Bach: Cantatas Vol 10: BWV48, BWV5, BWV90 & BWV56; BWV79, BWV192 & BWV80

RECORDING OF THE MONTH (Gramophone Magazine Jan 2006)

"This is the winner by any count. It contains seven cantatas recorded in Potsdam and Wittenberg. As with all of Bach's cantatas, a still under-appreciated swathe of his colossal output, there is incredible invention and imagination on virtually every page. Once again, Gardiner's Monteverdi Choir is the jewel in the crown of each cantata performance. Add to that, Gardiner's dramatic, electric response to the music he clearly loves and you have a set that rivals his Classic FM Gramophone Record of the Year Award-winning disc that launched this amazing series."
(Gramophone Jan 2006)

Live recording from the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage.
Erlöserkirche, Potsdam
Schlosskirche, Wittenberg

"Sir John Eliot Gardiner's Bach Cantata Pilgrimage series just gets better...these pieces show Bach at his most exuberant, as though he's laughing with unbridled joys at the secrets of the universe and Gardiner's team responds with thrilling playing and singing. I defy you not to smile at the boomy low notes provided by the big bottomy sackbut in Ein Feste Burg." Warwick Thompson

CD 1 features 4 of Bach's most inventive and striking cantatas, each begins in a different way and includes some of Bach's greatest marriages of text and musical imagery. BWV48 "Ich elender Mensch" begins with a deeply expressive slow minuet in g minor with the canonic development of a wordless choral melody embedded into the texture. BWV5 "Wo soll Ich fliehen hin" features a chorale elaboration as its opening chorus and the most magical aria for tenor and solo viola where the obbligato instrument depicts the gushing flow of the divine blood of forgiveness. This aria is perfectly sung by James Gilchrist - it's hard to imagine this being better performed. Gilchrist outdoes himself in the fire and brimstone ardour of the opening of BWV90 "Es reisset euch ein schreckliche Ende" (A terrible end shall sweep you away) where the words are fragmented and the vocal line leaps register in a most terrifying manner. Peter Harvey sings the solo bass cantata "Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen" (Gladly will I bear the cross) with such eloquence and understanding, such liquid phrasing and purity of intonation that one imagines it must have been a most moving conclusion to the concert. After the solo bass sings of the tears from his eyes being wiped dry by the saviour the Monteverdi choir steals in sotto voce in one of Bach's most expressive chorales, beautifully felt and sung. My personal pick of the releases on Gardiner's label so far.(KWC)