Thanks so much for this excellent review. Herreweghe's Bach lacks the aggressive edge of some HIP ensembles. His choir sings with beautiful tone and crisp diction. His soloists are, by and large, among the finest exponents of this music on record. I could go on with superlatives. Suffice it to say that this reissue would be an ideal "starter set" for listeners interested in exploring this vast terrain. I have been exploring it since my youth and these works have never let me down even when they express gloom and doom. Even there, Bach's music seems to aim at consolation, sometimes undermining, as well as illustrating, the text. By the way, Herreweghe went on to record more Bach sacred music, including more Cantatas, for his own label, "Phi." Amazon lists a very inexpensive boxed set containing several cantatas not previously recorded for Harmonia Mundi, plus the complete Motets, the B-Minor Mass, and the St. John Passion (in the rarely recorded 1725 version). More joy!
my set arrives today, am looking forward to it! now to hopefully find a cheap book ( prefer to online sources) of all the cantata texts. so I can follow along as recommended by Dave.
A box of Bach beauties by a Belgian! Here again, thumbs up for Dave. Before listening, get a grip of the context. There's more going on than just some German words sung. Not even poems. Rather raw emotions brought by a believer that Bach really was. Wir danke dir, Gott, wir danken dir!
Beautiful recordings. But the more I listen to Bach, the more I love Handel, who expressed musically all the human passions, with a treatment of human voices which nobody surpassed (and equalled only by Mozart, to my point of view).
I would love to know your favourite Handel works. I adore Handel and I have learned a lot more from David's videos dedicated to him and his wonderful compositions.
@@jakobpetropoulos8850 With pleasure : Giulio Cesare ; Theodora ; Italian cantatas ; Chandos Anthems ; Janet Baker, Lorraine Hunt and Mark Padmore recitals ... to quote just a few !
@@philippecassagne3192 Great choices, I must get a good recording of his Italian Cantatas, great work. Thank you very much and wish you health. Greetings from Athens Greece.
Even when Handel is dealing with subjects as dark and dour as Bach (the first part of Israel in Egypt aka Funeral Music for Queen Caroline; Brockes Passion; frequent texts in the oratorios or operas like Tamerlano) he somehow seems more life affirming to me.
A lovely review (though I miss your “horrible German”). And what you hear in Herreweghe’s performances is, I believe, central to what the Bach cantatas are about. As bizarre as the Christian thought-world may seem, it really is true that the whole thing hinges on a dialectic in which humility and exaltation, despair and salvation, are just the devotional moments: this music, even in the Passions, is about the grace by which fallen people are redeemed. This is not my belief system, I should add; it is just one in which I see beauty and pathos (along with some less-felicitous things, such as those you discussed in your touching video about why you resisted the St. Matthew Passion). Sometimes folks sound like Handel is all sunshine and Bach all darkness. But I think that’s crazy talk. How inestimably lucky we are to have so much from both of them! As for these performances, they are spectacular, and I am so glad to see them reissued. Herreweghe always emphasizes the light in Bach.
Does anyone know if Harmonia Mundi's recent reissues from their back catalog are real factory-pressed CDs, or CD-Rs? I can't seem to get a reply from them, which is not a good sign.
0:55 Herreweghe very much agrees 🙂he is big on rhetoric (which was a school subject in Bach's time) and seems to know its implications to performance practice.
Herreweghe’s recordings have changed my life for the better since 1988. Baffling how unknown he seems to be among US conductors.
Finally! They put all these glorious recordings in one box. He is absolutely my go-to in this repertoire for all the reasons you give.
Thanks so much for this excellent review. Herreweghe's Bach lacks the aggressive edge of some HIP ensembles. His choir sings with beautiful tone and crisp diction. His soloists are, by and large, among the finest exponents of this music on record. I could go on with superlatives. Suffice it to say that this reissue would be an ideal "starter set" for listeners interested in exploring this vast terrain. I have been exploring it since my youth and these works have never let me down even when they express gloom and doom. Even there, Bach's music seems to aim at consolation, sometimes undermining, as well as illustrating, the text. By the way, Herreweghe went on to record more Bach sacred music, including more Cantatas, for his own label, "Phi." Amazon lists a very inexpensive boxed set containing several cantatas not previously recorded for Harmonia Mundi, plus the complete Motets, the B-Minor Mass, and the St. John Passion (in the rarely recorded 1725 version). More joy!
While the box is not yet available for listening on Spotify, a playlist of all the Herreweghe Bach cantatas is.
I've got Harnoncourt/Leonhardt's complete set and a large chunk of Suzuki's, but this set looks like an absolute must.
my set arrives today, am looking forward to it! now to hopefully find a cheap book ( prefer to online sources) of all the cantata texts. so I can follow along as recommended by Dave.
A box of Bach beauties by a Belgian! Here again, thumbs up for Dave. Before listening, get a grip of the context. There's more going on than just some German words sung. Not even poems. Rather raw emotions brought by a believer that Bach really was. Wir danke dir, Gott, wir danken dir!
Beautiful recordings. But the more I listen to Bach, the more I love Handel, who expressed musically all the human passions, with a treatment of human voices which nobody surpassed (and equalled only by Mozart, to my point of view).
I would love to know your favourite Handel works. I adore Handel and I have learned a lot more from David's videos dedicated to him and his wonderful compositions.
@@jakobpetropoulos8850 With pleasure : Giulio Cesare ; Theodora ; Italian cantatas ; Chandos Anthems ; Janet Baker, Lorraine Hunt and Mark Padmore recitals ... to quote just a few !
@@philippecassagne3192 Great choices, I must get a good recording of his Italian Cantatas, great work. Thank you very much and wish you health. Greetings from Athens Greece.
Even when Handel is dealing with subjects as dark and dour as Bach (the first part of Israel in Egypt aka Funeral Music for Queen Caroline; Brockes Passion; frequent texts in the oratorios or operas like Tamerlano) he somehow seems more life affirming to me.
The more I listen to Bach, the more I love Bach! Bach ist Bach und Got ist Got
A lovely review (though I miss your “horrible German”). And what you hear in Herreweghe’s performances is, I believe, central to what the Bach cantatas are about. As bizarre as the Christian thought-world may seem, it really is true that the whole thing hinges on a dialectic in which humility and exaltation, despair and salvation, are just the devotional moments: this music, even in the Passions, is about the grace by which fallen people are redeemed. This is not my belief system, I should add; it is just one in which I see beauty and pathos (along with some less-felicitous things, such as those you discussed in your touching video about why you resisted the St. Matthew Passion). Sometimes folks sound like Handel is all sunshine and Bach all darkness. But I think that’s crazy talk. How inestimably lucky we are to have so much from both of them!
As for these performances, they are spectacular, and I am so glad to see them reissued. Herreweghe always emphasizes the light in Bach.
Does anyone know if Harmonia Mundi's recent reissues from their back catalog are real factory-pressed CDs, or CD-Rs? I can't seem to get a reply from them, which is not a good sign.
I finally heard from HM. Yes, these are real CDs.
0:55 Herreweghe very much agrees 🙂he is big on rhetoric (which was a school subject in Bach's time) and seems to know its implications to performance practice.
Ha! Finally someone calls a spade a spade. I only listen to these (and enjoy a few) because I don't speak German.
It appears that there is no overlap of this set with the 6 cantatas on 2 disks with Herreweghe and the same forces on Virgin Classics.
That's correct.
"sin and death and horror" - Hey, Whaddaya want? A happy ending?
It couldn't hurt.
@@DavesClassicalGuideA low dose could help keep a person spiritually "sober".