The Leusink Bach cantatas revisited

[Sean]

Six years back I bought the complete Bach on Brilliant Classics with the Leusink sacred cantatas survey, getting to know these well and coming to see both how great and thought provoking this repertory is. As I'd since given away half of the 60 CDs, I've recently bought the 50 CD repackaging, which has the cantatas in near-BWV numbers, and only costs around £40. Here are a few reasons for preferring the Leusink over the competition, which I'd summarize as follows.

Rilling- wayward tempos, often too fast and with dated recordings

Leonhardt-Harnoncourt- sluggish, insufficiently historically informed, and using boys who can't sing well enough for the solos

Gardiner- would be a great choice but far too English, insufficiently sensitive to the idiom

Koopman - similarly wrongheadedly precious and decorous, undermining the performers' expertise

Suzuki- not above affectation and typically becoming a dirge despite the smoothness

Richter- among the partial sets his has great sense of space with intelligence and commitment but dated style and recordings

Kuijken- doesn't bring out the counterpoint enough and the period instruments are opaque

Herreweghe- again the compulsion from the music's own dynamics and flow is largely missed, distracted by ideas from without about Christian spiritual expression. There are agogic rhythms, affectedly slow tempos and a rather portentous high-minded singing style- the fascination of this music is in the counterpoint not in seeking godliness.

My arguments for Leusink are based on the fact that the cantatas were conceived as a whole, the great majority being written in three years in the late 1720s, and explore a specific expressive domain that issues a well-defined aesthetic experience. The wealth of interconnections across individual works but particularly across the whole set is highly enriching and requires a listening programme to focus exclusively on the sixty hours- particularly after you've got to know the works first.
 
* So the first great Leusink advantage is that the cycle was recorded complete in less than a year so the approach is very consistent; other recordings have taken decades and subject to the music to incongruous interpretative distinctions and over-characterization of different cantatas; there needs to be a narrowly defined stylistic focus in order to access the music's inner and rather minimalist variety.

Moreover the recording period is a similar order of time to that of most of the works' composition- one and three years, rather than ten or twenty as with other cycles, providing a congruence of approach and focus between the two.

In most repertory of course, box sets are not the way to go if you're approaching it for the first time. For instance it took me 25 years exactly to get hold of all 28 Verdi operas, a similar amount of music to the cantatas. Throughout this time I imbued myself in the idiom by returning to recordings, hearing alternatives, going to see operas, getting to know his contemporaries and the rest of the period, thinking, talking with others etc- but now you can get the lot in a box set landing with a thud on your desk.

But music that was designed as a whole can succeed extremely well presented in a unified set, especially music before the romantic notion of individually conceived artworks, such as the Scarlatti or Haydn sonatas or the Haydn Piano trios- or the Schumann keyboard works.

* To save time for the Leusink the sections of different cantatas that involved the same forces were often recorded together, rather than whole cantatas, for instance recitative movements, chorales or sinfonias, again adding hugely to the cohesive nature of this body of work and avoiding mistaken expressive perspectives and individualism.

* Then Leusink uses a boys' choir who sing the music straight, without the expressive baggage that adult singers bring from studying music of later periods.

* The boys also just did what they were told, not have big egos to argue with; everyone got on with it and concentrated because they were on a schedule, again focussing on delivering the music's essential content.

* Leusink along with most of his forces is Dutch and understands the German spirit well while emphasizing the counterpoint and bringing a lightness and rhythmic accuracy that German conductors can forget after working with the later repertory; more than any of the competition including Gardiner he brings out the writhing inner content per se.

* Lastly the recording is excellent, focusing on separating lines and terracing textures.

* And... this reissue includes at least some of the cantatas only existing in fragments, with other forces.

* But... excludes the Ascension oratorio BWV.11 previously included

By the way, I'd like to better understand the question of how much of the projected fourth and fifth cantata cycles of 1728-9 or later, which are largely missing, were actually written. Though Bach could write at speed every week it's hard to imagine that an even greater proportion than the existing three eighths of his total works in terms of hours were sacred cantatas, and the exploration of the realm would seem to have been concluded, particularly with the few cantatas after 1729 providing little or no further structural innovation.

