J. S. Bach: A Life in Music (Vol. 1). Arnstadt & Mühlhausen (1703-1708), Early Cantatas

Les Arts Florissants, Benjamin Alard

Erschienen am 05.04.24 bei harmonia mundi
Künstler: Les Arts Florissants Benjamin Alard
Genre: Geistliche Kantaten

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This 2024 release, which made classical best-seller lists in the spring of that year, marks the first in a chronological series devoted to Bach's church cantatas. It is not going to be a complete series; rather, it will examine Bach's output in this genre according to style and to the circumstances under which the works were composed. (A second volume, devoted to the Weimar years, has already been announced.) This hasn't been a common practice with Bach, partly because it is difficult to date some of the works, and for this reason alone, the album is welcome. There are other attractions as well, including the well-coordinated, chamber-like quality of the performances by Les Arts Florissants and the group's director, Paul Agnew. His tempos are generally quick, but he can broaden out when necessary, and his interpretations, as he indicates, are carefully rooted in the text. Another draw is the presence of a cantata by Johann Kuhnau, setting the same text as Bach's famous Cantata No. 4, BWV 4 ("Christ lag in Todes Banden"), that does a very nice job of showing just how original the young Bach's style was. All three of the cantatas here have bold masterstrokes of rough-hewn expression, devoid of the smoothing out that would come later as Bach discovered the clean, bright Italian style. The program is broken up by organ works related to the cantatas here, and organist Benjamin Alard takes care to fit his readings to Agnew's overall expressive mode. Agnew's forces are modest; he adds just a single voice per line to the four soloists in the choruses. This is generally undesirable, blurring the solo/chorus distinction that is essential to Bach's music and, indeed, to his ideological world. Here, however, Agnew is able to argue that these were the forces available to Bach in the small churches where he began his career; whether or not he would have preferred a larger group, he doubtless often heard these works done just like this. The Paris Philharmonie is a bit oversized for this repertory, but the clarity of Bach's contrapuntal lines comes through well. A promising beginning to a distinctive new Bach cantata series.

© James Manheim /TiVo

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J. S. Bach: A Life in Music (Vol. 1). Arnstadt & Mühlhausen (1703-1708), Early Cantatas

Les Arts Florissants

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Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4 (Johann Sebastian Bach)

I. Sinfonia

Paul Agnew