Bach, J S: Cantata BWV147 'Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben'

The fascination that Johann Sebastian Bach held for subsequent generations of composers is evident in the many arrangements of his works for piano: those by Liszt, Busoni and others are profound interpretations by admirers of the Baroque master. For a long time, this remarkable repertoire was overshadowed by the originals, and we owe it to Alexis Weissenberg and Bruno-Leonardo Gelber that it now enjoys worldwide recognition.

Founded by Masaaki Suzuki in 1990, the Bach Collegium Japan began its landmark series of Bach's cantatas in 1995. In order to celebrate the ensemble's 20th anniversary – and indeed the 15th anniversary of the start of the cantata cycle – Suzuki has now devised a compilation of some of his personal favourites among the choral movements from the cantatas. The programme of the disc follows the Lutheran liturgical calendar, beginning with Advent and ending with the Feast of the Reformation, a feast which commemorates the day (31st October 1517) on which Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses, the spark that would set off the Reformation in Germany. This disc thus traverses the full range of events and emotions that constitute the church year, from the joyous expectancy of Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, by way of the Passion of Christ, to Bach's elaboration on Martin Luther's own hymn Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. In his own comments to the ample selection, Masaaki Suzuki gives his reasons for choosing these particular movements, and also offers two further favourites 'beyond the church year'. These are both pieces which in different ways transcend the boundaries of calendars, churches, religions and even nations: Bach's universally loved setting of Jesus bleibet meine Freude, and Dona Nobis Pacem, the heartfelt prayer for peace for the world from the B minor Mass.

Some of the most celebrated recordings from Harry Christophers and his award-winning ensemble. Equally appealing to fans of The Sixteen and those who are new to the group, this disc provides a definitive collection of familiar classics and lesser-known treasures.

The liturgical year with Johann Sebastian Bach: Rondeau Production is publishing a ten-part CD series which presents a selection of cantatas for the liturgical year. In Leipzig, music for the liturgical year has an especially well kept tradition: up to the present day the Thomanerchor Leipzig (St Thomas’s Boys Choir) and the Gewandhausorchester (Gewandhaus Orchestra) join forces each week in the performance of one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantatas at the church of St Thomas.

The current disc in the series turns to feasts for the Blessed Virgin Mary: the cantata “Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin” was composed in 1725 for the feast of Mary’s Purification, and Johann Sebastian Bach wrote “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern” for the feast of the Annunciation in the same year. The famous chorale “Jesus bleibet meine Freude” forms part of the cantata “Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben”. This composition originally set a different text, and was intended for the fourth Sunday of Advent. After a number of modifications to the text, the cantata was performed in Leipzig on the feast of the Visitation also in 1725. The cantata’s opening chorus gains its particularly festive character through the initial trumpet motif.

The current cantor at St Thomas, Georg Christoph Biller, is fortunate to have boys from the choir’s own ranks performing the soprano and alto solos; a hallmark of the new recording’s unique level of artistry.

In 2005, Thomas Gropper founded vocal ensemble Arcis Vocalists. Today the group consists of 50 singers who are actively engaged in the Bavarian and Munich concert scene. Following their debut album of Cantatas BWV 131 and 182, they now present Cantatas BWV 12 and BWV 147.

Cantatas for the for the First Sunday in Advent (Köln) & Cantatas for the Fourth Sunday in Advent (Lüneburg).

The illustrious, multi-award winning Bach Cantatas series on SDG continues with volume 13 in the series. It features Cantatas for the first and fourth Sunday in Advent and was recorded live in December 2000.

We join John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists on their Bach Cantata pilgrimage for a concert of Bach’s Advent cantatas, performed in the largest of the Romanesque churches in Cologne, St. Maria im Kapitol (St. Mary in the Capital).

Besides the festive allure they have in common, all three of Bach’s surviving cantatas for Advent (BWV 61, 62 and 36) display a sense of excitement at the onset of the Advent season. This is a time of anticipation and waiting, and an opportunity for congregations to turn away from all those self-absorbed feelings of guilt, fear, damnation and hellfire that dominated the final Sunday of the Trinity season. This sense of having at last turned a corner is summed up in the radiantly benign accompagnato for soprano and alto ‘Wir ehren diese Herrlickkeit’, the penultimate movement of BWV 62 Nun Komm, der Heiden Heiland (Come now, Saviour of the Gentiles). The successive stages of Advent and the different perspectives these give on Jesus’ incarnation are perhaps most clearly marked in Bach’s early version of BWV 61 Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland. The programme ends with BWV 36 Schwingt freudig euch empor (Soar joyfully aloft), a large-scale work divided into two parts, the first of which would have been performed before the sermon, the second afterwards.

The final European leg of the year-long pilgrimage takes us to the atmospheric Michaeliskirche in Lüneburg where we join John Eliot and his musical forces in a concert of three of Bach’s most gripping church cantatas. The programme begins with BWV 70 Wachet! betet! betet! wachet! (Watch! pray! pray! watch!). We then hear one of Bach’s earliest cantatas, BWV 132 Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn! (Prepare the way, prepare the path), an intimate work scored for four voices, oboe, bassoon, strings and continuo consisting of two recitatives, three arias and a final chorale.

The concert ends with BWV 147 Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben (Heart and Mouth, Deeds and Life), the best known of Bach’s reworkings of an earlier Weimar cantata. The pre-Christmas excitement is captured in the glorious opening chorus by the fanfare-like opening section for orchestra.