Highly Recommended: Bach Cantata DVD
I stumbled across a wonderful DVD of the performance of several of Bach’s Cantatas, five sacred, one secular, performed by the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir, directed by Ton Koopman.
What was a delightful surprise to me is that the DVD features explanations and comments by Koopman about the music of the Cantatas and how Bach wrote his music and the style, etc. It is really very wonderful. If you are interested in being introduced to Bach’s Cantatas, I could not recommend a better way to get to know them than this. You are able to turn on English subtitles so you can easily follow what the singers are saying.
The DVD features BWV 106, BWV 13, BWV 140 (the great Wachet Auf/Wake Awake cantata), BWV 147, the Coffee Cantata BWV 211), and BWV 56.
I found it on Amazon for $23.
I have a few of the Ton Koopman recordings of Bach’s Cantatas, but hand’s down, nothing compares to the masterful recordings done by Sir John Eliot Gardiner who recorded all the Bach Cantatas on the feasts and, in some cases, in the churches where they were originally performed. That’s maybe for the more advanced listener, but if you want to be introduced to Bach you may as well start with the gems.
This is a DVD, not an audio CD.
Recommend listening to “The Bach Hour,” on Sunday evenings and on demand, found here: http://www.wgbh.org/995/
Includes Bach catatas on Sundays according to the Lutheran church calendar. Today’s cantata was “Mein Herze Schwimmt in Blut,” with an excellent short commentary on the text.
Ton Koopman is idiosyncratic and original, but never lacking in insight or sheer musicality. By the way, Masaaki Suzuki, one of my favourite Bach conductors, is a former student of Koopman’s.
Masaaki Suzuki rocks when it comes to interpreting Bach! And he makes no bones about his Christian beliefs and how this impacts on his playing of Bach. When I lived in Germany, his performances with his Japanese Bach group were regularly sold out. Ironic–a Japanese Christian teaching Germans about Bach. Rich.