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Frits V. Herbold (March 23, 2025):
Fans of J. S. Bach’s cantatas cannot complain about the enormous quantity of available recordings! In my opinion, the best source of information about these recordings is the “Bach Cantatas Website” created by Aryeh Oron in 2000. See https://www.bach-cantatas.com/
Recordings of JSB’s oeuvre started more than 120 years ago with the first mechanical recordings of violin solo pieces by Joseph Joachim (1903) and Fritz Kreisler (1904). According to the same source (Martin Elste, “Meilensteine der Bach-Interpretation 1750-2000”, J.B. Metzler – Bärenreiter, 2000), Bach first complete cantata recording (BWV 50) dates from October 4, 1928 listed in the BCW as a 78 rpm record and only 6 years later, the same cantata is available as LP and CD, see https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV50-Rec1.htm.
Discussions of interpretations (see https://bach-cantatas.com/Order.htm)
Background
I have followed the content of this part of the BCW since its first round from 1999 to 2003. Participants are a wide range of cantata lovers with diverse backgrounds and interests. Some have a well-known name in musical performance and/or theory; others are simply enthusiastic lovers of Bach’s cantatas. See lists of members at https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/IndexTopics9.htm . Most of the first discussions are opened by Aryeh Oron himself describing his predilections for the different recordings. Initially these comprehend the (at the time more or less complete) cycles by Richter, Rilling, Harnoncourt-Leonhard (H-L) and many of earlier LP recordings (Cantata Label, reissued by the Vanguard label in the 1970's with Hans Heintze, Helmut Kahlhöfer, Wilhelm Ehmann etc. as conductors. In these years of the first discussions, many even older recordings were released on CD (from previously LP releases in the Democratic Republic of Germany) – e.g., Günther Ramin, Kurt Thomas, Erhard Mauersberger, Hans-Joachim Rotzsch, as well as an almost complete cycle by Fritz Werner launched by Erato (later reissued as CD boxes in three volumes by Warner).
Passionate (and sometimes embarrassingly aggressive) discussions focus the spotlight on the so called “HIP” (Historically Informed Performance) interpretations, initially mostly comparing Karl Richter’s and Helmut Rilling’s recordings with the already completed H-L cycle but soon joined by the new upcoming complete cycles by Gardiner, Koopman, Herreweghe, Suzuki and Leusink and many other current partial recordings.
Similarly, many divided opinions emerge around the so called ‘OVPP’ (One Voice Per Part) interpretations started as a cycle of Weimar cantatas by Joshua Rifkin & The Bach Ensemble (unfortunately not completed!) followed by Andrew Parrot, Sigiswald Kuijken, Konrad Junghaenel, The Purcell Quartet as well as many other consort type ensembles.
Consequently, these contributions can be divided basically into two groups: A - those who describe how and why they enjoy certain interpretations and B - others who argue about what in their view would be the correct or ‘authentic’ interpretation of a Bach cantata.
Group A - taste is a very personal matter, but I believe it mostly depends on the listeners age and how his lifetime allowed access and opportunity to enjoy their first cantata recordings and from there on the ability to compare with many following decades of new interpretations. Mostly tastes vary around soloists, choir size, tempo, and instrumentation of individual movements. It is easy to understand how a certain soprano aria performed by Edith Mathis, Johannette Zomer, boy sopranos Wilhelm Wiedl and Peter Jelosits, Barbara Schlick, Midori Suzuki or Ruth Holton may appeal to different listeners – but also to one and the same listener who is able to appreciate all of them in the context of their different recording dates!
There is an interesting section in the BCW titled ‘My First Cantata’, started by Aryeh Oron in 2001 where he describes hearing BWV 4 in the interpretation of Wilhelm Ehmann in the early 1970ies for the first time as a student and 3 years later his astonishment after hearing the same cantata in the interpretation by Harnoncourt. He writes ‘I remember how astonished I was to hear the cantata I had known so well in such a different performance. Gradually, I started to get used to it, but it never replaced for me my first love.’
Thomas Braatz, another regularly active contributor to the discussions group started his appreciation of cantatas also with BWV 4 in the interpretation of Robert Shaw and comments: I was impressed. After that, whenever I heard a new cantata that I was not acquainted with, I would be disappointed because it did not have the 'perfect' form that it was supposed to have, based on BWV 4.’
A third member of the discussions group, Kirk McElhearn, relates how he started with the first ‘Brown Box’ (the H-L cycle on LP, BWV 1 to 4) but comments: ‘I don't recall being especially moved by it, but I do recall BWV 4, with its beautiful arias. It didn't change my life radically at the time, but it set the stage for future changes.’
The Dutch novelist Maarten 't Hart (very popular in Germany, born November 25, 1944) and a huge Bach and cantatas fan published a book in 2000 with the somewhat pretentious title “Bach and I” (“Bach en Ik”). In Part II of his book, he relates his experience of hearing a Piano arrangement of Bach’s Chorale “Wohl mir, dass ich Jesum habe” from cantata BWV 147, performed by the English pianist Myra Hess at the house of a friend at the age of eight. In the following years he has the opportunity to enjoy other individual arias available and points out the difficulty of obtaining other cantata recordings during the 1960ies in The Hague, where he lived as a student. Then he mentions the launch of the (above mentioned) first LP of the series “Les Grandes Cantatas de Johann Sebastian Bach” in the interpretation of Fritz Werner. His following comments in the book are an example of someone who has the opportunity to enjoy many decades of cantata recordings. He clearly points out his later appreciation of specific cantatas of the Gardiner, Koopman and Suzuki cycles. The German edition of his book “Bach und Ich” (Arche Verlag AG, Zürich-Hamburg, 2000) includes a CD with a selection of his favorite Bach music interpreted by Koopman. Not surprisingly, it includes movement six of BWV 147, the very same chorale that stimulated his interest in Bach as a young boy.
Finally, I want to make my point as a group A listener according to my own experience. Also, a fellow Dutch citizen of Maarten van ‘T Hart and born a month later in the same year 1944, I enjoyed one year of Kindergarten at the age of six and thereafter 5 years of elementary school at the “Koningin Wilhelmina School” in a small city in the middle of the Netherlands, Apeldoorn in the province Gelderland. Like so many other schools in my country, this was a Lutheran school, and our classes would start singing a Lutheran chorale according to the Dutch Evangelical-Lutheran songbook. Among these, Luther’s own ‘A Mighty Fortress Is Our God’ in the Dutch translation “Een vaste Burcht is onze God” always lifted our enthusiasm and I believe, our young voices may have sounded quite well, although we obviously did not sing in the four voices setting by Bach. Whenever I enjoy Bach’s BWV 80 cantata, my mind returns to this magical moment in my youth.
My passion for Bach’s cantatas started as a student in Germany in the 1960ies, singing the bass part of the three first parts of the Christmas Oratorio and the B minor mass in a local city choir. At the same time, I started browsing through new LP releases in record stores . As Maarten van ‘t Hart commented above, there were few cantata recordings a. I found some of the early Karl Richter LPs with the prestigious “Archiv Produktion” label. I would hear them all in the listening booths provided at the time in these stores.
In fact, the 1960ies were dominated by the Karajan ‘rage’ for classical and romantic music fans. Karajan had already recorded two complete cycles of Beethoven’s symphonies and his second recording, with the Deutsche Grammophon label (1963) was a worldwide hit. I don’t want to digress from the subject here, but in my opinion Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony from this edition is still my favorite. Although Karajan recorded some of Bach’s instrumental works, his 4 (or 5?) attempts at the B minor Mass (1952 to 1974 or 1985?) aren’t my cup of tea – basically because of his large orchestra and choir sizes, his too operatic soloists (although very renowned at the time) and last not least because of his overall romantic style of interpretation. The same goes for his both recordings of the St. Matthew Passion of 1950 and 1972. Karajan was only interested in recording popular ‘mass works’ and as far as I know he did not record any cantata. I guess his “house label” Deutsche Grammophon understood this and choose Karl Richter as ‘their’ favorite Bach interpreter. Even now, after 60 years, I still highly appreciate most of Richter’s recordings. He (excerpts from liner notes) ‘used highly trained women’s and men’s voices in his “Müncher Bach Chor” as well as two generations of highly renowned soloists, among them names as Ursula Bückel and Edith Mathis (S), Herta Töpper and Julia Hamari (A), Ernst Haeflinger and Peter Schreier (T) as well the famous basses Kieth Engen and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. A precious documentation of singing spanning a period of some 20 years’. Most distinguishing from the many following cycles, he used the great G. F. Steinmeyer & Co. organ at the Hercules Saal in Munich after 1962 when this new instrument was installed. The pictures from the liner notes show the dominance of the enormous choir (I guess at least six singers per part) as well as the magnificent great organ.
But then in the early 1970ies the picture changed radically. Gradually the already mentioned recordings by Fritz Werner, the miscellaneous ‘Cantata Label’ interpreters, many new Karl Richter, Hans Rilling and other interpretations became available on LPs. These new releases would be topped in December 1970 by the launch of the first ‘Brown Box’ with LPs of cantatas BWV 1 to BWV 4 by Niklaus Harnoncourt. Under the also very prestigious label “Das Alte Werk” by Telefunken (later several reeditions by Teldec), a new marketing concept had been launched: the box not only contained two high quality stereo LPs but also liner notes by Alfred Dürr (see below under B) and finally –this was a first – an authorized copy of the complete score for each cantata! The project was more or less equally divided by recordings of Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt, who already had recorded BWV 54 and BWV 170 in 1954 (with his Leonhardt Baroque Ensemble, and the English counter-tenor Alfred Deller). See the BCW at https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Leonhardt-Gustav.htm and the remark ‘This early essay in historically aware performance style (HIP) - the ensemble included his wife Marie and Eduard Melkus (violins), Alice Hoffelner (viola), Nikolaus Harnoncourt (cello), and Michel Piguet (oboe) - may be justly considered an important torch-bearer in the new paths soon to be taken in baroque interpretations’.
