Cantatas (Vol 16) Nos 119 & 194

Each volume of JS Bach's Cantatas as recorded by Masaaki Suzuki's Bach Collegium Japan is keenly awaited by collectors and critics alike. Indeed, this series has done a great deal to broaden the BIS image so that we are now known not only as "the" twentieth (and beyond)-century label but also as a force to be reckoned with in Early Music.
This volume of cantatas is particularly interesting in that it contains two unusually lengthy works which, while written for church use, actually celebrate such worldly events as the election of new councillors in Leipzig - causing Bach to meditate on the question of authority in general - and the inauguration of a new organ - which not unnaturally gave Bach scope for some magnificent sonorities and some highly celebratory music.
We are also extremely pleased to present a new soloist on this disc in the person of Jochen Kupfer. He has an exceptionally beautiful baritone voice of unusual range which he uses with an enviable combination of expressivity and musical sense. A notable addition to a distinguished list of soloists in this series.