Search - Johann Sebastian Bach, Melchior Hoffmann, Georg Philipp Telemann :: Bach, Telemann, Hoffmann: Sacred Cantatas for Alto & Tenor

Spurious Bach, but Still Wonderful Music

Paul Van de Water | Virginia, USA | 07/03/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In recent years, several cantatas that had been included in the catalog of Bach's works (in German, BWV) have been determined to have been written by other composers. These "spurious" or "apocryphal" Bach cantatas are now typically excluded from the integral recordings, for example, those of Harnoncourt and Rilling. That's too bad, because several of these works are extremely attractive and enjoyable. This Naxos recording contains two such cantatas: "Meine Seele ruhmt und preist" by Melchior Hoffman (formerly BWV 189) and "Ich weiss, dass mein Erloser lebt" by Telemann (formerly BWV 160). It's good to have these pieces readily available again in fine performances led by Bach specialist Helmut Muller-Bruhl. The disc also contains excellent performances of two real Bach cantatas (BWV 35 and 55), but it's the Hoffman and Telemann that make the disc stand out.



If you're looking for other spurious Bach cantatas, you'll find "Schlage doch, gewunschte Stunde," also by Hoffman (formerly BWV 53), beautifully performed by countertenor Robin Blaze on a Hyperion disc entitled "German 17th Century Church Music." BWV 15, 141, and 142 are available on a cpo disc, "Apocryphal Cantatas II.""