The main marketing attraction point of this edition was Harnoncourt’s claim to present the first ‘original’ interpretation of Bach’s cantatas. He used ‘original instruments’, boy soloists and boy choirs instead of women’s voices (with the only exception of BWV 51). I continued to enjoy the whole edition on LP until 1982, when I switched to CD’s – a decision I still regret in terms of a fully analog sound quality chain. I would compare these new recordings mainly with Karl Richter’s. The boy-choir sizes were not very different from Richter’s choir, but the overall sound was quite different. But the new voices of the English countertenor Paul Esswood and the Austrian tenor Kurt Equiluz – specially in solos and duets with boy sopranos made all the difference. Regarding the ‘original’ instruments I appreciated the new sound of the wood winds, especially in combination with these new soloists in recitatives and arias, in a whole new – more intimate - atmosphere. As far as I know, these were the first releases to also include a comprehensive description of the used historical instruments in the liner notes. Most releases by Harnoncourt were recorded at the Casino Zögernitz in Vienna, Austria while Leonhardt performed his recordings in two churches (“Doopgezinde Kerk”, Amsterdam and Haarlem, Netherlands. Interestingly, both conductors started using a “great” organ (rebuild after examples of the 17th. Century by Klaus Becker, Kupfermühle) but switched after BWV 23 to chest organs (Jürgen Ahrend and Klaus Becker). While Harnoncourt mostly played the cello and had an excellent organist, Herbert Tachezi, Leonhard played the organ (or positive) himself or invited Ton Koopman, who would start his own cycle later (see below).
Many other new releases became available during the 1970ies. As examples, for the more popular cantatas, many different interpretations were available in 1979 according to the BCW: for BWV 147: 20; for BWV 4: 26 and for BWV 51: 31! As mentioned above, Hans Rilling became an additional choice (cheaper than other LPs) and other new names appeared on the scene: Karl Ristenpart, Helmut Winschermann, Jaap Schröder and many others. I liked them all with the exception of those with too big choirs and/or too operatic soloists.
There is no doubt that the first public release of the CD in 1982 was the main event for music fans in the 1980ies, although initially there were few new cantata recordings available. That changed very rapidly in the following years and during the 1990ies. Additionally, when the year 2000 was declared a ‘Bach Year’ (250 years date of death) there was an avalanche of new cantata recordings as well as many reeditions of famous previous recordings. As an example, all the former East German editions from the “VEB Deutsche Schalplatten Berlin” were reissued on CD by “edel CLASSICS GmbH” with recordings by the Thomas cantors Karl Straube, Günther Ramin, Kurt Thomas, Erhard Mauersberger, Hans-Joachim Rotzsch – many of them recorded with the Thomaner choir, performed at the St. Thomas church. I was surprised by the quality of some of these interpretations and appreciated the possibility to compare the sound of a registration at the very same site as Bach’s original performances, although many of the soprano and alto soloist parts were sung by women’s voices.
Also, access to popular recordings from the USA became easily available e.g., the OVPP interpretations by Joshua Rifkin and Jeffrey Thomas with his American Bach soloists. I highly appreciated the transparency of the different voices in the chorales and also the overall “intimate” sound of his interpretations.
At this time, the “taste” of most cantata lovers in the discussion group of the BCW had mostly favored the new HIP cycles by John Eliot Gardiner, Ton Koopman, Philippe Herreweghe, Masaaki Suzuki and Pieter Jan Leusink and more recently Rudolf Lutz as well as many other new OVPP recordings. Meanwhile, the preference for alto and mezzo-soprano parts changed from women’s voices to excellent alto/countertenor singers while soprano singers with unostentatious, unadorned and “boyish” sounding timbres instead of the early operatic voices were preferred. Similarly, listeners expected original instruments and smaller choirs.
I loved the release of Gardiner’s monumental Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, started in December 1999 with the “Archiv Produktion” label from Deutsche Grammophon and was surprised to see that it stopped after 10 CD’s covering only the main Lutheran feast days. Fortunately, Gardiner managed to continue the series in one year (!) with his own label ‘Soli DeGloria’ under the patronage of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and supported by many donors, corporate sponsors, charitable foundations and public funds. He concluded the recordings of a total of 198 cantatas with one complementary concert in 2012! For details see the BCW at https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Festival/Festival-BCP.htm.
The main novelty here was the fact that Gardiner performed these recordings mostly in various German churches e.g. in Weimar, Eisenach, Mühlhausen, Arnstadt, Altenburg, Lübeck, Köthen, Halle and Leipzig and also followed basically the chronology of the Lutheran Church Year. But there was a catch: within the extremely short time frame, he needed to perform all cantatas for a certain feast day. That meant e.g. for Jubilate the performance of all three cantatas from totally different time periods: BWV 12 (Weimar 1715), BWV 103 (Leipzig 1725), and BWV 146 (Leipzig, 1726/28)! Gardiner describes the emerging performance problems of this situation in his liner notes, and I will come back to some of these in Group B.
Gardiner himself comments on his website: When we embarked on the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in Weimar on Christmas Day 1999, we had no real sense of how the project would turn out. There were no precedents, no earlier attempts to perform all Bach’s surviving church cantatas on the appointed feast day and all within a single year, for us to draw on or to guide us. Just as in planning to scale a mountain or cross and ocean, you can make meticulous provision, calculate your route and get all the equipment in order, in the end you have to deal with whatever the elements - both human and physical - throw at you at any given moment.’
When Harnoncourt and Leonhardt started their complete cycle in 1970, they simply followed the numbering of Wolfgang Schmieder’s “Bach Werke Verzeichnis” (BWV), published in 1950 and again in 1990, although Dürr’s ‘Chronology’ and the parts of the NBA were already available (see below, Score). I don’t think this was a good approach. The BWV is chronologically far from correct (just compare the dates of BWV 1, Leipzig 1725 and BWV 4, Mühlhausen 1707/08!) and as a consequence their orchestras and choirs did not have the chance to ‘grow and learn’ with Bach’s chronological performance calendar. Koopman and Suzuki (not Philippe Herreweghe and Leusink) probably thought of this and used the chronological approach which I think makes much more sense.
I appreciated the launch of the Koopman, Suzuki and Herreweghe cycles very much. The first was accompanied with liner notes by Christoph Wolff as well as three volumes of “Die Welt der Kantaten” divided in “From Arnstadt to Köthen”, “The secular cantatas” and “The Leipzig Church Cantatas”, with contributions of the well-known Bach scholars Peter Wollny, Andreas Glöckner, Hans-Joachim Schulze, Martin Petzold as well as by Koopman himself (see also Group B.)
Suzuki’s complete cycle has many similarities with Koopman’s. It contains very informative liner notes performance details by himself and Bach scholars Klaus Hofmann, Hans-Joachim Schulze and others. They both follow Bach’s chronology, play with smaller choirs, start to use alto/counter-tenor soloists and use chest organs and/or harpsichords in many recordings. Finally, Suzuki uses OVPP chorales In many solo cantatas. He launched the recordings as Super Audio CD’s starting Vol. 28.
Although Herreweghe’s recordings were not complete, I admire his excellent performance very much. As a former choirmaster for the H-L cycle, his recordings are very similar to Koopman’s and Suzuki’s. Some recordings share the same soloists, e.g. Peter Kooy (also Koopman) and his alto parts are performed mostly by the French countertenor Damien Guillon (also with Suzuki, Kuijken and many other recent releases), who I consider one of the best countertenors of our time.
All these tendencies show that today – in the 2020ies and after almost one hundred years of cantata interpretations – the taste of most cantata lovers has changed, but that does not mean that one can’t appreciate earlier or more than one recordings considering the scope and time of their releases. The only requirement / condition needed – and this brings me back to my initial argument for group A - is to have lived enough time to enjoy all of this! I am 80 years old while writing these lines and have listened daily to far more than 1.000 different interpretations of Bach cantatas in the last 60 years of my life. I feel extremely privileged!
Group B of the discussion partners from the BCW and the quest for the ‘original’ or ‘authentic’ Bach cantata interpretations, we need to ask ourselves what we really KNOW today about conditions and specifics of Bach’s interpretations. I am commenting below on a number of topics: acoustics, chronology, scores, orchestra and choir sizes, woodwind and brass Instruments, soloists, performance, pitch and temperament.
Today we know a lot more about these topics after the first published biographical information, e.g. the so called "Nekrolog" that appeared in Lorenz Christoph Mizler's “Musikalische Bibliothek” and Johann Nikolaus Forkel’s first Bach biography from 1802, based mostly upon the former “Nekrolog” as well as material obtained from Bach's sons Carl Philipp Emanuel and Wilhelm Friedemann. Philipp Spitta’s biography published in German in two volumes (1873 and 1880 respectively) can be considered a first more elaborated work of the 19th century. Below I will list the main more recent Bach scholars that I believe are important in the context of each following topic.
Acoustics. Bach church cantatas were performed exclusively in churches. In Leipzig, at the main churches St. Thomas Kirche, St. Nikolai Kirche, Neue Kirche and Paulinerkirche (also University Church). I don’t have seen much information about the acoustic peculiarities in these churches during the Bach years, but there is one interesting chapter in Harnoncourt’s book ‘Baroque Music Today: Music as Speech, Ways to a New Understanding of Music’ ( Amadeus Pr. 1988 (reprint 1995)) ‘ The Reconstruction of original Acoustics in the Studio’. I am translating freely from the original German edition: ‘We know the acoustics of the St. Thomas church … that at the time had a wood paneling and a reverberation time that would correspond to the one of the (concert) hall of the “Wiener Musikverein”, meaning also the reverberation time of a very good concert hall, in which one can play very fast tempi without everything becoming blurred. So, one can understand why Bach could effort fast harmony changes at the very fast tempi he used, according to the testimony of his sons.’
Although we have the many early interpretations recorded at the St. Thomas church (mostly with the Thomaner choir and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) starting with Karl Straube in 1931 and followed by the many releases from former East Germany (see above), as well as the more recent cycle (2009) by Christoph Biller, I don’t believe that this issue is really important for the most recent releases anymore, since the modern recording techniques and postediting (sound mixing etc.) resources certainly guarantee satisfactory acoustics.
In this context, I would like to mention three less commented cantatas performed in what is considered one of the best concert halls in terms of acoustics, Berlin’s Philharmonic Hall: cantatas BWV 8, 84 and 105, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. Performed in a minimalistic setting by members of the Berliner Philharmonic and 4 outstanding OVPP soloists, Anna Prohaska (S), Christopher Ainslie (A/CT) Patrick Grahltenor (T) and Jan Martiník (B). Interestingly, the final chorale of BWV 84 “Ich leb indes in Dir vergnüget” is sung ‘a Capella’, without instrumental accompaniment. This is a good example of a very well sounding performance in a modern concert hall. See: https://www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/concerts
Chronology. Only after Alfred Dürr’s “Studien über die frühen Kantaten J.S. Bachs“ (Breitkopf & Härtel Germany, 1951) and his follwork “Zur Chronologie der Leipziger Vokalwerke J. S. Bachs” published also in the “ Bach Jahrbuch 1957” we started to have a good idea about the timeline of Bach’s cantata compositions. As mentioned earlier above, Dürr (1918 - 2011) - one of the most important Bach scholars - also published the ‘must have’ and really first useful guide for cantata lovers “Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach” (Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel – Basel, 1971 and eight actualized reeditions until 2000!) later also published in English (Oxford Press, 2006 (Paperback), unfortunately with many translation and printing errors.
