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Remarkable” Penguin Guide