Search - Johann Sebastian Bach :: Bach: Kantaten 140, 61 & 36

Heavenly. Literally.

darragh o'donoghue | 04/18/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"this precious CD contains Bach's most beautiful music - the two duets in 140, which have been called love duets (with the bride Church awaiting its groom, Christ), but which have a rapturous, swooning quality not altogether sacred; and the lengthy soprano aria near the end of 36, the pearly Arleen Auger accompanied by violin and intermittent organ groundwork, sweet serenity occasionally troubled by anxious musical quickening.It contains some of Bach's strangest music: the opening chorus of 61, apparently an attempt to yoke sacred text to operatic music, but sounding like a declamatory forerunner of Weill's Berliner Requiem; the staccato, all-male chorus of 140.then , of course, it contains much that is simply, conventionally stunning, especially the opening chorus of Bach's most famous cantata, 140. The way Rotzsch balances the technical formalism and emotional texture, the rich choral writing aganst the insistent instrumentation, deserves all the plaudits we can summon."