Score. Among other well-known Bach scholars (Werner Neumann, Klaus Hofmann, Andreas Glöckner, Peter Wollny, Christoph Wolff etc.), Dürr was also the main editor of the “Neue Bach Ausgabe” (NBA), particularly in the Series I (Cantatas) with 47 volumes of the completely revised original scores and parts that had survived. The website points out: ‘Work on the New Bach Edition led to the rediscovery of lost compositions and resolved many questions of authenticity in the Bach canon. Most of all, however, the close study of the sources has occasioned a large-scale revision of the chronology of Bach's life, thereby forming the basis for a new image of the composer in our time.’
The NBA was edited by the “Bach-Institut Göttingen” and the “Bach-Archiv Leipzig” and published by “Bärenreiter-Verlag”, until the end of divided of Germany in collaboration with the “Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig”. The first volume was published in 1954, and the whole series were completed in 2007. The volumes of the cantata scores followed the chronology of the Lutheran Church Calendar, starting 1st Advent and ending at the 27th Sunday after Trinitatis, followed by the Mariae Feasts, Johannis, Michaelis, Feast of Reformation, Town Council etc. and also included all secular works. Each volume included the so called “Kritischer Bericht” (critical report), a valuable source for anyone who wanted to take a deeper look in the sources, texts, previous editions and other special remarks. Today, Bach’s original scores and parts can also be accessed at the portal https://www.bach-digital.de/content/index.xed , ‘a detailed and global database with digital reproductions of works/sources by J. S. Bach and the whole Bach family.’
Orchestra, Soloists & Choir. Bach’s well known “Eingabe an den Rat der Stadt Leipzig” from August 23, 1730, gives us a good idea of what Bach considered a satisfying orchestra and choir size at his time in Leipzig. Soprano and alto soloists were chosen from the “Thomaner” (for alto parts also students from the Leipzig University). There is enough literature available here. I suggest the introductory chapters in Dürr’s above mentioned ‘The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach” and Christoph Wolff’s ‘Johann Sebastian Bach – The Learned Musician’ (WW. Norton, New York – London, 2000).
The OVPP issue is also an important question here. There are many essays by Joshua Rifkin advocating for OVPP choirs, but I recommend Andrew Parrott’s ‘The Essential Bach Choir’, (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK, 2000) that covers this issue in a very detailed way. His main arguments are based upon the quantity of existing singing parts and the misunderstanding about the roles of ‘Concertists’ and ‘Ripienists’ in Bach’s choir.
I personally believe that solo cantatas (provided they have a final choir as in BWV 84, 169, 55, 56 and 158) would certainly be executed with one voice per part, since there wouldn’t be any other choir movement. I appreciate all available OVPP performances, since they provide a transparency of the single voices not heard in other full choir recordings.
Woodwind and Brass Instruments
When Felix Mendelssohn revived Bach’s St. Mattews Passion in 1829 in Berlin (and again in 1841 in Leipzig), typical woodwind instruments like the oboe d’amore and the oboe da caccia were not easily available anymore at the time. He used the clarinets instead (see liner notes by Christoph Spering to his recording of Mendelsohn’s 1841 version, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV244-Spering.htm. Between this performance and the revival of ‘original instruments’ with Leonhardt’s and Harnoncourt’s cantata recordings, similar adaptations or reworkings in the score and parts had to me made by all following cantata interpretations. Even more tricky became Bach’s wide range of brass instruments: many of them disappeared completely from today’s orchestras but were ‘reintroduced’ either by rediscovery of original instruments or copies thereof. For both woodwind and brass instruments, the absence of modern valves as well the way of performing (see below ‘Performance’) became a real challenge for today’s instrumentalists dedicated to Bach’s oeuvre. For a better understanding of Bach’s brass instruments, I recommend “Die Blechblasinstrumente in J. S. Bach's Werken, by Gisela & Jozsef Csiba (Merseburger, 1994) see also: https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Books/Book-Brass-Instruments[Csiba].htm, unfortunately, only available in German.
Performance. Many Bach scholars as well as all already mentioned above, discuss specifics of Bach’s cantata performances regarding orchestra and choir placement, tempo, interpretation of music adornments and notation (specially pauses!) from the original scores, conducting and – a much-debated example – the use of the organ and/or harpsichord in the basso continuo (BC). Although focused on Bach’s orchestral works, I also recommend Siegbert Rampe’s and Dominik Sackmann’s “Bachs Orchestermusik” (Bärenreiter, 2000), Harnoncourt’s above mentioned ‘Baroque Music Today: Music as Speech, Ways to a New Understanding of Music’ about interpretation and the specifics of playing Bach’s instruments.
Regarding the performance of brass instruments, it is interesting to note, that in the above mentioned “Eingabe an den Rat der Stadt Leipzig” from August 23, 1730, Bach mentions only three trumpets players. Considering that Bach’s score for BWV 205 is the only cantata in which both trumpets and horns are notated simultaneously: 3 trumpets in D and 2 horns (corno da caccia) in D, see: Bach Digital https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_000000255 this indicates that his brass players were expected to have the versatility of playing both trumpet and horn instruments in most other cantatas.
Organ or Harpsichord?
Regarding the use of the church organ, there is no doubt of its main use in the basso continuo (BC) part – mostly together with violoncello, contrabass and/or bassoon. The ‘critical reports’ of the NBA clearly show how Bach corrected the (transposed) organ part himself (whenever he has the time) if previously made by one of his copyists.
In the above-mentioned edition of “Die Welt der Kantaten”, Koopman himself has one very interesting chapter about historical performance at Bach’s time in each Vol.. In Vol. 1, in his chapter ‘Accompaniment Organ / Harpsichord’ he mentions Arnold Scherer’s “Johann Sebastian Bach’s Leipziger Kirchenmusik. Studien und Wege zu ihrer Erkenntnis”(Breitkopf und Härtel, Wiesbaden. 1968) who points out that in most churches where Bach performed, there was always a harpsichord standing in the organ loft (gallery) and he assumes that Bach used it for his rehearsals or in cases when the organ was in repair. There is an ongoing discussion among Bach scholars about the use of both organ and harpsichord in Bach’s church cantata performances. The one cantata all agree about is the Funeral Ode BWV 198, because there is a mention of an eyewitness who reports seeing Bach playing and conducting from a harpsichord, although this doesn’t exclude a simultaneous organ part. This cantata was performed at the Pauliner (University) church, but Dürr classifies it as secular and there seems to be no doubt among most Bach scholars aninterpreters that most secular cantatas are to be performed with the harpsichord as main basso continuo (BC) key instrument.
Another proven use of a harpsichord part according to the NBA is movement 4 - Aria for Alto of BWV 154. The ‘critical report’ to the NBA Series I, volume 5 discusses the surviving parts and points out that Bach himself wrote the (not transposed) harpsichord part. The transposed BC organ part is written by Johann Kuhnau, but the ‘figuring’ is also from Bach himself!
In my opinion it doesn’t really matter if the harpsichord plays along with the organ in many recordings. This is a choice of the conductor or the consorts. I also don’t believe that one would be able to hear the sound of the harpsichord at all in Bach’s momentous opening choruses and/or final embedded chorales with a full church organ BC from his later Leipzig period!
Pitch. See the above literature and also many liner notes in the H-L, Gardiner, Koopman, Suzuki etc. cycles. My personal favorite is Bruce Haynes’ ‘A History of Performing Pitch / The Sory of A’ (Scarecrow Press, 2002). In Chapter 6 ‘Johann Sebastian Bach and Pitch’ he shows the great variations in pitch of Bach’s instruments in Weimar, Köthen and Leipzig – specially in the case of woodwinds. He points out: ‘The performing materials for the great majority of Bach’s vocal / instrumental works at Leipzig are notated a M2 (my addition: meaning 2 semitones) above the organ parts so that the strings, voices and woodwinds must have been at A-1 (my addition: meaning at a’= 415 Hz, called “Cammerton”)’. He adds that in his first Leipzig year, Bach still used some woodwinds from his predecessor Johann Kuhnau pitched at the so called “tief-Cammerton” (= low chamber tone), a semitone lower than the “Cammerton”, e.g. BWV 22, 23, 63, 63, 194. But they seem to have been phased out and there were no signs of their use after June 1724. Before Leipzig though, most of Bach’s cantatas were performed at the “Chorton” pitch around a’= 465 Hz. As far as I know, only Koopman and Suzuki played the early Weimar cantatas at this pitch. Comments of Koopman and the liner notes from Suzuki’s Vol. 1 confirm this. Unfortunately, only a few liner notes of the cantata recordings mention the used pitch (not to mention the temperament, see below). But I believe this will not make any difference for most cantata lovers. Only ears with absolute pitch ( German: “Absolutes Gehör”) will notice this!
Since the introduction of ‘original instruments’ by Harnoncourt / Leonhardt it was to be expected that most of the following recording cycles would use instruments tuned at a’=415 Hz. The downside (in terms of ‘authentic’ interpretation) of this became the need to use chest / box organs (positive organ, portable organ or chair organ) also tuned at a’= 415 Hz instead of the “great” (church) organ pitch used by Bach, because these were tuned at Bach’s ‘Organ tone’, a’= 465 Hz, which is still the case today for both organs (“Grosse und Kleine Orgel” ) at the St. Thomas church today (see Christoph Wolff & Markus Zepf, ‘The Organs of J. S. Bach: A Handbook’ (University of Illinois Press, 2012). Most of today’s organs are tuned at the modern pitch of a’= 440 Hz, which makes a transposition by a semi tone lower of the organ part even more complicated.
Many recent recordings at the St. Thomas church – including DVD’s, Blu-ray and YouTube videos, show that these performances ignore the church organ and instead use positive / chest organs. This is obviously also the case for the many complete cycles started around 2000. I strongly believe that in most cases the conductors simply wanted to avoid any transposition work for the organ part, which was common practice during Bach’s time.
