Bach: Cantatas Volumes 1-5 (75 Cantatas for Sundays and Feast Days of the Church Year)

Bach: Cantatas Volumes 1-5 (75 Cantatas for Sundays and Feast Days of the Church Year)

Bach: Cantatas Volumes 1-5 (75 Cantatas for Sundays and Feast Days of the Church Year)
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Category: Music CD
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CD Details

Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Box set, Import
CD Release Date: 1993-10-01
Music Label: MSI:ARCHIV/UNIVERSAL
Soundtracks:
  1. Advent And Christmas Bwv 61 Bwv 132 Bwv 63
  2. Advent And Christmas Bwv 121 Bwv 64 Bwv 171
  3. Advent And Christmas Bwv 58 Bwv 124 Bwv 13
  4. Advent And Christmas Bwv 111 Bwv 81 Bwv 82
  5. Easter Bwv 92 Bwv 126 Bwv 23
  6. Easter Bwv 1 Bwv 182
  7. Easter Bwv 4 Bwv 6 Bwv 67
  8. Easter Bwv 104 Bwv 12
  9. Easter Bwv 108 Bwv 87
  10. Ascension Day Bwv 11 Bwv 44 Bwv 34
  11. Ascension Day Bwv 68 Bwv 175 Bwv 129
  12. Ascension Day Bwv 39 Bwv 76 Bwv 135
  13. Ascension Day Bwv 21 Bwv 24
  14. Ascension Day Bwv 30 Bwv 93
  15. Ascension Day Bwv 147 Bwv 10
  16. Sundays After Trinity I Bwv 9 Bwv 187 Bwv 178
  17. Sundays After Trinity I Bwv 45 Bwv 105 Bwv 102
  18. Sundays After Trinity I Bwv 199 Bwv 179 Bwv 137
  19. Sundays After Trinity I Bwv 33 Bwv 78 Bwv 17
  20. Sundays After Trinity I Bwv 51 Bwv 100 Bwv 27
  21. Sundays After Trinity I Bwv 8 Bwv 148
  22. Sundays After Trinity Ii Bwv 96 Bwv 5 Bwv 56
  23. Sundays After Trinity Ii Bwv 180 Bwv 38 Bwv 55
  24. Sundays After Trinity Ii Bwv 115 Bwv 139 Bwv 60 Bwv 26
  25. Sundays After Trinity Ii Bwv 116 Bwv 70 Bwv 140
  26. Sundays After Trinity Ii Bwv 130 Bwv 80 Bwv 106

Music reviews of Bach: Cantatas Volumes 1-5 (75 Cantatas for Sundays and Feast Days of the Church Year)

Music Review: Bach in the Bach Tradition
Rating: 5 Stars

I believe I owe it to the period performance movement for making me feel like I am committing a sin when I don't listen to Gardiner's or Hogwood's Bach (or Handel, or any Baroque composer for that matter). If, say, I put in Shaw's recording of the B minor mass, or most certainly Klemperer's recording of the St. Mathew passion, I feel that I should somehow be ashamed for what I am doing. There may be some type of Freudian truth buried deep within my being ashamed; however, there has always been an exception to my modern instrument guilts. This is, of course, the Bach recordings of Karl Richter; and more specifically, Richter's immortal survey of the sacred cantatas (well, 75 of them anyway). I received this set as a gift when I graduated from college, and I have been constantly listening since. The music of Bach has meant more to me than any other composer, and the Richter recordings show Bach's true genius at full speed ahead.

Don't get me wrong, I love Gardiner's recordings of the B-minor mass and the St. Matthew Passion; and I do believe that period performance practice reveals a totally new dimension of Bach which can sometimes be overlooked (or, "glossed-over" as the case may be with Klepmerer and others of the like). However, any academic arguments favoring Gardiner over Richter are simply meaningless to me. As Glenn Gould said, its not the type of instruments used that count, but rather, a deep respect for the innate structures of the music; this is what's important,and to accomplish this he believed that we must get rid of the incorrect and outdated notion that by "glossing over" these structures, it somehow improves upon them. I think Gould is absolutely correct in saying its respect for the musical structures that counts most; this is the only duty incumbent upon interpreters of Baroque music (and especially Bach). With this in mind, how can Richter not be the supreme interpreter? Richter gives us Bach in the Bach tradition, and I believe that this is in no small part due to his deep understanding of the same Lutheranism which was in the mind of Bach when he wrote this glorious music. To quote yet another Bach authority, Albert Schweitzer once said "Only he who sinks himself into Bach's emotional world, who lives and thinks with him, [...] can rightly bring Bach's music to the listener". I can think of no one who fits the description quite like Karl Richter.

Well, all arguments aside, the music on these 26 [!] discs are absolutely unsurpassed. I was a bit worried before I received this set, as I knew that in Richter's latter years, he did seem to take various liberties with the scores (more specifically, a slowing of the tempi to the point that it takes us out of the Bach tradition). However, I can safely say that these rumored liberties are nowhere to be found in this set, just pure Bach. I wont dare try to single out notable performances of this massive set (I would be here all night, and I am sure you are becoming tired of reading this anyway). However, one cantata specifically stood out for me during my first few hours with the set (and has since stuck with me); this being BWV 132 (4th Sunday in Advent cantata). This specific cantata, can speak for the entire set in terms of the soloist supremacy above all other Bach cantata recordings (how can you go wrong with Edith Mathis, Anna Reynolds, Peter Schreier, and Theo Adam - with Ursula Buckel and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau elsewhere on the set).

So, finally, this set has exactly what I want in a survey of the cantatas - that is, the genius of J.S. Bach is in the driver's seat, not the conductors. While Gardiner has his moments (and when he does, they are fantastic), and Klemperer did at least get everyone talking about Bach again, I believe Richter's interpretations are the standard by which this music should be played and heard. This set is a landmark in the history of Bach recordings, and although quite expensive, it really should be in the collections of all lovers of music.


- By the way, the set comes in a large slipcover (as shown above by Amazon), with the five original fold-open cases inside; each made of an extremely sturdy, glossy-coated cardboard (as shown above by me [hopefully]). Each disc is in a paper sleeve.
More Bach: Cantatas Volumes 1-5 (75 Cantatas for Sundays and Feast Days of the Church Year) free music reviews:
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