Johann Sebastian Bach: Solo Cantatas
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CD Details
Composer: Johann Sebastian BachConductor: Petra Müllejans
Performer: Bernarda Fink
Orchestra: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra
Edition: Music CD
Audio: German (Unknown)
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 2009-02-10
Music Label: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
Music reviews of Johann Sebastian Bach: Solo Cantatas
Music Review: Vocal beauty, musical brains, and religious conviction
Rating: 5 Stars
The last time I heard Bach's famous solo cantatas for alto, a countertenor was doing the singing. In fact, countertenors have pretty much owned this repertory the past decade or so, with Andreas Scholl's famous recording with Herreweghe getting most of the plaudits internationally. Monica Groop's 1999 recording of these same three cantatas is the last female recording that has drawn much international interest. Now, a decade later, Argentinian alto Bernarda Fink is likely to win as many awards for her recording as Groop did a decade ago.
Right from her first exclamation of "Doch nein!" in the arioso of BWV 169, "Gott soll allein mein Herze haben" (My heart shall possess God alone,) you know this woman means business when she gets involved with Bach's magnificent texts. Fink's deep and resonant instrument is perfectly suited for Bach's vocal exhortations on God, love, death, and committment to everlasting Christian life. The message from this trio of cantatas is likely best stated in a single life of BWV 170, "Vergnugte Ruh! beliebted Seelentust!" (Contented rest, beloved heart's desire) when Fink sings, "To be alive is irksome to me, therefore, take me, Jesus, undo you!"
If you've never heard Fink, she is a veteran of choral recordings lead by John Eliot Gardiner and Rene Jacobs and owns a string of solo recordings that include famous lieder from Berlioz, Brahms, Schubert and Schumann. Fink's vocal mechanics and ideologically attuned Bach style suit this music perfectly. She understands the music, the score, and transcends the two to create moments of great beauty that adorn the meaning of Bach's texts. Listen to her longing in the "Stib in mir" (die within me) aria of BWV 169 to know a complete realization of Christian fulfillment through vocal acrobatics. If you're not convinced by that, press ahead to the famous first aria from BWV 170 and hear what awaits you there. The third aria, "Wie jammern mich doch die verehrten Herzen" (How do I pity the wayward hearts), is another defining moment in this collection where soloist and Bach are one in their quest for redemption, forgiveness and everlasting life.
Fink sings wonderfully and idiomatically throughout and she is marvelously abetted by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under the baton of Petra Mullejans. Even a lean and sometimes wiry period string sound fails to dampen this wonderful band's Bach playing. Here is sentiment mated to senstivity wiht expressiveness, all supporting Fink's glorious vocalizations. The packaging is equally as abudnant, which a hard cardboard box encasing a multilingual 40-page booklet with texts and translations in three languages. The realistic recording captures everything in DDD sound in this well-filled (76:20) disk.
Harmonia Mundi's publicity department wrote a fitting description of this recording on the back cover, saying: "In 1726 Bach entered a new period of creative innovation in Leipzig; renouncing the chorus, he built up a constant dialogue between solo arias and finely sculpted instrumental parts. The three cantatas presented here represent the culmination of this development, and have established their place as a peak of the recorded repertoire."
That last line applies equally to these performances. There's no question this is going to be on some "best of 2009" lists. It's the best recording I've heard this year and the best Bach cantata recording I've heard in at least a decade. If you love Bach's alto cantatas, you need to get this. If you've never heard them, this CD expresses everything there is to say and hear in these angelic creations. It is a small slice of heaven come to earth that we can enjoy repeatedly.
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Description of Johann Sebastian Bach: Solo Cantatas
All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.These cantatas are from a minor fault-line in Bach's output, coming after three years of composing, rehearsing and performing a cantata a week. They focus less on the chorale as a musical and textual pivot and more on the solo voice, whilst elevating the organ from the traditional meat and potatoes continuo role, to full concertante instrument. The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra ensemble work is the best of all worlds, giving us the hearty soul of a classical orchestra, but from the authentic texture of original instruments, with breath-taking individual contributions (I'm thinking of the woodwinds, especially.) Petra Müllejans serves a unique role here as both Musical Director and principle violinist, so the result is light years away from a "what the conductor wants" mindset, generating a sound which is truly collaborative. Seminal works, like these cantatas, don't fare well if they're loaded up with superstar brilliance. Quite often the path to the center of the work is subtractive in that the interpreter removes any and all obstacles between the author and the lucky audience. On this recording, Bernarda Fink personifies this stripping away of the unnecessary. Soaring above fine tone and consummate musicianship, she renders some of the most introspective, uncomfortable texts with utter humility and simplicity. No raised pinky, no chewed scenery, just you, Bach, and texts that leave you nowhere to hide. -- Hugo Munday.
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