BACH Cantatas Vol. 12

CD1 (Tooting)

Cantatas for the Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity

[1-5] Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht BWV 55

[6-11] Was soll ich aus dir machen, Ephraim? BWV 89

[12-17] Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit BWV 115

[18-22] O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort II BWV 60

CD2 (Winchester)

Cantatas for the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity

[1-6] Wohl dem, der sich auf seinen Gott BWV 139

[7-12] Nur jedem das Seine! BWV 163

[13-18] Falsche Welt, dir trau ich nicht! BWV 52

[19-25] Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme BWV 140

The Monteverdi Choir

The English Baroque Soloists

John Eliot Gardiner

SDG is delighted to release Volume 12 - Cantatas for the twenty-second and twenty-third Sundays after trinity.

John Eliot Gardiner, The Monteverdi Choir and The English Baroque Soloists performed both of these programmes in England: at All Saints church in Tooting and at Winchester Cathedral, in November 2000.

The soloists include James Gilchrist, Peter Harvey and Joanne Lunn.

The highlight of this album is Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (“Sleepers, wake”) – one of Bach’s best known cantatas, and one that has long been part of the Monteverdi Choir’s repertoire. It is described as “a cantata without weaknesses, without a dull bar, technically, emotionally and spiritually of the highest order”.

Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht (“I, wretched man, I slave to sin”) is Bach’s only cantata for solo tenor still in existence. It is sung movingly by James Gilchrist.

Of three cantatas on the parable of the unjust steward (BWV 55, 89, 115), Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit (“Prepare yourself, my soul”) is considered to stand out for its subtle instrumental writing and spellbinding arias, which evoke the yearning of the soul for divine mercy.

The recording in Tooting (CD1) is the only one in the whole series that wasn’t recorded live: the original concert took place in Eton chapel, right under the Heathrow airport flight path, so we had to try and recreate the same conditions in a quieter place.

This album is packaged with a separate index sheet of the Cantata series.

Soli Deo Gloria 2cds SDG171