[Bunnyears]

Shosta,

Was it the Les Plus Belles Cantates set? That is no longer available and is a great deal if you found one!

 

[zumaro]

I must admit I never thought of Harnoncourt/Leonhardt as bland. The roughness tends to be unnerving at times - edge of the seat stuff as you wonder can the treble make it to the end of a line without expiring, will the violins remain in tune, can the vocal line be made any choppier and still have any coherency, ... well you get the idea.

Now Herreweghe you could argue as being blandly smoothed out and over-prettified.

 

[Bunnyears]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zumaro I must admit I never thought of Harnoncourt/Leonhardt as bland. The roughness tends to be unnerving at times - edge of the seat stuff as you wonder can the treble make it to the end of a line without expiring, will the violins remain in tune, can the vocal line be made any choppier and still have any coherency, ... well you get the idea. Now Herreweghe you could argue as being blandly smoothed out and over-prettified.

hehe

 

[Shosta]

Bunny,
No, it's a reedition of two discs of Virgin Veritas in the Veritasx2 series.
Includes BWV 131, 73, 105, 39, 93 and 107
The set you say, as I can see at google, is Harmonia Mundi. Of those sets I own Les Cantates de fêtes.

Zumaro,
For your information, I think this two discs are more smoothed out and over-prettified than the 'fêtes' set. But my memory can be bad

.

 

[LFF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunnyears Shosta, Was it the Les Plus Belles Cantates set? That is no longer available and is a great deal if you found one!

I had no idea the Les Plus Belles Cantates set was no longer available. I have a copy of the set and I think it is fantastic. It is a shame that this great set is no longer available.

 

[Bunnyears]

Hi LFF,

No, it's not available boxed together but the individual cantatas are available packaged in separate sets, Cantatas for Alto, for Bass, and other type of combinations some of which are "budget" priced. I'm sorry I didn't pick up the set when I had the chance but there was so much repetition. Now I'll be repeating anyway as I fill in.

Then again, I may come across it in the used bins.

 

[zumaro]

Also released with the two Virgin cantata disks were the short masses Bach compiled from cantata movements. Herreweghe's versions are particularly beautiful - quite luminous in places, and despite the masses being much maligned because of supposedly poor word setting they are well worth listening to as a compendium of very high quality cantata movements. If you see those disks around I would recommend picking them up fast as well.

For the record I think Herreweghe's Bach is usually very successful - maybe not as "authentic" as some, but enjoyable nonetheless. If only he would complete a cycle, although to an extent Suzuki covers similar interpretive ground, but a little less smoothed out.

I see that there is a new Herreweghe disk of secular cantatas (BWV 214 and 207), and I will be grabbing it as soon as I see it. BWV 214 is interesting as it contains mostly music reused in the Christmas Oratorio - notably the opening chorus of part 1. Now that cantata I remember hearing on LP with Peter Schreier conducting while I was still at school, so it must have left an impression!

 

[Shosta]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zumaro Also released with the two Virgin cantata disks were the short masses Bach compiled from cantata movements. Herreweghe's versions are particularly beautiful - quite luminous in places, and despite the masses being much maligned because of supposedly poor word setting they are well worth listening to as a compendium of very high quality cantata movements. If you see those disks around I would recommend picking them up fast as well.

I'll keep an eye on that. The Virgin Veritasx2 catalog (10 €) and the Alpha label (25%) are in offer this week in this store. (I bought some of Alpha too).

 

[Bunnyears]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zumaro Also released with the two Virgin cantata disks were the short masses Bach compiled from cantata movements. Herreweghe's versions are particularly beautiful - quite luminous in places, and despite the masses being much maligned because of supposedly poor word setting they are well worth listening to as a compendium of very high quality cantata movements. If you see those disks around I would recommend picking them up fast as well. For the record I think Herreweghe's Bach is usually very successful - maybe not as "authentic" as some, but enjoyable nonetheless. If only he would complete a cycle, although to an extent Suzuki covers similar interpretive ground, but a little less smoothed out. I see that there is a new Herreweghe disk of secular cantatas (BWV 214 and 207), and I will be grabbing it as soon as I see it. BWV 214 is interesting as it contains mostly music reused in the Christmas Oratorio - notably the opening chorus of part 1. Now that cantata I remember hearing on LP with Peter Schreier conducting while I was still at school, so it must have left an impression!

would that be the same type of word setting that was derided by contemporary critics when they first heard the Cantata BWV 21?

"Ich, Ich, Ich, Ich hatte viel bekummernis, ich hatte viel bekummernis,in meine herz, in meine herz, ..." etc.?

 

[zumaro]

I I I I think so!

And also the Christmas Oratorio I do believe - opening chorus with its timpani intro seems to upset some critics I have read, but as it is taken from BWV 214 (Tonet ihr pauken) all is explained. Lazy Bach, with so little sensitivity to the finer points of musical setting - why do we continue to listen to him....

 

[zumaro]

Lets keep Bach at the top of the forum. 1st Sunday in Advent today - time to listen to cantatas 61, 62 and 36. All of them attractive first rate cantatas.

 

[Bunnyears]

 

[zumaro]

Also very good is the Herreweghe set covering the Leipzig Christmas music from 1723 and 1724.

 

[scottder]

I'm not at all familiar with Bach's Cantatas, anyone have a good place to start (barring buying a whole set).

Scott

 

[scottder]

I'm not at all familiar with Bach's Cantatas, anyone have a good place to start (barring buying a whole set).

Scott