Bach, J S: Cantata BWV9 'Es ist das Heil uns kommen her'

This landmark series is nearly at its end in this antepenultimate recording. The three cantatas on this recording come from the first half of the 1730s and clearly show Bach’s affinity for instrumental colour and expressive melodies rich in syncopation and suspensions.

All three works are choral cantatas based on well-known hymns and are therefore more choral in style.

John Eliot Gardiner, The Monteverdi Choir and The English Baroque Soloists continue on their Bach pilgrimage and head to Ansbach to perform at the prestigious Ansbach Bach Festival. The programme opens with BWV 9 Es ist das Heil uns kommen her. This is then followed by the well known chamber cantata BWV 170 Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, expertly sung by internationally renowned counter-tenor, Michael Chance. A highlight is the first alto aria - an aria of pure enchantment, which tells, through rich and passionate music, that “pleasant rest” can be attained only though union with heaven. The programme ends with the very moving funeral motet Der Gerechte kommt um, attributed to Bach, an incredibly beautiful five-voiced Latin motet composed by Johann Kuhnau. The magnificence of this motet made this very popular with both the choir and orchestra thereby resulting in it being used as a regular encore on the Bach Cantata pilgrimage.

Thirty miles east from the hustle and bustle of a busy Edinburgh hosting its world famous festival, we join John Eliot and the Monteverdi forces in the collegiate church of St. Mary’s situated in the modest, tranquil market town of Haddington, Scotland. BWV 186 Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht, comprises eleven movements and is structured in two parts. A movement that stands out is the glorious duet for soprano and alto (No.10), in which the crucial injunction ‘Sei, seele, getreu!’ (‘O soul, be true!’) is reserved until the last two bars. We then hear BWV 107 Was willst du dich betrüben, a chorale cantata set per omnes versus, that is, with all the verses of a hymn set unaltered. Bach here cleverly overcomes the limitations of being confined to a rigidly structured hymn without monotony or repetitiveness through the usual devices of changing the voice type in the arias, the key and the metre. The final chorale, BWV 187 Es wartet alles auf dich is again structured in two parts and comprises of music that is both gentle and seductively beautiful. Bach clearly supports this belief by parodying the music of this cantata a decade later in his G minor Missa (BWV 235).

Upon popular demand available again: Bach’s complete Sacred Cantatas, newly compiled, on 50 CDs, an unbelievable bargain.

These recordings, produced for the Bach‐year 2000, feature a superb boys choir, the Holland Boys Choir, a tradition going back to the time of the composer. The Netherlands Bach Collegium consists of Dutch early music specialists playing period instruments. Conductor Pieter Jan Leusink puts his entire soul in these recordings of what one might call “the greatest and most humanly moving corpus of sacred music ever written”.

Reviewers around the world praised the set for its “characteristic performances, marked by a great sense of authencity, especially from the use of boy sopranos”. It sounds very much like it might have sounded in Bach’s time (Gramophone).

Written to exalt the glory of God and to facilitate Lutheran worship, Johann Sebastian Bach’s sacred cantatas stand among the highest achievements of Western musical art. This acclaimed recording sees the works performed in their entirety by a stellar line‐up of musicians that includes the renowned Holland Boys’ Choir and period instrument ensemble Netherlands Bach Collegium. The cantatas are directed by Pieter van Leusink, one of Holland’s leading Bach experts. From the plaintive opening of Weinen, Kleinen, Sorgen, Sagen (‘Weeping, lamenting, worrying, fearing’) BWV12 to the triumphant D major chorus in Man singet mit Freuden vom Sieg BWV149, the works traverse a wide range of themes and moods, having been written for a variety of occasions throughout the liturgical year.

Between 1999 and 2006, the legendary baroque music specialist Ton Koopman brought together a stunning array of singers to record the complete cantatas of J S Bach alongside his own Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir. Released originally mostly in 3CD sets, this wonderful cycle is now being made available by Challenge Classics in its entirety. The 67 separate CDs have now been gathered together in a box with a booklet that includes a complete tracklisting and information about each recording.

Along the way these releases were acclaimed throughout the world, and received many major music prizes, including a BBC Music Magazine Award in 2006 for Volume 22 (CC72222). Featured soloists include most of the great modern day interpreters of the music of Bach’s time.

71CD + CDROM

Helmuth Rilling’s landmark edition of Bach’s Complete Works is now available as a new package with all the Cantatas together.

Contains a CD-Rom with all the liner notes included.