There are some memorable exceptions though: while Gardiner during his “Pilgrimage” traveled with a chamber organ made by master organ maker Robin Jennings (see https://jennings-organs.co.uk/ ) he made a notable exception while recording his cantata BWV 146 using the magnificent Trost organ at the castle church in Altenburg (see https://residenzschloss-altoenburg.de/trost-orgel.html ). The above-mentioned book of Christoph Wolff & Markus Zepf, ‘The Organs of J. S. Bach: A Handbook’ mentions a visit of Bach to Altenburg in September1737, where he ‘informally examined and played’ this organ (shortly before its official inauguration). Wolff mentions a contribution by Hans-Joachim-Schulze given at a Symposium at the Philipps-University in Marburg, Germany, describing the report of an anonymous earwitness to this event, that probably took place at the 19th Sunday after Trinitatis (September 6, 1739) detailing how ‘the old Bach playing the 5 voices chorale arrangement BWV 740, was able to switch from the harmonies D minor do E flat minor and then to E minor and concludes (freely translated from the German text): ‘only ’a’ Bach and ‘a’ organ in Altenburg could have achieved this!’
Gardiners organist Silas John Standage plays this organ also masterfully, especially the first movement ‘Sinfonia’. In the liner notes to Vol. 24 of the ‘Soli Deo Gloria’ edition he writes: ‘… it was a real thrill to play this wonderful instrument but certainly not without problems. For a start I had to learn the music in a different key. Old German organs are tuned higher than modern concert pitch. Then the unseasonably warm weather together with the warm breath of a capacity audience, raised the pitch still further. The oboists were able to cooperate by making extra-short reeds; how the flautist and recorder player managed, I don't know but, they did. Then there was the issue of how to co-ordinate with the orchestra. We tried placing the instrumentalists at the same level as the organ loft in the gallery opposite but had to reject this for practicalities of space. So, we ended up with the orchestra on the chapel floor and a camera and TV relay so that I could see John Elliott beat. And finally, the unpredictable inherent in all old instruments has a trump card to play: just before the performance began it started to cipher -sounding the note ’F’ with without any key being pressed down. The local organist was in the audience, and he quickly set about trying to sort out the problem but to no avail. Luckily the cipher did not affect the solo stops I had chosen, so after some moments of panic and confusion (during which John Elliott accidentally got locked into the organ loft) the performance went ahead. But it was an adrenaline-packet evening that I am not likely to forget.’
Well, regarding the need to play in a different key, it had never been a problem for Bach himself or his organists. That was standard practice later in Leipzig, were the instruments and voices would play at ‘= 415 Hz (“Cammerton”) and the organ at a’= 465 Hz (“Chorton” or “Orgel Ton”. As an example, when the movement’s key was in D, the organ would play in C. But all the other problems reported here may have scared away many conductors of following recordings.
Another exception is a performance of the first movement of BWV 170 at the “Église réformée du Bouclier” church in Strasbourg, France by Damien Guillon and his le “Banquet Céleste” available as a video clip on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=111WT0vVq0M. Guillon conducts himself and the organist is playing the original church organ in his back, showing that such a rather authentic performance is possible! This magnificent recording is also available together with BWV 35 as CD, see the BCW at: https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV170-Rec8.htm
Although not performed in one of the main Leipzig churches, these 2 performances would qualify as really ‘authentic’ and ‘historically informed’ in my opinion, even if played at equal temperament (see below). But if one disregards women’s voices for the soprano parts and use of the chest organ, many other HIP and OVPP recordings come very close to today’s mainstream taste of a cantata perform.
Temperament.
Bach’s second son, Carl Philipp Emanual writes around 1774 to Forkel (see above); ‘The ‘pure’ (in German “reine”) tuning of his instruments as well as the whole orchestra had his foremost attention’ … and: ‘he did all by himself’ and in the above mentioned “Nekrolog” (I am translating freely from German): ‘he knew how to tune the harpsichord in a way so ‘pure’ and ‘correct’ that all keys sounded beautiful and pleasing’. (Bach-Dokumente III, Bach Archiv Leipzig, Kassel & Leipzig, 1972).
In Dürr’s book “Johann Sebastian Bach. Das Wohltemperierte Klavier” (Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel, Basel, London, New York, Prag, 1998), he explains (I am freely translating from German) ‘how the dispute around the optimal tuning would not come to an end during the first decades of the 18th century’. He mentions the organ builder Gottfried Silbermann and the various suggestions from Johann Philipp Kirnberger for an “uneven” (or ‘unequal’) temperament (“ungleichmässige Temperatur”). Basically, the issue here was how to keep the .natural’ or ‘pure’ (or Pythagorean) thirds and or fifths and still to be able to play in different keys. Dürr also mentions various different tuning systems described by Andreas Werckmeister that in a way concurred at the time with Bach’s own temperament. But at the end Dürr’s conclusion is (freely translated from German): ‘How Bach tempered / tuned really – we will never learn …’
One can assume, though, that Bach’s temperament comes very close to today’s equal temperament (ET). For further details on temperament, I recommend ‘How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony (and Why You Should Care)’ by Ross W. Duffin (W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, 2007). In a very direct and humoristic style, he offers insights into the history of temperament and includes several comments on Bach’s temperament, also pointing out that ‘well-tempered’ is not to be mistaken by ‘equal temperament’. He also mentions how keyboard scholar and performer Bradley Lehman (also an active participant of the BCW discussions) claims to have deciphered Bach’s temperament encoding from the title page of the score of the ‘Well-Tempered Clavier’ (see: www.larips.com ).
Basically, Duffin shows how in equal temperament (ET), thirds are smaller than Pythagorean thirds. The fifths are nearly pure, and the thirds are fairly heavily tempered. The difference between equal fifths and pure fifths is very difficult to hear. The octaves obviously remain pure.
Even with the smaller thirds, all major keys still sound ’joyous’ whereas all minor keys still sound ‘sad’ because the harmonies here are defined respectively by the major and minor thirds. But in principle there is no difference in ‘sentiment’ when playing a symphony in C major, D major or E flat major and c minor, d minor or B minor at ET! As mentioned above, only ears with absolute pitch (German: “Absolutes Gehör”) will notice this!
But Duffin’s most important message though is (as the book title says) that today’s key characteristics / harmonies / sentiments at today’s equal temperament (ET) are GONE. In many discussions with music fans I noted that most of them aren’t aware of this. Different keys had specific “emotions” at different times, depending on the temperaments used. German pianist Wolfgang Weller produces a very instructive table at https://www.wellermusik.de/Padagogik/Tonarten/tonarten.html showing examples of key sentiments / emotions in 1690 (Charpentier), 1713 (Mattheson) and ca. 1780 (Schubart), unfortunately only in German. But there are many other examples in the literature. In the above-mentioned book ‘Baroque Music Today: Music as Speech, Ways to a New Understanding of Music’, Harnoncourt dedicates a whole chapter to temperament and he comments (freely translated from German): ‘Unfortunately, the profound real knowledge is often officially replaced by idle talk (“leeres Geschwätz”) ….’ Further on he claims that ‘music from the 16th and 17th centuries can only adequately be performed in practice with pure thirds’, but he does not say how he managed to do this in his own cantata cycle! I have only found comments on his pitch so far in his liner notes and books but not on temperament.
Finally, an interesting comment from the BCW, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-NonVocal-BIG/Booth-C-K03c[Soundboard-2CD-booklet].pdf by harpsichord player and arranger Colin Booth (see https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Booth-Colin.htm): ‘A choice of tuning is ultimately bound to be a leap in the dark, so we might begin by eliminating some less credible candidates, such as much later systems, like those of Young or Vallotti, from the final quarter of the 18th century. Apart from the late date, Vallotti’s has f major as its richest-sounding key. Such tunings are convenient for orchestral use, rather than for producing colorful keyboard music, springing outwards from the ‘home’ key of c.’
I am mentioning Young and Vallotti, because both temperaments are used in the Rudolf Lutz cycle and according to the BCW, see https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV140-Rec6.htm and https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV147-Rec6.htm Gardiner also used Vallotti’s temperament in an early recording of BWV 140 and 147 from 1990. I am not sure (I can’t hear it) if Gardiner continued to use Vallotti or any other irregular temperament in his following ‘Pilgrim’ cycle from 1999/2000. There are no further comments on this in his liner notes.
There are many videos available on YouTube that explain different temperaments and more importantly, where you can hear their differences. I recommend ‘Meantone Temperament and Other Historical Tuning Systems’ (2 parts) at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6iwiQwVUIc
Most of the early cantata recordings are performed at ET, including the complete cycles of Richter and Rilling and as observed above (apparently) neither the H-L nor the Gardiner cycle with the mentioned exception of the two early recordings from 1990. Although one could have expected that Koopman, Suzuki, Herreweghe and many other OVPP recordings using chest organs and/or harpsichords (that would be easier to tune) would use an irregular temperament, this is not the case as far as I know. The recent complete cantata cycle started in 2006 by Rudolf Lutz uses Young’s and Vallotti’s temperament. See details below. This and other particularities of this momentous enterprise inspired me to the comments below.
The new Rudolf Lutz recordings (2006 – 2024)
There is no lack of on-line information about this latest complete cantatas cycle. The BCW mentions the individual recordings on DVD and CD, see: https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Lutz-R.htm including a short biography of Rudolf Lutz, see: https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Lutz-Rudolf.htm . Apart from all the information in the BCW, this enterprise also has its own portal at: https://www.bachstiftung.ch/en/persons/rudolf-lutz/ and under the ‘about’ section one will find a detailed description of the project. A visual introduction ‘Experiencing Bach - The performance and recording of a Bach Cantata’ can be watched on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpVAYzRSV9s.
Additionally, a new portal ‘Bachipedia’ at: https://www.bachipedia.org/en/ provides all the information you would usually find in the liner notes of as series, including information about soloists, the choir & orchestra of the J.S. Bach Foundation, the theologiain the introductory workshops, the speakers of the so called ‘reflection’ part (between 2 performances of each cantata), orchestra leaders, musicologist and academic advisor and recording partner (Gallus Media) as well as a more detailed biography of Rudolf Lutz.
Additional information comes available with ‘bonus DVD’s’ starting with “Bach im Fluss”, freely translated as ‘Bach in the Flow (of Time)” with (Vol. VI) and ‘Making of’, starting with Vol. VII.
