Volume 40 of the BIS Bach Cantatas brings us a quartet of works from 1725, Bach's third year at Leipzig. For this year, far fewer Cantatas survive, either because Bach was changing the focus of his composing duties, or possibly because the works have mostly been lost for some unknown reason.

Two of the cantatas are celebratory (BWV 137 and 79), the others more contemplative (BWV 164 and 168). Opening the disc, the Chorus of Lobe der Herren (Praise to the Lord) is ushered in by trumpets and drums, with scurrying oboe and string figurations. Curiously the acoustic seems much more resonant than elsewhere in this series, although the venue (Kobe Shoin Women's University Chapel in Japan) has not changed, and the oboes on the right seem rather distant. In the other numbers of the Cantata, however, the balances are more intimate. Resplendent as this chorus might sound at first, the choir themselves are not articulating very clearly, and Suzuki's rhythm is rather metrical, with a persistent strong accent on the first beat. One has only to turn to the similar opening chorus of "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland of Vol 28 at the beginning of the SACD cycle to find overflowing joy in its sheer rhythmic drive and pointed articulation.

Much the best music-making on this volume comes from the soloists, in their various arias. For example, BWV 158 has an excellent bass aria from Peter Kooij as the 'rocks split asunder', although the accompanying busy bass continuo strings are rather too smoothly played to my ears. Later in the same cantata, there is a touch of irony for these economically-challenged times, for the tenor lectures us about 'Capital and Interest'. Bach's congregations themselves would have been well aware of their importance, for Leipzig was a key centre for the exchange of goods between East and West Europe at the time.

Counter-tenor Robin Blaze was in especially good voice on this disc, particularly in his slower, contemplative arias. In BWV 164, his entreaty that 'only thorough love and pity shall we become like God' is poetically and magically set to a duetting pair of Baroque flutes with organ and lower string continuo.

BWV 79, 'God is a sun and shield' is one of my favourite cantatas. It is a setting of a hymn to celebrate the Reformation, and Bach uses a pair of horns, which he reserves for very special occasions, rather than the usual trumpet and drums. The opening chorus is prefaced by a substantial sinfonia in which the horns are given a bold, swinging tune. This movement has an alla breve time signature, and Suzuki gives it a clear 2 in a bar treatment, and knocks about half a minute off the timings of many of his rivals. Good though the tempo may be, however, the horns are timid in volume, rhythmic drive and tone colour, often being submerged in the running descant of the strings and chorus. Listen to Leonhardt's natural horns from his Teldec cycle; they take risks and sound magnificent, blazing through the busy textures in truly celebratory manner. This horn tune recurs several times in the Cantata, and together with the heady choral descants, amkes it a very memorable work. Sad then, that Suzuki doesn't match the earthiness and rhythmic drive of Leonhardt (and Rotzsch with his Thomanerchor boys), although the Bach Collegium Japan Chorus does sing radiantly for him.

Reservations, then, for this disc, but collectors of the BIS cycle will certainly want to have it - partly for its exemplary sonics and thorough documentation. There is now competition from other Cantata cycles on SACD, and this can only be a good thing. Bach's invention in this enormous body of work rarely flags, and one always discovers new marvels.

Copyright © 2008 John Miller and HRAudio.net

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