Bach Cantatas

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I've been listening to them.

Knowing very little about which ones are most highly regarded, I've been exploring these things by reading a short description of a few BWV numbers on IMSLP before deciding which one to listen to next....

In my ignorance, which ones do you other members know are particularly good? The ones I find I like most at the moment are BWV numbers 62, 103, 26, 140 and 4.

Recommendations please?

[EigenUser]

I've been listening to them.

Knowing very little about which ones are most highly regarded, I've been exploring these things by reading a short description of a few BWV numbers on IMSLP before deciding which one to listen to next....

In my ignorance, which ones do you other members know are particularly good? The ones I find I like most at the moment are BWV numbers 62, 103, 26, 140 and 4.

Recommendations please?

I should be the last person allowed to give advice on Bach, but maybe start with BWV 60. I bet that this part will sound familiar: https://youtu.be/TzwYKsNwYyk?t=14m35s

[Monsieur Croche]

This one will be short and sweet:
BWV 50
because there is but one surviving movement 

BWV 50: Chorus Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft
"long attributed to J.S. Bach and assumed to be part of a lost cantata."
for: double SATB choirs, 3 trumpets, timpani, 3oboes, 2 violins, viola, basso continuo.

Its a terrific [double?] fugue.

Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/v/ceo2QOtQtuM

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Alright, 50 and 60 are the next on my list to check out. Thanks guys!

[SimonNZ]

I feel like I'm being Captain Obvious if I tell you you should listen to 82 "Ich habe genug" (or any of the other famous ones like 51 and 147), but if you haven't you should.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I feel like I'm being Captain Obvious if I tell you you should listen to 82 "Ich habe genug" (or any of the other famous ones like 51 and 147), but if you haven't you should.

I haven't heard any of these actually. What recordings do you recommend? I quite like Gardiner and Suzuki so far for Bach's cantatas, but I haven't really heard much from anyone else yet.

[SimonNZ]

I suppose when the recommendations start coming in now the emphasis will be on HIP, and that's largely as it should be, but don't overlook the many wonderful, heartfelt recordings from the pre-HIP years. Particularly those of Karl Richter, many featuring Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, including an "Ich habe genug", and many other recordings that I feel still stand alongside the best of more recent years. Likewise those of Karl Ristenpart.

If you haven't come across it already a great resource of all these things is the invaluable Bach-Cantatas site, which will give you comprehensive discographies, reviews and discussions.

http://www.bach-cantatas.com/index.htm

[andolink]

Definitely try BWV 125 and BWV 127.  I've got these from the Suzuki set and they're both stunning performances.

[Mandryka]

I've been listening to them.

Knowing very little about which ones are most highly regarded, I've been exploring these things by reading a short description of a few BWV numbers on IMSLP before deciding which one to listen to next....

In my ignorance, which ones do you other members know are particularly good? The ones I find I like most at the moment are BWV numbers 62, 103, 26, 140 and 4.

Recommendations please?

The cantata I love the most is Widerstehe doch der sünde, BWV 54. I fell in love with it when I first heard it when I was a kid, on Deller's recording. Suzuki is also good in it, as is Leusink.

[Harry]

No matter which ones you choose, they are all good. I would like many others recommend The BIS recordings with Masaaki Suzuki. He has a host of good soloists all around. And sound quality is always good.

[Jo498]

They are quite a diverse bunch. Of the most popular ones, some are solo pieces like the two justly famous Bass cantatas BWV 82 "Ich habe genug" and 56 "Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen" as well as the already mentioned "Widerstehe doch der Sünde" (alto) and "Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen" (soprano).

Than there are "chorale-based cantatas" that use several stanzas (and usually the overarching theological theme) of a German Lutheran church hymn (Choral). You already know the early BWV 4, the most extreme case because ALL movements are based on the chorale. Famous ones of this type but usually including arias/duets and less "severe" in style than BWV 4 are BWV 80 "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" and 147 "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" (the middle movement, basically a trio with the Tenor singing the cantus firmus became one of the Schübler chorales for organ and later famous for piano an other arrangements as "Sleepers, awake")
I also like BWV 1 "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern" although (as frequently the case) the first movement is the most impressive.