Video clips of introduction to various performed cantatas are available at: https://www.bachipedia.org/en/bach_universe_cat/bach-factory-en/
This allows me to skip many introductory comments and jump directly into the discussion of the performances. I acquired the DVD editions (divided in volumes per year with mostly 10 to 12 cantatas) shortly after their launch in 2006). CD’s were issued starting 2011, mostly with 3 cantatas per CD. The DVD Region Code is ‘0’ or ‘ALL’ and the sound is Stereo 2.0 / Dolby Digital. I would have preferred a Blu-ray edition with Dolby 5.1 / DTS sound. Looking at the professional video recording and sound set-up with many cameras and microphones I believe that would have been possible. But for some reason (probably financial) this was not planned. The DVD’s allowed me to also visualize the performances. I think this is important if one want to see the placement of the individual instruments, choir and soloists and last but not least the conducting style of Mr. Lutz. The DVD covers contain a leaflet with detailed performance information but only more comprehensive starting with Vol. VII (2013). The only information missing is the description of the original instruments used, with the exception of the original baroque bassoon from 1780, played in almost all recordings by Susann Landert in the bonus disc the ‘Making Of’.
Planning – Timing – Rehearsal - Chronology
At a first glance, one would be inclined to compare the Rudolf Lutz cycle with the ‘Pilgrimage’ cycle by Gardiner, but this is far from true. Gardiner followed the Lutheran Church recording all existing cantatas for a certain feast day. Rudolf Lutz recorded one cantata per feast day for a planned time span of 24 years (2006 to 2030). This gave him lots of time for planning, preparing, and rehearsing a performance. As explained in the ‘Making Of’: director and musicians started with the study of a new cantata score 30 days before its performance. For most of the floating feast Sundays, the cantatas would be performed on a Friday, 2 days before the corresponding Sunday. The setup of the podium in the church would start the previous Thursday at 9:30 AM, 30 hours before the live event. 4 hours later, director and musicians would start their first rehearsal from 6 to 9 PM. The audio / video setup, positioning of microphones, cameras and sound tests would begin on Fridays at 10 AM, followed by the first ‘general rehearsal’ (with recording) to begin at 11:30.
After this general rehearsal conductor, concertmaster (1st violin) and 1st cello would evaluate the recording with the recording engineer. After this, the concertmaster informs the orchestra about any needed adjustments / changes. The further sequences are: public arrives 5:30 PM / Introductory workshop (in partnership with pastors Karl Graf and Niklaus Peter who explain the theological background and biblical texts related to each cantata) / refreshments / first performance of cantata at 7 PM / ’reflection’ / second performance of cantata around 8-9 PM (depending on duration of cantata and reflection). After such a sequence there is enough recording material for a final audio and video editing.
The first cantata recording follows exactly the above-mentioned sequence for the correct feast Sunday of the year 2006, the 19th Sunday after Trinitatis, on October 22. Accordingly, the setup starts on Thursday October 19 and the 2 performances are given on Friday 20, two days before the corresponding Sunday. In this case Lutz not only follows the Lutheran Church Year calendar but also Bach’s chronology, performing his first cantata for this Sunday, BWV 48, from Leipzig 1723.
In 2008 Easters was so early, that It was a lucky coincidence to have a 27th Sunday after Trinity (November 23) to perform Bachs only cantata for this Sunday, BWV 140, the Friday before on November 21! Bach witnessed this Sunday during his Leipzig period only two times himself, in 1731 (first performance of BWV 140) and 1742. For the Lutz series this was important considering that the next 27th Sunday after Trinitatis will only appear again in 2035!
Although Lutz follows mostly the Church calendar feast days of the recording year, he does NOT always follow Bach’s chronology. As an example, for Septuagesima he recorded Bach’s last cantata (Leipzig 1727), BWV 84 first in 2011; Bach’s first cantata (Leipzig 1724), BWV 144 as second in 2013 and Bach’s second cantata (Leipzig 1725), BWV 92 as last in 2016. The two early cantatas BWV 196 and 106 from Bach’s Mühlhausen period were recorded only in 2023.
This concordance between concert and correct feast day of the year is not always possible to keep. Switzerland has two distinct vacation seasons: winter (December-February) and summer (June-September). This means that the early Trinitatis Sundays between June and September cannot always be performed according to the Lutheran Church calendar because of many absences (performers and public). Similarly, the mostly fix holydays during December / January / February and Eastern etc. needed to be planned for different days, although mostly on Fridays (before or after the corresponding feast day), since the performers wouldn’t work on the holidays themselves.
Choir & Orchestra of the J.S. Bach Foundation
See: https://www.bachipedia.org/en/performers/choir-orchestra-of-the-j-s-bach-foundation/
The many young choristers have outstanding musical backgrounds, many of them with specialization in early music at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Other backgrounds are the ‘Hochschule für Musik in Basel ‘, ‘Musikakademie in St. Gallen’, ‘Schweizer Kammerchor & Basler Madrigalisten’, ‘Zürcher Hochschule der Künste’, ‘Zürcher Sing-Akademieand’ and many others. Most of their individual biographies are available on the BCW, clicking their names in each cantata with a Rudolf Lutz performance.
The choir sizes are very adequate considering what we know about Bach’s own choir (see above, Background), in the first recording years, mostly 3-4 sopranos, 3-4 altos, 3 tenors and 3 basses. In some cases of high feast Sundays (e.g. Whit Sunday, BWV 34 in 2009) 5 soprano and alto, as well as 4 tenor and bass singers. In many cases of later recordings starting around 2018) 6 sopranos, 5 altos, 4 tenors and 4 to 5 basses. Whenever a cantata has two soprano parts S1 and S2, the total sopranos doubles to 8 (e.g. Christmas Sunday, BWV 191 in 2009) or even 10 (e.g. Motet BWV 227 in 2018). Within volumes I to XVI, the largest choirs are used in cantata BWV 119 (Inauguration of the Leipzig Town Council) with 7 sopranos, 6 altos, 4 tenors and 6 basses (total 23) and cantata BWV 34 (Easter Sunday in 2022) with 9 sopranos, 5 altos, 4 tenors and 5 basses (total 23).
Following Bach’s own practice, many of the choristers are given solo parts, not only in the final OVPP chorales but as soloists in recitatives and arias. Among them the excellent sopranos Guro Hjemli, Susanne Frei (=Susanne Seitter), Leonie Gloor, Noëmi Sohn, Mirjam Berli (= Miriam Wernli-Berli) and amazingly Alexandra Rawohl (S/MS/A) and Jan Börner (S/CT/A) who are able to sing both soprano and alto parts! In cantata BWV 248-IV (New Year in 2018) Lia Andres sings the soprano ‘echo’ part in movement 39, positioned on the organ loft.
Equally superb alto soloists from the choir (apart from the 2 mentioned above) are Antonia Frey, Simon Savoy and Lisa Weiss; tenor soloists Walter Siegel, Nicolas Savoy, Raphael Höhn, Clemens Flämig, Sören Richter, Christian Rathgeber, Zacharie Fogal and bass soloists Philippe Rayot, Fabrice Hayoz, Manuel Walser, William Wood, Tobias Wicky, Jonathan Sells and Daniel Pérez.
Most choristers are very loyal and assiduous in their work during the 18 years of recordings so far. The soprano Susanne Frei participated in the very first cantata until the last cantatas of Vol. XVI (2024). Her surname changed from Frei to Seitter in 2012, so I assume she married around that time and continued with the choir. The same happens with other names, e.g. Jennifer Rudin becomes Jennifer Ribeiro Rudin in 2015, Mirjam Bernli becomes Mirjam Wernli-Berli in 2017 and Laura Binggeli becomes Laura Kull in 2023. I am not sure about the soprano names Noëmi Sohn-Nad and Noëmi Tran Rediger.
As mentioned above, most of these names and their biographies are available at https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Schola-Seconda-Pratica.htm or via Google.
Along all these recording years - as stated in the above-mentioned ‘Bachipedia’ - the choir and the orchestra ‘has continually developed and matured’ and ‘Today, the Choir & Orchestra is distinguished by its homogenous, yet flexible sound and its wealth of experience in the interpretation of Bach’s works’
In my opinion, comparisons with the choirs in recordings of Gardiner, Koopman, Suzuki and Herreweghe, this choir is outstanding with very few exceptions that I am discussing later with the individual cantatas. An example of a remarkable good performance is the highly demanding entrance chorus recorded in 2017 of BWV 187 (“Es wartet alles auf dich”), which is sung with a perfection that exceeds any other recording I have compared with. This chorus – according to Dürr – shows Bach ‘at the height of his mastership‘ and is certainly not easy to perform!
Invited Soloists
A list of soloists by voice can be found at https://www.bachipedia.org/en/works/ . The Bachipedia states: ‘Since its establishment, the J. S. Bach Foundation has worked with internationally renowned vocal soloists. The artists are selected under careful consideration of the musical demands and other requirements of each work – usually two years in advance of the concert date. Throughout the years, Rudolf Lutz and his advisors, Ines Volpert (2006-2016) and Xoán Castiñeira (since 2017), have developed a vocal concept that is distinguished by high clarity of diction, interpretive skill, purity of intonation and discreet vibrato. Versatility, timbral quality and the best possible match between voice and music guide the process for engaging artists. In addition to working with established soloists, the artistic director is committed to fostering and developing talent within the ensemble. Outstanding choristers are regularly given the opportunity to perform solo, usually starting with small parts. Over the past 20 years, members of the ensemble developed by Rudolf Lutz and his assistants have embarked on notable solo careers’.
I have listened carefully to the performance of all soloists. Interestingly, many of the members of the ensemble often perform as well as many invited soloists. I will discuss each performance when covering the cantata individually, but here is a partial commentary about some of the invited soloists within the discussed series from 2006 to 2024 (Vol. I to Vol. XVI). I am using ratings scales from 1 to 5 stars. Also, some of the artists (singers and instrumentalists) give interviews at: https://www.bachipedia.org/bach_universe_cat/kuenstlerinterviews/
Invited Sopranos:
Miriam Feuersinger, 5 stars, known from previous performances with Sigiswald Kuijken, participates in many cantatas during the whole discussion period. I would rank her as one of the best sopranos here. Other names with high 4 to 5 stars ranking but fewer appearances are: Ulrike Hofbauer (also with Herreweghe), Julia Neumann, Julia Doyle (also with Gardiner and Herreweghe), Joanne Lunn (also with Gardiner), Monika Mauch (also with Karl Junghänel and Christophe Coin), Maria Weber and Gerlinde Sämann (also with Kuijken). I also like Núria Rial, 3 to 5 stars but her performances vary: poor in BWV 18 but excellent in many following appearances ( BWV 144, BWV 89, BWV 94 and BWV 49). But she doesn’t participate anymore after 2017. All other invited sopranos vary from 2 to 3 stars and some of them have undesired vibratos and or shrill voices, e.g. Carolyn Sampson, Johannette Zomer, Marie Luise Werneburg, Ruby Hughes and Eva Oltiványi, but one needs to consider that not all of the invited sopranos are at the peak of their careers. Biographies are available for all mentioned names, either at the BCW or elsewhere, e.g. Google.
