Bach Cantatas (Poll)

[71 dB]

BWV 144, 145, 146 & 147

The drilling workers seem to have taken a "long weekend" and didn't work today either. So quiet!  0:)

BWV 144 & 145 are short and pretty unimpressive works. The other two however are great. BWV 147 is one of the most popular ones and the very long BWV 146 blew my mind too. In fact, I think I prefer BWV 146 to 147! 

[71 dB]

BWV 148, 149, 150 & 151

To my surprise they did some drilling work today Saturday, but they finished before my Bach cantatas listening time slot, so no problems.

I like BWV 150 & 151 the most of these four. BWV 150 is a nice early cantata with that middle-baroque Buxtehude/Bruhns feel and BWV 151 opens with the most beautiful long soprano aria.  0:)

[71 dB]

BWV 152, 153, 154 & 155

These are rather small scale cantatas. BWV 155 is my favorite of these.

[71 dB]

BWV 156, 157, 158 & 159

BWV 156 is my favorite of these, but BWV 159 has an impressive bass aria.

[André]

Keep going, Pujo ! 

[71 dB]

Keep going, Pujo ! 

They are driling on the other side of the building now and I hardly hear any noises. I have about 40 church cantatas to go. At this pace that's 10 days. I should be done within 2 weeks.

[71 dB]

BWV 161, 162, 163 & 164

Can't say any of these blew me away. Moving on... 

Have all of them, including some scores; I'm making my way to listening to every one. I'd say there may be about 10-15% yet that I haven't listened to carefully.

Cool!  0:)

[71 dB]

BWV 165, 166, 167 & 168

More "lesser" cantatas by J. S. Bach. The drilling doesn't disturb me at all now that they are working on the other side of the building.

[71 dB]

BWV 169, 170, 171 & 172

BWV 170 is the strongest of these imho. BWV 169 is good too while BWV 172 felt the weakest.

Looks like I have 26 more cantatas to go. That's one week at this pace. 

[71 dB]

BWV 173, 174, 175 & 176

BWV 174 seem the strongest cantata of these four. I feel after the great BWV 146 & 147, these cantatas have been a bit underwhelming (BWV 170 is great at least), but I'm sure there still gems ahead, at least the popular BWV 199.

[71 dB]

BWV 177, 178, 179 & 180

Equally good cantatas. Difficult to call the winner.

[71 dB]

BWV 181, 182, 183 & 184

Forgot to edit. These cantatas felt uninteresting to my ears. I have listened to so many in a span of a few weeks. I have also realized that Suzuki's cycle isn't really to my taste. It has got very good sound, but it is so dull! I have sampled Rilling, whose cantatas feel absolutely amazing despite of much worse sound. So much energy and presence! The difference is shocking, unbelievable! 

I am planning buying the Rilling cycle! 

I think I am a fan of non-hip Bach. That's my new theory.

[71 dB]

BWV 185, 186, 187 & 188

BWV 187 and 188 are nice cantatas!  0:)

Just 10 church cantatas left! This has been quite a marathon! 

[DavidW]

BWV 181, 182, 183 & 184

Forgot to edit. These cantatas felt uninteresting to my ears. I have listened to so many in a span of a few weeks. I have also realized that Suzuki's cycle isn't really to my taste. It has got very good sound, but it is so dull! I have sampled Rilling, whose cantatas feel absolutely amazing despite of much worse sound. So much energy and presence! The difference is shocking, unbelievable! 

I am planning buying the Rilling cycle! 

I think I am a fan of non-hip Bach. That's my new theory.

There are plenty of people that don't like Suzuki, might not be a hip thing just a performer thing.  Try Gardiner or Koopman if you have the chance.

[71 dB]

There are plenty of people that don't like Suzuki,

RvB haven't noticed this, because BIS has been doing tons of projects with Suzuki. Maybe Suzuki sells well enough despite of many not liking him?

might not be a hip thing just a performer thing.

Or both? I like the edgy dry acoustics of Rilling which makes up and then some for the overall worse sound quality. Compared to Rilling, Suzuki on BIS sounds ridiculously reverberant.

Try Gardiner or Koopman if you have the chance.

I have Koopman's Buxtehude Cantatas, but unfortunately I don't like it much so I don't have high hopes for his Bach.

The problem is the cost. Collecting Gardiner can't be cheap. The Rilling box is very cheap and I really like it so I go that route. Of course, it is possible to collect many recordings of a few key cantatas...

[71 dB]

BWV 190, 191, 192 & 194

BWV 190 has got a nice tenor bass duetto aria.

[71 dB]

BWV 195, 196, 197 & 197a

The Chorus "Wir kommen, deine Heiligkeit..." of BWV 195 is awesome! I love the epic feel the ascending repeating melody line creates. I think this is one of the best Choruses in Bach's cantatas. The early BWV 196 is also to my taste as are pretty much all the early ones. BWV 197 has got a very nice alto aria. BWV 197a was the least impressive of these four works. It is just a fragment anyway...

Two cantatas left! I have the Peter Schreier cycle of secular cantatas on Brilliant Classics, so listening to them next is one option...

They have been drilling the last geothermal well today. I hope they are done by tomorrow. The construction work of the geothermal system will continue, but it is hard to predict how much noise it will cause and when.

[71 dB]

BWV 199 & 200 (THE END)

BWV 199 is a well-known cantata. Suzuki's take on it isn't perhaps the most exciting. BWV 200 is only a 4 minutes long separate alto aria, but a very nice one!

So, here we are, done with the Suzuki cycle of the church cantatas. They drilled today, an extra geothermal well it seems, but overall I have been able to listen to these cantatas except for maybe 2 days.

Maybe it is time to listen to something else than Bach while waiting the Rilling set to arrive. I still have the Bartók and R. Strauss BIS discs to check out... 

[André]

Thanks Poju !

[DavidW]

Congratulations on completing the cycle!  And thanks for sharing your thoughts.