Another very famous one, not based on a chorale, is "Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis" that starts as a dark funereal/penitence piece and ends with a triumphant chorus.

[ritter]

I have a particular weakness for some of the solo cantatas. Ich habe genug, BWV 82 (that SimonNZ already mentioned) and Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199. Dawn Upshaw is simply unbelievable in the latter.

Here the beginning:
https://www.youtube.com/v/ahcIo8fQbSM

[asin]B000059LXH[/asin]

[prémont]

The cantata I love the most is Widerstehe doch der sünde, BWV 54. I fell in love with it when I first heard it when I was a kid, on Deller's recording.

Exactly what I also did - so much, that I recall the names of the instrumental soloists, which however made a splendid HIP carriere in the years to come.

This was also the first time I heard the sound of period instruments.

Eduard Melkus, Alice Hoffelner(later Harnoncourt), Marie Leonhardt and Kurt Theiner - violas
Nicolaus Harnoncourt - violoncello    Gustav Leonhardt organ and leader

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I should be the last person allowed to give advice on Bach, but maybe start with BWV 60. I bet that this part will sound familiar: https://youtu.be/TzwYKsNwYyk?t=14m35s

Ha! It's Berg's violin concerto!

[North Star]

Some recommendations

https://www.youtube.com/v/ln9MBa8lXV4   https://www.youtube.com/v/2-tipS-fA5A

https://www.youtube.com/v/lM2rC6jzuUk

[Monsieur Croche]

I suppose when the recommendations start coming in now the emphasis will be on HIP, and that's largely as it should be, but don't overlook the many wonderful, heartfelt recordings from the pre-HIP years. Particularly those of Karl Richter, many featuring Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, including an "Es ist genug", and many other recordings that I feel still stand alongside the best of more recent years. Likewise those of Karl Ristenpart.

If you haven't come across it already a great resource of all these things is the invaluable Bach-Cantatas site, which will give you comprehensive discographies, reviews and discussions.


http://www.bach-cantatas.com/index.htm

Hear, Hear.... I'd promote SimonNZ to General Obvious, since you know none of these, and strongly second his recommendations. The performances recommended are not HIP-ologist, but they are very well-informed, fine, and lively.

Es ist genug is Very Well-known. You've already had your "A-hah!" moment recognizing it is the chorale used in the final movement of the Berg Violin Concerto. It invariably turns up in undergrad harmony 101 courses after the more 'regular' Bach chorales have been covered. For one thing it is a reminder that in harmony there are no such thing as real "Rules," lol. In the context when seen after working on the more harmonically 'standard' Bach chorales, it is loopy, and then a double caution to never do a Roman Numeral analysis of Bach with an ear and eye to only the verticals and to keep in mind so much of Bach is, in content and procedure, a blend of tonal and modal.

Also very well-known, from the Wedding Cantata BWV 202,The opening aria for a duo with Soprano and Baroque Oboe, w strings and continuo, Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten is a beauty

https://www.youtube.com/v/w75Ygnws66Q

[North Star]

Ich habe genug is Very Well-known. It is the chorale used in the final movement of the Berg Violin Concerto, and it invariably turns up in undergrad harmony 101 courses after the more 'regular' Bach chorales have been covered. For one thing, it is a reminder that in harmony, there are no rigid "Rules," lol. In the context as seen after the 'normal' Bach chorales, it is loopy, and a double caution to never do a Roman Numeral analysis of Bach with an ear and eye to only the verticals, and to keep in mind so much of Bach is a blend of tonal and modal procedures.

Es ist genug, not Ich habe genug.

[ritter]

Es ist genug, not Ich habe genug.

Sure of that, Karlo? I've always heard (and read), "Ich habe genug".

Cheers,

[Monsieur Croche]

Es ist genug, not Ich habe genug.

Right... somehow, I don't think an I've had enough! aria is quite in the spirit of the Protestant Reformation...

[North Star]

Sure of that, Karlo? I've always heard (and read), "Ich habe genug".

Cheers,

Two different cantatas, Rafael. The ending chorale of O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60 is Es ist genug.