Invited Altos (both men’s and women’s voices):
Among the invited men’s altos, I would rate Markus Forster (with some exceptions), Alex Potter (also Herreweghe), Andreas Scholl (also with Koopman, Herreweghe and Kuijken) with 5 stars. Terry Wey, David Erler and Benjamin Williamson are not very constant in their performances and get 2 to 3 stars. For the women’s voices with 4 to 5 stars: Margot Otzinger, Michaela Selinger, Claude Eichenberger, Delphine Galou, Delphine Galou and Elvira Bill. Not so satisfying are and sometimes too operatic and/or with some vibrato are: Ruth Sandhoff, Roswitha Müller, Irène Friedli, Stefanie Irányi, Annekathrin Laabs with 2 to 3 stars. I might have skipped some names. Biographies are available for all mentioned names, either at the BCW or elsewhere, e.g. Google.
Invited Tenors
In my personal opinion, tenor voices are always more difficult to evaluate. One reason might be the excellent ‘Bach’ tenor voice of Kurt Equiluz from the H-L cycle that always keeps me comparing with other tenor voices in Bach’s cantata recordings. Nevertheless, there is a number of very good, invited tenors: Andreas Post, Daniel Johannsen, Bernhard Berchtold, Jens Weber, Makoto Sakurada (also Suzuki), Julius Pfeiffer, Johannes Kaleschke, Gerd Türk (also Koopman), Thomas Hobbs (also Herreweghe), Georg Poplutz, Colin Balzer (also Herreweghe), Florian Sievers, Patrick Grah (also Koopman) and Benedikt Kristjánsson who are not always constant in their performances but rank between 4 and 5 stars. Not always satisfying voices are Jens Weber, Charles Daniels (also Gardiner), Jan Kobow (also Gardiner, Herreweghe and Kuijken). Surprisingly, The Austrian tenor Daniel Johannsen, who has many 5 star performances, doesn’t appeal at all in BWV 248-II and V and BWV 126. I don’t think he has the ideal ‘evangelist voice’, although he performs much better in BWV 248-I. I might have skipped some names. Biographies are available for all mentioned names, either at the BCW or elsewhere, e.g. Google.
Basses
Among the invited bass voices, one will find several well-known names from other recordings, e.g.: Klaus Mertens (Ton Koopman, Kuijken), Stephan MacLeod (Herreweghe, Kuijken), Peter Harvey (Gardiner), Dominik Wörner (Kuijken), Peter Kooij (Herreweghe), Matthias Helm, Klaus Häger and Andreas Wolf. With few exceptions, their performances vary from 4 to 5 stars. Less outstanding voices are: Raphael Jud, Ekkehard Abele, Markus Volpert, Markus Flaig and Sebastian Noack with 3 to 4 stars. I my opinion, Wolf-Matthias Friedrich is the only disappointing and irregular bass among all others. The problem is that he seems to ‘swallow’ lower tones that don’t ‘come out’ clearly. His worst performances (2 stars) are in BWV 132 in 2006 and BWV 43 in 2019. His best performance (3 stars) is in BWV 107 in 2012. I might have skipped some names. Biographies are available for all mentioned names, either at the BCW or elsewhere, e.g. Google. An interview with Klaus Mertens is available on YouTube (in German) at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTPknj6urVg
Orchestra of the J.S. Bach Foundation
All instrumental sections below are played with either original baroque instruments (or copies). As mentioned before, unfortunately there are no detailed descriptions at the Bachipedia so far, but one can recognize clearly in the DVD editions, especially the wood winds and brass sections, mostly without modern valves but fingering tone holes.
Strings
Violine / Viola (Violetta)
All remarks above about the choir and soloists certainly also apply to the members of the orchestra. Beginning with the excellent orchestra leaders Renate Steinmann and Éva Borhi, biographies are available at: https://www.bachipedia.org/en/performers/orchestra-leaders/ . Renate Steinman can be heard in BWV 157 playing solo violino in movements 1 and 4. Plamena Nikitassova (see: https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Nikitassova-Plamena.htm also played as concertmaster in recordings between 2009 and 2017. She can be appreciated as ‘violino concertante’ player together with Renate Steinman in BWV 1 (2010). Other special guest leaders Michi Gaigg perform in BWV 109 (2010), see biography at: https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Gaigg-Michi.htm , John Holloway in BWV 22 (2010), see biography at: https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Holloway-John.htm and Amandine Beyer, see biography at: https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Beyer-Amandine.htm .Chiara Banchini leads playing a violino piccolo in BWV 140 (2008), see biography at: https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Banchini-Chiara.htm
The entire groups of first and second violins, Monika Baer, Martin Korrodi, Péter Barczi, Christine Baumann, Eva Borhi, Patricia Do, Claire Foltze, Judith von der Goltz, Elisabeth Kohler, Petra Melicharek, Dorothee Mühleisen, Ildikó Sajgó, Olivia Schenkel, Renate Steinmann, Lenka Torgersen, Salome Zimmermann and Sonoko Asabuki are constant in their quality and vary in combined strength mostly between 2 and 6 (3 each). The largest number of 8 violins are playing in BWV 110, BWV 119, BWV 52 and BWV 80. Both Péter Barczi and Sonoko Asabuki also perform as viola players (see below).
The viola players vary mostly from 1 to 2 (in some cases up to 3 and 4) : Susanna Hefti, Joanna Bilger, Roberta Centurione, Martina Bischof (= Martina Zimmermann?), Emmanuel Carron, Olivia Schenkel, Ulrike Kaufmann, Martina Zimmermann, Sonoko Asabuki, Péter Barczi, Claire Foltzer, Matthias Jäggi, Stella Mahrenholz and Sarah Mühlethaler.
The violin and viola playing can be better appreciated in many intimate orchestrations suitable to the Weimar cycle, that in many cases have 2 divided viola parts. As an example, in solo cantata for alto BWV 54 (“Widerstehe doch der Sünde”, see original scoring at https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_000000069) one can appreciate the excellent and very transparent performance of the 2 violins Renate Steinmann (Leader) and Martin Korrodi and the 2 violas: Susanna Hefti and Martina Bischof, supported with a minimal basso continuo of 1 violoncello (Martin Zeller), 1 violone / contrabass (Iris Finkbeiner) and the chest organ played by Rudolf Lutz. The alto part is sung by the excellent Markus Forster, see biography at https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Forster-Markus.htm . Interestingly, this is one of the Weimar cantatas Bach scored in E flat major but at “Chorton” (a’- 465 Hz). Also – and this is a good example for Rudolf Lutz’ ability and skill as improviser, he adds a 4th movement on the text "Jesum nur will ich liebhaben", which is an additional verse to the well-known chorale “Jesu, meiner Seelen Wonne” by Martin Jahn, 1661, whose 6th and 16th verses are also used in BWV 147 with the same well-known melody “Jesus bleibet meine Freude”, popularly known in the USA as ‘Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring’ and composed my Johann Schop (1642) for the original chorale “Werde munter, mein Gemüthe”. Unfortunately, this kind of information is not available in the booklet.`
The Violetta was a 16th-century musical instrument. It is believed to have been similar to a violin, but occasionally had only three strings, particularly before the 17th century. The term was later used as an umbrella for a variety of string instruments. According to Bach scholar Klaus Hofmann in an essay about BWV 157 (see Bach Jahrbuch 1982), the instrument name only appears on the cover of the envelope with the parts, but not in the score. Both original scores and parts are lost but fortunately exist as a copy by Christian Friedrich Penzel. Rudolf Lutz decided to use a violetta in his recording of BWV 157 in 2016, also played by Susanna Hefti, but the instrument has 4 strings and looks like a common viola.
Violoncello Piccolo / Violoncello / Viola da Gamba / Lutes / Theorbo / Violone (Contrabass)
French conductor, cellist (including piccolo) and viola da gamba player Christophe Coin known as a pupil and disciple of Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Vienna Akademie für Musik and of Jordi Savall for the viola da gamba at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and from many previous cantata recordings plays as special guest the first recording of a cantata with violino piccolo, BWV 180 in 2009. Another special guest, Hungarian Balázs Máté plays this instrument in BWV 115 in 2016. All other cantatas with violoncello piccolo parts are played by the orchestra’s own cellists Martin Zeller and Daniel Rosin who also master the piccolo version and often change within a performance from one instrument to the other.
Although Martin Zeller appears to be the 1st violoncello in this orchestra, there are mostly 1 to 2 violoncellos in play and in cantata with 2 violoncello obligato parts, BWV 163, (Bass aria, movement 3) these are performed by Maya Amrein and Käthi Gohl-Moser. The remaining players are: Hristo Kouzmanov and Magdalena Reisser (starting in 2022).
Following the exact original score of BWV 198, 2 violas da gamba are played by Paolo Pandolfo and Amélie Chemin. In the same cantata, 2 lutes are played by Maria Ferré and Vincent Flückiger. Other cantatas with lute are BWV 176 in 2013 (Hugh Sandilands), BWV 95 in 2015 (Maria Ferré). The theorbo (a deep lute with 14 strings) is played in cantatas BWV 169, BWV 138 and BWV 199 by Juan Sebastian Lima and Fred Jacobs.
In the secular cantata BWV 212 Julian Behr plays both lute and guitar.
German classical contrabassist Iris Finkbeiner is the main violone (contrabass) player until 2016. In the following years until 2023 (Vol. XVI) this instrument is played mostly by Markus Bernhard but in some cases also by Guisella Massa and Shuko Sugama.
As mentioned earlier, there are no descriptions of the original string instruments as we have in the liner notes from the H-L cycle. I also might have omitted some names of performers because I haven’t yet found complete listings. The listing in the BCW is not complete and the Bachipedia doesn’t list the instrumentalists by instrument. The only additional private information Mr. Rudolf Lutz was kind enough to confirm is the gut stringing of all instruments.
In my opinion, the whole string section plays impeccably! In contrast to many other recordings, the violins and violas play standing which certainly contributes to the excellent sound and acoustics of all recordings.
