Bach, J S: Cantata BWV41 'Jesu, nun sei gepreiset' (Cantata for the Feast of Circumcision)

Ophelie Gaillard has made recently a deep impression with the Suites for cello solo by Jean-Sebastian Bach. On this new recording, dedicated to the Cantor of Leipzig, she gathered her close team from the Pulcinella Ensemble and invited some of the most talented soloists: Sandrine Piau, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Christophe Dumaux.

This programme gives a vision of the most beautiful cantatas written by Jean-Sebastian Bach in Leipzig from 1723 to 1750, interspersed with some of the masterpieces from the 'Schübler' Chorales and Orgelbüchlein.

With a passion for Baroque music played on period instruments, Pulcinella is a group of virtuoso soloists, gathered in a chamber spirit around cellist Ophélie Gaillard. Highly experienced musicians, who attach great importance to sound and articulation, they explore some of the major works of the repertoire, while aiming to present little known or unknown pieces as well.

Part of Pulcinella’s repertoire is devoted to important 17th- and 18th-century works for concerted cello, of which it is one of the foremost ambassadors. The ensemble’s first recording, devoted to Vivaldi’s complete Cello Sonatas (on Ambroisie) was highly acclaimed by the international press in 2006. The following year its tribute (with Sandrine Piau and Rolf Lislevand) to the cellist and composer Luigi Boccherini also received excellent reviews, including praise from The Times.

Pulcinella works with singers including Nuria Rial, Salomé Haller, Sandrine Piau, Max Emmanuel Cencic, Xavier Sabata, Christophe Dumaux, Carlos Mena, Dietr ich Henschel, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, who are among its guests at major festivals, such as those of Saint-Denis, Beaune, and Santiago de Compostela, and at venues such as the Cité de la Musique and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

The final volume to be released this year in John Eliot Gardiner’s award-winning Bach cantata pilgrimage series on SDG. Recorded in January 2000 within the grand neo-Gothic Gethsemanekirche in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin, the programme features Cantatas for New Year’s Day and for the Sunday after New Year. In contrast to the modest BWV 143 Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele II that opens the programme, Bach begins BWV 41 Jesu, nun sei gepreiset with the fantastically grand opening chorus, Jesu, nun sei gepreiset. The jewel in this particular cantata is the tenor aria ‘Woferne du den edlen Frieden’ (No.4), wonderfully rich and descriptive. BWV 171 Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm is equally magnificent as a cantata replete with emotional and thematic contrast. As the tenor (No.4) pleads for salvation in BWV 153 Schau, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind, crying ‘…help, Helper, help! Save my soul!’, we are reminded that our afflictions have been heard as the alto (No.8) sings of the ‘blessed rapture and eternal joy’ of heaven. BWV 58 Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid II continues this theme of the beleaguered Christian. This is beautifully illustrated through the use of the distressed, persecuted soul (soprano) in dialogue with a guardian angel, by implication, Jesus (bass).

Günther Ramin's Moscow recital was recorded in the Small Hall of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. The bonus item is Bach's Jesu Nun Sei Gepreiset BWV 41, recorded in Leipzig in 1950 with Ramin conducting the Thomanerchor Leipzig and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig.

The New Year’s Day cantatas invariably display particular orchestral splendor in that all of them are richly orchestrated for brass and woodwind instruments in addition to the standard strings. Although not an important date in the liturgical calendar, New Year’s Day was of special importance in Leipzig because of the opening of the “Neujahrs-Messe,” the first of three annual trade fairs that brought scores of merchants and visitors to the city. This offered Bach an opportunity to exhibit Leipzig church music which had no parallel elsewhere. Four of the five cantatas used for this particular occasion are featured on this album. The texts of all five works make reference to the traditional Gospel reading of the feast day, Luke 2: 21 (the naming of Jesus); BWV 171 does it even in its first line (“Gott, wie dein Name…”). BWV 28, included in this album, is designated for the Sunday after Christmas and was first performed on December 30, 1725. However, the text of the opening movement as well as the use of a New Year’s hymn for the concluding chorale strophe emphasize this cantata’s proximity to the turn of the year.

These recordings have been selected from the award-winning cycle of recordings of the complete cantatas of J. S. Bach by Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir. The featured soloists are sopranos Sandrine Piau, Deborah York and Sybilla Rumens, altos Annette Markert and Bogna Bartosz, tenors Christoph Pregardien, Jörg Dürmüller and Paul Agnew, and bass Klaus Mertens.

Three great singers, including the acclaimed counter-tenor Andreas Scholl combine to wonderful effect with the soloist Christophe Coin and the Ensemble Baroque de Limoges in these classic performances of cantatas by J.S. Bach. These particular pieces were specifically written to feature a single voice with cello obligato.