Aside to all this Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach is probably the most important after JS and his four sons, CPE, JC, WF and JCF, plus Johann Christoph, JS's great uncle. WFE is son of JCF, and I've recently explored some of his modest piano duo music, charting the early classical style...

[Artem]

Sean, thank you for this post. I have nothing to add because I know very little about this music, but I'm gonna by a Leusink shorter set on Brilliant Classics. You make a very interesting argument for it.

[Ken B]

Them are good recordings, but me like Suzuki better.

[Sean]

Best wishes folks.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Sean, thank you for this post. I have nothing to add because I know very little about this music, but I'm gonna by a Leusink shorter set on Brilliant Classics. You make a very interesting argument for it.

Hi, Artem. If you know little about this music it might be worth your while to take advantage of the knowledge base helpfully collected here on GMG's own Bach Cantata thread.

There you'll find views which are...well, let's just say, "contrary" to the OP's. Just my two cents but neither the new Gardiner nor Suzuki are failures in the least (at least what I've heard). Far from it.
   
I'd add Herreweghe as the lodestar, though not a complete set.

[Mandryka]

You know, in an interview, Leusinck said that there was one recording he was particularly proud of. BWV 6.

Because of Sean's post I played Wiederstehe doch der sünde yesterday - I remembered thinking it was really outstanding. And I still think it is really outstanding.

[Mandryka]

My arguments for Leusink are based on the fact that the cantatas were conceived as a whole, the great majority being written in three years in the late 1720s, and explore a specific expressive domain that issues a well-defined aesthetic experience. The wealth of interconnections across individual works but particularly across the whole set is highly enriching and requires a listening programme to focus exclusively on the sixty hours- particularly after you've got to know the works first.
 
* So the first great Leusink advantage is that the cycle was recorded complete in less than a year so the approach is very consistent; other recordings have taken decades and subject to the music to incongruous interpretative distinctions and over-characterization of different cantatas; there needs to be a narrowly defined stylistic focus in order to access the music's inner and rather minimalist variety.

I wonder why he didn't just use the same performance for BWV99/i and BWV100/i. I haven't listened closely enough to hear whether there are any important style differences.

The chorus is basically upbeat, about trusting God. But Luther was always slightly oxymoronic - whenever you see Christ you see the crucifixion. This tragic, or at least emotionally complex, interpretation is wonderfully brought out by the way Harnoncourt does 99/i. Leonhardt is more simply upbeat.

I think it's a good thing, an enriching thing, to have these contrasting approaches to what is essentially the same piece of music in the Harnoncourt and Leonhardt set. Not a weakness. The music may have "minimilistic variety" but the meaning of the music (which is what interpretation is about) is polyvalent.

[Sean]

Hi Mandryka and others, thanks for that. I have some clear views about this repertory because it's so tightly conceived, and not at all a series of different statements of expression as composers from the romantic period tried to create. What works and doesn't is clearer here...

Polyvalant indeed; nice article here, don't know if it's been mentioned before, arguing that Bach was an atheist or at least not the regular blinkered kind of Christian.

http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/Bach-Atheist.htm

[Sean]

Am I right in hearing a slightly different composed version between the opening choruses of 99 and 100?

[betterthanfine]

You know, this set is immediately disqualified for me because I think Leusink is, frankly, a lousy musician. I attended a performance of the Mozart Requiem in Amsterdam a few years ago, and was simply appalled by how bad it was. Ridiculous tempi (most them  faster than the music could take), bad choral singing, average to bad soloists, and Leusink himself was jumping up and down the roster like a manic. He even encored the Dies Irae! That alone proves to me that he couldn't care less about musical context and meaning. I've steered clear from any concerts and recordings by the man from then on.

But it's definitely interesting to read positive comments about his Bach cycle, which was recorded years before my experience with him. Maybe I should give some of it a listen.

[Mandryka]

Am I right in hearing a slightly different composed version between the opening choruses of 99 and 100?

I don't know, I don't have a score.

