Search - Bernarda Fink, Mark Padmore, Michael Chance :: Bach - Easter Cantatas BWV 6 & 66 / Fink, Davislim, Clarkson, Chance, Padmore, Henschel, The Monteverdi Choir, The English Baroque Soloists, Gardiner

Bach - Easter Cantatas BWV 6 & 66 / Fink, Davislim, Clarkson, Chance, Padmore, Henschel, The Monteverdi Choir, The English Baroque Soloists, Gardiner
Bernarda Fink, Mark Padmore, Michael Chance
Bach - Easter Cantatas BWV 6 & 66 / Fink, Davislim, Clarkson, Chance, Padmore, Henschel, The Monteverdi Choir, The English Baroque Soloists, Gardiner
Genre: Classical
 
  •  Track Listings (12) - Disc #1

John Eliot Gardiner's year-2000 project is big, even for him: a "pilgrimage" to perform all of Bach's surviving church cantatas (more than 200) between Christmas 1999 and Christmas 2000 in various churches throughout Eur...  more »

     
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John Eliot Gardiner's year-2000 project is big, even for him: a "pilgrimage" to perform all of Bach's surviving church cantatas (more than 200) between Christmas 1999 and Christmas 2000 in various churches throughout Europe, with a finale planned for New York City. With so much music, so many places, and so little time, worries about routine, autopilot music-making, and inconsistent performance standards were understandable. It was no doubt prudent for DG to record most of the "Bach Cantata Pilgrimage" series in the studio before the tour began. So it's all the more distressing that, even with Gardiner's famously skillful choir and orchestra recording under studio conditions, the first volume of the series is a disaster. The Monteverdi Choir, renowned as the well-oiled, high-precision machine of the choral world, sings with poor blend and occasionally shaky tuning (practically unheard-of for this group); the orchestral playing is either blaring or blasé; and the soloists sound uninvolved or uncertain, or both. It's hard not to think that everyone was sight-reading the music during the recording sessions. Most unfortunate of all is the once-superb countertenor Michael Chance, whose wobbly, indeterminate, frayed singing is heartbreaking. (Get the much better volume 2 of this series, a reissue of a 1989 recording, to hear just how good he used to be.) DG probably was contractually obligated to release this recording, but Gardiner should be ashamed to have let it leave the studio. Thank goodness that later volumes in this series aren't as bad. --Matthew Westphal
 

CD Reviews

Thanks, Archiv...
Izolda | North Haven, CT United States | 04/01/2000
(3 out of 5 stars)

"This CD opens a series of 12 releases (to appear on a monthly basis until November 2000) with selected Bach's cantatas performed by various soloists and The Monteverdi Choir/English Baroque Soloists under Sir John Eliot Gardiner. To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach, Gardiner prepared his own cantatas project called: "Bach Cantata Pilgrimage" that will "feature performances of all Bach's surviving church cantatas within a single year at a variety of churches throughout Europe (as well as three concerts in New York bringing the Pilgrimage to its conclusion) on the feast days for which they were composed" (from the advertising leaflet). After having listened to this first release, I am deeply grateful to Archiv Produktion that "Cantata Pilgrimage" cycle will be limited to only 12 CD, though originally it was planned as a COMPLETE CANTATAS PROJECT! I do not know about other Bach fans, but I am certainly not ready to face yet another complete cantatas project, especially recorded by "authentists". Koopman's boring production is coming to an end - to me, Koopman's cycle will always be an example of a dry music making , dictated by scholarship rather than musical instincts (but what an organist he is!). Suzuki's are much more balanced recordings - they are beautifully played and sung and the commitment of all the artists is never in doubt. Here again, some "scholarly" touches mar the final effect - Suzuki's tempi follow the general "quickish" trend, but somehow they are not breathless and thoughtless and don't bother me as they do in some other recordings. I enjoy a lot Philippe Herreweghe's releases of selected cantatas and sometimes regret that Harmonia Mundi did not embark on the "complete cantatas" project with this conductor. Gardiner's cycle on "Archiv" is no surprise and, as we might expect, he choses a spledid "historical" setting for his Pilgrimage: year 2000 and Bach's death's anniversary. Will it work as an excuse for yet another extensive cantatas series? All depends on the quality of Gardiner's releases, and this first installment does not make the whole project look promising. I was struck by a particularly limp choral singing, affecting greatly the clarity of vocal lines and the pleasure of listening. The soloists are much more impressive, Bernarda Fink with her marvellous voice particularly pleasing the ear. Male soloists give good performances (Mark Padmore especially so), but Michael Chance's voice sounds uneven and sometimes quite unpleasant. One more thing - this CD's total playing time is only 48 MINUTES. I understand that there may be some logical justification for putting only two cantatas on one disc (both are for Easter Monday), but doesn't such a short playing time call for a lower price? Such a price would be encouraging to numerous Bach fans who still hesitate before embarking on another "Collecting Bach Cantatas" project. I do not want to discourage anybody, especially those who want to start a collection: Gardiner's survey is quite extensive and will be completed within a year. It will also be more affordable than Suzuki or Koopman and in many ways, more enjoyable than the latter. Gardiner's fans (I am among them though not always for his Bach) will certainly want to give this new release a try and may find much more to enjoy in it than I did. If I were to decide about a new Bach cantatas project I would like to see an "old-fashioned" series, similar in quality and artistic commitment to the achievement of Marriner on his marvellous disc with Janet Baker and John Shirley Quirk. But who would like to do it?"
Room for 1 more Cantata
Classical Lover | Connecticut | 09/03/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)

"If there were only 48 minutes on the CD, there would have been room for another great Cantata "Der Himmel Lacht!" BWV 31.That has Trumpet and Timpani Obliggato and is wonderful!Maybe in the future?"