Woodwinds
Piccolo Flute / Recorders / Flutes / Oboes (including Taille, d’Amore and da Caccia), Bassoon, Contrabassoon
In the discussed period of recordings, the ‘flauto piccolo’ is performed superbly by Armelle Plantier in BWV 102 in 2010 and by special guest Maurice Steger in BWV 96 in 2011. Excellent recorder players are Priska Comploi, Gaëlle Volet, Annina Stahlberger, Teresa Hackel, Claudia Heinisch, Amy Power, Yukiko Yaita and Kiichi Suganuma.
Outstanding Traverse Flute players are Maria Mittermayr, Renate Sudhaus, Claire Genewein, Martin Skamletz, Anne Freitag, Anne Parisot, Marc Hantaï (also Koopman and Herreweghe), Tomoko Mukoyam, Yoko Tsuruta, Mara Winter, Sarah van Cornewal, Rebekka Brunner.
All oboe players (including d’amore, da caccia and taille) are an example of outstanding versatility and mastery of their instruments. In many cases we have cantatas with more than one and combinations of these instruments. In BWV 74 we have two oboes and two oboes da caccia played alternatively by Andreas Helm, Philipp Wagner and Clara Espinosa Encinas, changing instruments during the performance. Similar examples can be found in BWV 119, BWV147, BWV 151 and BWV 178. Other main players are Katharina Arfken, Kerstin Kramp, Ann Cathrin Collin, Dominik Melicharek, Laura Alvarado, Linda Alijaj, Thomas Meraner, Stefanie Haegele and Amy Power. The taille is played alternatively by Ingo Müller, Esther Fluor, Dominik Melicharek, Ann-Cathrin Collin, José Manuel Cuadrado Sánchez, Philipp Wagner and Laura Alvarado.
Katharina Arfken explains the characteristics of baroque woodwind instruments in an interesting You Tube video (in German) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1zwphLckBY .
I believe leading bassoonist Susann Landert is the most ‘loyal’ participant in the whole Lutz cycle so far. She is well known from the ‘Fagotteria’, a 4 bassoon ensemble playing musical specialties from renaissance to modern music as well as from the ensemble ‘Il Desiderio’. She is a permanent member of the Orchestra of the J.S. Bach Foundation and almost plays the totality of the recordings. She appears in the ‘Making of’ and her instrument is mentioned above.
Apart from her constant presence as basso continuo (BC) player, there are a few obligato parts, e.g. movement 4 (Duetto for S and T) of BWV 42 (in this case together with the violoncello) where her great skill can be appreciated. In those few recordings where she is not playing, other excellent players are Nikolaus Broda, Donna Agrell, Dorothy Mosher, Dana Karmon and Giovanni Batti
Brass
The brass section with original instruments (valveless) complements the orchestra with superb players. Many instrumentalist are versatile as in the case of woodwinds. Lukasz Gothszalk and Patrick Henrichs play both ‘tromba da tirarsi’ (trombone) and ‘tromba’ (trumpet) in BWV 77 and BWV 46, just to mention two examples. The accompanying booklets of the DVD editions mention the instrument names either in German or by names used at Bach’s time, e.g. ‘tromba da tirarse’ instead of trombone. In order to avoid misunderstandings, I am commenting on the brass instruments and their players using the common English names and - where needed - the original names from Bach’s scores, e.g. ‘cornetto’ or ‘zink’. In some cases, the DVD booklet mentions different names than in Bach’s original scores and or parts. As an example, in BWV 248-IV (recorded in 2018) Bach uses 2 ‘corno da caccia’ parts (mostly tuned in F) but in the booklet of the Lutz recording it simply says ‘cornos’ (mostly tuned in C. Another example is the ‘clarino’, originally scored in cantatas BWV 15, BWV 24, BWV 167, BWV 215 and in the B minor Mass. Lutz uses a ‘tromba’ (trumpet) in BWV 24 (2016) instead. The different names mostly designate specific / different pitches than can be reached using similar instruments tuned to those pitches used in Bach’s scores. In BWV 118 Bach uses lituo I & lituo II (see: https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_000000143 ), a generic name for horn instruments in the first half of the18th. century. See also the comments above in ‘Background / Performance’.
Trumpet (Tromba, Clarino)
Main players: Patrick Henrichs, Peter Hasel, Klaus Pfeiffer, Michael Bühler, Lukasz Gothszalk, Nicolas Isabelle, Alexander Samawicz, Bruno Fernandes, Jaroslav Roucek, Karel Mnuk, Josef Sadilek, Matthew Sadler, Benedikt Neumann, Pavel Janeček. Biographies are mostly available at the BCW or Google.
Trombone (Tromba da Tirarsi and/or Corno da Tirarsi) / Bass Trombone / Cornetto
Apart from the above mentioned musicians Lukasz Gothszalk and Patrick Henrichs, who also play the trumpet, main names are: Stefan Katte (plays both trombone and horn in BWV 14), Ulrich Eichenberger (also bass trombone), Wolfgang Schmid, Christian Braun, Christian Brühwiler, Henning Wiegräbe, Tabea Hesselschwerdt, Maximilian Schrag, Simen van Mechelen, Joost Swinkels, Christine Brand Häusler, Max Eisenhut, Tobias Hildebrandt. The cornetto (or ‘zink’) is played by Frithjof Smith and Martin Bolterauer. Biographies are mostly available at the BCW or Google.
Horn (Corno, Corno da Caccia, Corne du Chasse, Corno da Tirarsi)
In Bach’s scoring, he uses various instrument names for similar pitched brass instruments, in this case all the above denominations. Most common are ‘corno’ and ‘corno da caccia’ (not to be mistaken by ‘oboe da caccia’). The more seldom ‘corne du chasse’ is notated in cantatas BWV 65 and BWV 109 but are played by ‘corno da caccia’ in Lutz’s recordings. The ‘corno da tirarsi’ (not to be mistaken by ‘tromba da tirarsi’) appears in Bach’s scores and parts of cantatas BWV 46, BWV 67 and BWV 162. In BWV 46 though, the score in movements 1, 3 and 6 says ‘tromba o (or) corno da tirarsi’ with emphasis on ‘or’ whereas the latter two demand the ‘corno da tirarsi’. Lutz follows these scorings exactly: in BWV 46 he chooses the ‘tromba da tirarsi’ and in BWV 67 and BWV 162 the ‘corno da tirarsi’ (mostly played by Olivier Picon, see below).
Main players of these variations of the horn are: Olivier Picon (horn, corno da caccia and corno da tirarsi), Jurij Meile, Thomas Müller, Thomas Friedländer, Ella Vala Armannsdottir, Stefan Katteb. Biographies are mostly available at the BCW or Google.
Kettledrums (Timpani)
The ‘timpani’ are mostly played by Martin Homan (in DVD booklet of BWV 172 wrongly printed as Hoffman!) Other musicians are: Reto Baumann, Laurent de Ceuninck, Georg Tausch and Inez Ellmann. Biographies are mostly available at the BCW or Google.
Organ (Chest organ) and Harpsichord (Cembalo)
When I started to listen and view the first recordings of DVD Vol. I (2006/07), all performed at the evangelic church Trogen, I was very disappointed to see that the church organ wasn’t used. In my view, this new cycle of Bach cantatas would have been the most ‘authentic’ of the later cycles with original instruments performed in a church and using the church organ!
One of my first questions to Mr. Rudolf Lutz (who was kind enough to answer promptly) was ‘why didn’t you use the church organ?’. His answer, (freely translated from German): ‘It would have been nice (“schön”) to use the great organ; this (instrument) though, is romantically arranged and would not match the sound of the old a’= 415 (Hz) instruments. Also, it (the organ) is tuned well-tempered; however, we use the Vallotti and Young (temperaments)’.
I believe that he meant ‘equal tempered’. I did not ask about the organ’s pitch, probably tuned at the modern a’= 440 Hz. This would be problematic, as he needed to transpose the organ part by a semitone lower, which is not as easy as Bach transposing two semitones (or one full tone) lower than his other instruments.
Lutz uses mostly the chest organ instead and in many cases together with the harpsichord. He informed: ‘We have listened to recordings of Suzuki and Gardiner which also use harpsichord and organ. We greatly appreciate the dual instrumentation.’ He further explains: ‘this is not derived from an attempt to reconstruct performance conditions (from Bach’s period) but is my personal decision for the variability of the continuo scoring.
As I mentioned before in my ‘introduction /background’ about the additional use of the harpsichord: in my opinion it doesn’t really matter if the harpsichord plays along with the organ in many recordings. This is a choice of the conductor or the consorts. I also don’t believe that one would be able to hear the harpsichord at all in Bach’s momentous opening choruses and/or final embedded chorales with a full church organ BC from his later Leipzig period!
I appreciate very much the ‘variability’ in the basso continuo Lutz mentioneabove. There are many other instruments he uses apart from the traditional organ / cembalo / contrabass / bassoon and violoncello(s) combinations: lute, theorbo and even guitar (in BWV 212)!
The main organ players apart from Mr. Lutz himself are: Norbert Zeilberger, Nicola Cumer, Jörg-Andreas Boetticher and Tobias Lindner, who also play ‘organo obligato’ parts and/or sometimes switch between organ and harpsichord. Other names: David Blunden, Markus Maerkl, Ives Bilger and Ingo Müller. Most harpsichord parts are also played by Mr. Lutz, Thomas Leininger and the aforementioned Nicola Cumer, but other occasional names are: Oren Kirschenbaum, Annette Gfeller and Dirk Börner. Biographies are mostly available at the BCW or Google.
Pitch and Temperament
As seen above, Lutz’s historic instruments play at Bach’s pitch in most of his works, a’= 415 Hz. Using the mentioned temperaments by Vallotti (for flat keys) and Young (for sharp keys) is a real novelty compared to other recent cycles (Gardiner, Koopman, Herreweghe, Suzuki, Kuijken etc.). As informed earlier, only Gardiner used Vallotti’s temperament is Gardiner’s BWV 140 and 147 from 1990 before.
Playing at different temperaments is not a problem for the voices and strings but require special skills for the tuning of organ and harpsichord and the playing of woodwind and brass instruments. I asked Mr. Lutz about this, and he answered that the tuning of the organ and harpsichord is in the ‘good hands’ of his main organist Nicola Cumer and that ‘his woodwind players can adapt, be it with special fingerings or with their breathing. In any case, open ears and a good sound engineer (German: “Tonmeister”) are required.’ This certainly applies also to the valveless brass instruments, maybe with the exception of the trombone.
Rudolf Lutz as conductor and improvisor
Rudolf Lutz's biography, available at https://www.bachstiftung.ch/en/persons/rudolf-lutz/ describes him as a pianist, organist, harpsichordist, composer, conductor, and improviser. Also: ‘Rudolf Lutz’s extraordinary breadth of experience single him out as the ideal conductor for the performance of Bach’s entire vocal oeuvre, the mammoth project undertaking by the J.S. Bach Foundation of St. Gallen.’