[aligreto]

I have enjoyed reading your post Sean. Your argument was obviously well thought out and presented. These things are very subjective; that is the joy of listening to and discussing music. I originally had a number of the Leusinck CDs but I very quickly sold them on; I just did not like them. Leaving your comment about dated recordings aside [something that does not bother me personally] I agree in general with most of your comments. Rilling and Richter never really appealed to me. I do like the Leonhardt/Harnoncourt cycle but agree regarding the quality of the boys' singing.
Over the years I have tended to focus on four cycles;

Leonhardt/Harnoncourt: A cycle which I like for the musicianship and interpretation - for me they brought the presentation of this music out of the "ponderous" style and brought a fresh approach to the music.

Suzuki: personally I find most of these performances to be a bit cold and clinical but technically very good. The exception to this is the last box set which was issued not so long ago and which I found much more appealing.

Herreweghe: not a complete cycle I know but for me he excells in presenting the spiritual side of the music.

Gardiner: for me he is king in this realm. Aside from the excellent Monteverdi Choir the main attraction of the Gardiner approach is the way in which he brings out the inherent joy in Bach's music which is someting that is very often overlooked.

[DaveF]

I would say to anyone thinking of buying some or all of the Leusink set: listen to some of the tenor arias sung by Knut Schoch before you do.  Just as I can put up with most of Harnoncourt's eccentricities for the sake of Kurt Equiluz, I found that Schoch's voice undermined the best of which the Netherlands ensemble was capable.  Others may find his voice agreeable or bearable - not me.

[Sean]

Nice to see those thoughts, to which I'll respond a bit later...

In the meantime I've been listening to a couple of the Herreweghe this afternoon and can provide another opinionated view-

Herreweghe- again the compulsion from the music's own dynamics and flow is largely missed, distracted by ideas from without about Christian spiritual expression. There are agogic rhythms, affectedly slow tempos and a rather portentous high-minded singing style- the fascination of this music is in the counterpoint not in seeking godliness.

[Sergeant Rock]

Six years back I bought the complete Bach on Brilliant Classics with the Leusink sacred cantatas survey...

€30 at Amazon DE...an insane bargain. Or would be if it weren't 50 CDs worth of boy brats and bargain-counter tenors. Nope, not for me. Still, an interesting read and argument, Sean. Thanks.

Sarge

[Ken B]

€30 at Amazon DE...an insane bargain. Or would be if it weren't 50 CDs worth of boy brats and bargain-counter tenors. Nope, not for me. Still, an interesting read and argument, Sean. Thanks.

Sarge

I was struck by the complaint about brats. The brats can be pretty shrill in Leusink ...

I like Leusink. They have life and vigor.  Well worth having at least someof them.  Better than Rilling. But they are no match for the top tier cycles.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Polyvalant indeed; nice article here, don't know if it's been mentioned before, arguing that Bach was an atheist or at least not the regular blinkered kind of Christian.

http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/Bach-Atheist.htm

Man, what a dumb article, almost Rob Newman-level in its argumentation. I suppose it has a certain entertainment value.

[Ken B]

Man, what a dumb article, almost Rob Newman-level in its argumentation. I suppose it has a certain entertainment value.

"Everyone I admire from the past had the same atheism, attitudes, and politics as I do."

[prémont]

I would say to anyone thinking of buying some or all of the Leusink set: listen to some of the tenor arias sung by Knut Schoch before you do.  Just as I can put up with most of Harnoncourt's eccentricities for the sake of Kurt Equiluz, I found that Schoch's voice undermined the best of which the Netherlands ensemble was capable.  Others may find his voice agreeable or bearable - not me.

Well, bearable I would say. On the other hand I have serious problems with the countertenor Sytse Buwalda and his affected voice. Except for him, I find the singing and playing refreshingly non-mannered, if often underreharsed. But this may well reflect the conditions Bach faced.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

"Everyone I admire from the past had the same atheism, attitudes, and politics as I do."

Author's likely thought process:

1. I hate Christianity;
2. I like Bach;

hm this is awkward. So
3. because I like Bach, he must have hated Christianity as much as I do!