Sigiswald Kuijken - Cassations KV63 & 99 / Divertimento KV205 - SUPER-AUDIO CD [Super Audio CD (SACD)]

Bach Cantatas Bwv 67, 85, 12 / Kuijken, La Petite Bande, Bach, J.S. / La Petite Bande, Date 07/27/2010, Composer Johann Sebastian Bach, Performer Jan Van der Crabben, Conductor Sigiswald Kuijken, Orchestra/Ensemble La Petite Band, Number of Discs 1. Sigiswald Kuijken continues his series of cantatas for the liturgical year with music for the three Sundays after Easter. The most familiar, composed for Weimar, is BWV 12, with it's haunting sinfonia for oboe and strings, and the opening chorus, which formed the basis for the Crucifixus of the B-Minor Mass. Cantata 67 is typically atypical for Bach-seven movements, symmetrical laid out chorus, aria, recitative, chorale, recitative, aria, and chorale. The second aria is a dramatic scene in which the bass soloist represents the voice of Jesus and the chorus the voices of the faithful. Cantata 85 has no opening chorus; each of the four soloists has an aria before the work concludes with a simple chorale.

Import Hybrid-SACD pressing. Bach Cantatas BWV 177, 93, & 135 (2006) Christoph Genz (tenor), Jan Van der Crabben (baritone), La Petite Bande, Petra Noskaiova (alto), Siri Karoline Thornhill (soprano). It's not that Bach wrote the same cantata several hundred times. Each and every cantata is scored for a unique ensemble, has a unique sequence of movements, sets a different text to a different chorale melody, and explores different musical and spiritual issues. It's that we, in our musical and spiritual puniness, can't begin to comprehend the height, the breadth, and the depth of Bach's achievement. Designed to be heard only once a week on Sunday, Bach's cantatas are still best appreciated one at a time. Take this disc by Sigiswald Kuijken leading La Petite Bande. One of their 20-disc survey of cantatas for the complete liturgical year, the disc contains three extraordinary works for the fourth, fifth, and sixth Sundays after Trinity Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (I call to you, Lord Jesus Christ) in G minor; Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten (Who leaves the loving God to guide him) in C minor; and Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder (Oh, Lord, I am a poor Sinner) in D minor.

Kuijken gives us Vvolume 9 of his series devoted to presenting one cantata for each Sunday and holy day of the year. With this collection, dedicated to the Sundays of Advent, a few problems arise. All of Bach's Advent works are from Weimar (earlier) and Leipzig (later) as to be expected, except that in Leipzig the Advent cantata was given only on the first Sunday of the month, the other Sundays being sans cantata. His earlier sojourn in Weimar was different; there, each Sunday was expected to have a cantata provided for it. So what's the big deal? Only that for Weimar, cantatas on the second, third, and forth Sundays alone have been preserved, and those for the second and third Sundays are known only by their texts-no music has survived. This necessitates presenting only one Advent cantata (for the first Sunday alone), or compromising a bit and stretching the Leipzig Inchfirst SundayInch cantatas to cover the Sundays that have no music for them. Standards remain high in this vividly recorded series, though for some reason the singing of Siri Thornhill really caught my attention this time around, her lovely instrument able to navigate Bach's complexities with subtle and authoritative adroitness. Despite the questionable one-to-a-part dogmatism, this series is musically very fine. - FANFARE Steven E. Ritter Import Hybrid-SACD pressing.