Enjoying this latest complete cantata DVD cycle, one can convince himself immediately of his outstanding experience in baroque music interpretation, improvisation and composing, not to mention his skills as organist / harpsichordist and conductor.
I want to point out some of my impressions about his conducting, since the DVD videos allow to observe his very professional conducting style regarding posture, facial expression, eye contact, tempo and entries (German “Einsätze”) to ensemble members, the way he shapes phrasings etc. Obviously most of his interpretation singularities are established during the rehearsals.
Leading an ensemble while playing an instrument was common in baroque music, The Bach literature around this topic shows him leading while playing either violin, organ or harpsichord. As an excellent organist and harpsichordist, Lutz himself conducts from the chest organ or harpsichord in many cantatas with smaller choir and orchestra scorings.
In the later chorale cantatas and cantatas with extensive fugal and/or canonic parts and/or choral insertion (German “Choreinbau”) e.g. in BWV 80, he prefers to only conduct, which makes sense, giving the need for a more focused guidance with exact individual entries for singers and players.
In all recordings, Lutz conducts and or plays from his own score (NBA) and parts (Carus Verlag). Instead of a baton, he uses both hands while (also when playing the organ or harpsichord) which allows him to express tempo, phrasing as well as very exact individual entries. With this, he also achieves very homogeneous opening and final beats. As an example, when the camaras focus on a group of woodwinds at the final beat, It is impressive to hear and see how they pull away from their mouth pieces and hold their breathing in a well-coordinated single final beat.
The above mentioned bonus DVD ‘Bach in the Flow (of Time)’ contains a chapter showing Rudolf Lutz giving an improvisation lesson at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (SCB), the famous academy and research institution located in Basle, Switzerland, that focuses on early music and historically informed performance.
Not surprisingly, although added by his own volition, one will find many examples in his cantata recordings for improvisation. The best examples are his preludes, interludes and/or postludes inserted before, and/or between and and/or after the between the lines of stanzas or groups of stanzas in many final chorales – mostly played by harpsichord, organ or both alternating (e.g. BWV 83 and BWV 178). In the same way, he performs extended preludes mostly before recitatives (e.g. BWV 166 and 184) and some before arias (e.g. BWV 203).
Since I had not heard such improvisations before in the latest complete cycles, I asked Mr. Lutz 3 questions about these: a) ‘Who composed this improvisations? ‘; answer (freely translating from German): ‘normally these are elaborated by my two key specialists (probably Norbert Zeilberger and Nicola Cumer) following my wishes but leaving both much liberty’; b) Are these of your personal decision or are there any examples in Bach’s scholar’s literature?’; answer (freely translating from German): ‘Regarding the so called line interludes (German: “Zeilenzwischenspiele”), there are many contemporary examples. We apply our huge experience from our work at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis’, c) ‘What criteria did you use to decide when to use these improvisations?’; answer(freely translating from German): ‘After a meticulous study of the score, I decide this spontaneously, always in agreement with my key specialists. I can trust them very well’.
In my opinion, these improvisations above are a welcome and very creative addition to other interpretations so far. In some cases, especially in the well-known final chorales, these instrumental insertions before, in-between or after the sung parts may be perceived as interruptive, but this is matter of habit and taste. If you are hearing these chorales without the instrumental insertions for more than 60 years – as in my case – I do not always enjoy them, e.g. in cantata BWV 162, where the chorale is sung as OVPP, and 7 long organ interludes are placed among all 8 lines of the chorale text of verse 7 of “Alle Menschen müssen sterben”. I believe, the more one have heard the traditional chorale melodies, the more disrupting these interludes might feel. In some other recordings though, e.g. BWV 122, verse 4 of the famous choral “Das neu geborne Kindelein” is repeated after a brilliant interlude played by strings and woodwinds. This interlude is composed by Lutz, utilizing the same thematic material from the chorale instrumental accompaniment. I consider this improvisation / composition a real enrichment for this festive Christmas cantata. It sound fabulous, especially because the original final choral is relatively short with only 4 lines. This recording became my favorite interpretation of cantata BWV 122!
Rudolf Lutz as Composer
The example above is only a small sample of Lutz’s competence and skills as a composer. I want to single out two other examples of great composing in his cantata recordings. Alfred Dürr writes in his introduction to cantata BWV 145: ’ Since this work is transmitted only in a nineteenth-century manuscript copy plus derivatives, its origin cannot be reconstructed with certainty’ and further on: ‘… and it is conceivable that— as in other cantatas of the same cycle, such as BWV 174 and 188— Bach prefaced it with a concerto movement as opening sinfonia. However, the surviving sources reveal nothing of this kind. Instead, the work is prefaced by two movements whose rightful place in the cantata remains questionable: a plain chorale setting of the first verse of the hymn “Auf mein Herz, des Herren Tag” by Caspar Neumann (c. 1700), for which Bach was no doubt responsible; and the chorus “So du mitdeinem Munde bekennest Jesum” from Georg Philipp Telemann’s cantata of that title (though in the present context it forms the second movement, its opening lines serve as the title in the surviving manuscript copy). It remains unclear whether the inclusion of Telemann’s chorus goes back to Bach and what was the function of the chorale movement’
In his ‘The Cantatas of J. S. Bach’ (see above), Dürr numbers both movements a) and b), and the following movements with 1. to 5.
I have found only one recording including the Telemann movement: Bálint Karosi with the First Lutheran Church Choir & Orchestra (with period instruments), recorded live at First Lutheran Church, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The BCW at: https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV145.htm informs a YouTube link for this recording, although this link is not active at the moment I am writing this.
Lutz’s DVD recording contains two versions of BWV 145. The first includes the above mentioned movements a) and b) from the surviving manuscript copy.
The second version includes an alternative ‘Sinfonia’ of his own composition, instead of movements a) and b). In the very interesting Introductory workshop recorded with this cantata, he lays out the many possibilities regarding an opening movement and speculates about the possibility of an opening sinfonia as Bach did in so many other later Leipzig cantatas, e.g. BWV 188, BWV 174, BWV 169 etc.
His masterful composition has three musical themes / parts; the first 2 of them inspired on images narrated in Lukas 24 (Evangelium reading for Easter Tuesday) which he explains in the workshop as following (freely translated from German): the mourning women at Jesus’ empty grave and Maria ‘feeling the wind caused by the ‘fluttering ‘of the angel’s wings’ (flute, violin I and II) and the sudden appearance of the 2 angels spreading the good easter news (festy entry of the trumpet and whole orchestra). The third part – basically a short coda, again with violins and flute aims at a smooth and gentle transition to Bach’s original duet with solo violin (movement 1).
The second part of this sinfonia reminds Bach’s style of his suites and Lutz shows his profound knowledge of Bach’s polyphonic composition style including canonic and fugal treatment of his theme and convincing counterpoint. I am sure that a musical layperson wouldn’t doubt hearing an original Bach composition!
The booklet informs that Mr. Lutz dedicated this composition to former Nestlé-Manager and later winery owner Waldemar Zahner and the DVD shows Mr. Lutz in a very sympathetic gesture handing over the score of his sinfonia to Mr. Zahner, present at the workshop.
In a similar case, BWV 158, also a cantata for Easter Tuesday, ‘this work leaves us with no fewer puzzles than the cantata just discussed on account of its defective source transmission’ (A. Dürr). The cantata also opens with a recitative, and Lutz explains in his workshop how he felt motivated to compose his own opening sinfonia, called ‘Trio-Sonata con Chorale’, for violine, oboe, BC (including contrabass). The unpretentious opening theme is presented alternately by solo violin and oboe and in some instances by the violoncello. The chorale melody from “Christ lag in Todesbanden” starts at the end of bar 8, played by the violine, but is not easily distinguished, although marked with “kraftvoll” (forte). The score of this composition can be downloaded at: https://www.bachipedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Sinfonia-BWV-158-Komplett_we.pdf . I like this composition also very much; it maintains the intimate character of this minimally scored cantata with possible origins to Bach’s Weimar period. See: https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV158.htm .
Finally, a partial text from his biography regarding his skills as composer:
‘Rudolf Lutz is a respected composer; his sinfonia for cantata BWV 158 by Bach and his Christmas oratory “An English Christmas” have received particular acclaim. In 2017, his cantata in homage to Luther – a work commissioned by “Deutschlandfunk Kultur” – received its world premiere at Wartburg castle. In 2018, his second cantata (“Landsgemeindekantate”), which is based on a traditional Swiss hymn, also received its premiere. The librettist for both cantatas was Karl Graf.’
My discussion of this superb Rudolf Lutz cycle wouldn’t be complete without mentioning some of his personal characteristics that can be observed in the DVD videos. In most cantatas, one can see his satisfaction after the last beat of a performance mirrored in his facial expression.
Most facets of his personality can be observed in during the workshops that accompany all cantatas in the DVD editions. First of all, he certainly has a great sense of humor; for example, when he explains and plays (mostly on an electronic keyboard) the thematic material of a certain passage and builds a bridge to a similar sounding sequence of another classic composer or a famous popular music or jazz piece. I guess that Mr. Lutz – as so many Bach lovers I know - is also a fan of jazz music. When performing a musical example of an aria, recitative or chorale melody, he also sings along the text adapting his very flexible voice to each piece. He also manages in a very sympathetic way to effectively involve his audience (the church community and other guests) to sing along when presenting a well-known chorale melody.
In the covered period from DVD Vol. I (starting October 20, 2006) to Vol. XVI (ending February 24, 2024) the releases include150 church cantatas (including 248-I to VI), 10 secular cantatas, 4 ‘missae brevis’, 2 motets and the aforementioned (“Landsgemeindekantate”), a total of 167 works. One needs to consider that the recordings paused between December 20, 2019, and January 15, 2021, because of COVID. This shows that around 75% of the church cantatas are recorded by now. I expect the launch of DVD Volume XVII with recordings from 2024 to be released around June 2025. Considering the missing number of church and secular cantatas 12 cantatas per DVD, I expect at least additional 4 to 5 DVD volumes to cover these in the future. If so, the cycle (including all remaining vocal works) would be finished around 2030, although the original description of the project says 2027, see: https://www.bachstiftung.ch/en/about-us/
In a following contribution to the BCW discussions. I will comment in detail on every single available cantata recording of this series.
Frits V. Herbold
Nashville, March 2025 |
