Bach Cantatas, Vol. 19: Greenwich/Romsey

Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), John Eliot Gardiner (Conductor), English Baroque Soloists (Performer), Joanne Lunn (Performer), Katharine Fuge (Performer), Julian Podger (Performer), Paul Agnew (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: English Baroque Soloists, Joanne Lunn, Katharine Fuge, Julian Podger, Paul Agnew
• Conductor: John Eliot Gardiner
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
• Audio CD (April 11, 2006)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Soli Deo Gloria
• ASIN: B000E1P3AW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #146,581 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cantatas by BWV Number and Name., May 3, 2006

By 

Vegan Daddy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bach Cantatas, Vol. 19: Greenwich/Romsey (Audio CD)

Bach cantata sets have flourished since Harnoncourt/Leonhardt and Rilling did theirs. Koopman, Gardiner, Suzuki, et al. - We all have our favourites and each conductor delivers a different performance (widely due to different nationalities of orchestra/choirs-Dutch, British, Japanese, German, etc). Gardiner has delivered a consistency in quality beyond the above former conductors contributions. This set is an example of excellent research, high quality sound and virtuostic performances.

Below is a temporary listing of what is on this set by name and BWV number since Amazon has yet to list it at the time of this brief review.

Mein Gott, wie lang, ach lange, BWV 155

Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid, BWV 3

Meine Seufzer, meine Tr?nen, BWV 13

Ach wie fl?chtig, ach wie nichtig, ist der Menschen Leben, BWV 26

Jesus schl?ft, was soll ich hoffen?, BWV 81

W?r Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit, BWV 14

Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227

Happy listening.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NO RESISTANCE, May 15, 2006

By 

GEORGE RANNIE "GWRJWMCL" (DENVER, COLORADO United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bach Cantatas, Vol. 19: Greenwich/Romsey (Audio CD)

Resistance to the Gardiner Bach Pilgrimage, for me, is futile. Therefore, I'm no longer resisting going on this journey in any way. This is the sixth volume (actually Volume 19) of the series. As in my previous reviews of the first five volumes, I am thrilled to be a part of this pilgrimage even if it is only in the capacity of an "arm chair" traveler. I wish that I could more eloquently express just how much I'm enjoying listening to this GORGIOUS music by J.S. Bach that is conducted GLORIOUSLY by Gardiner. Trying to express just how great the music of Johann Sebastian Bach is along with how great these masterful performances contained in this volume 19 is really an impossible task for me. Therefore all that I can say is if you love Bach's music you MUST listen to these recordings. Under Gardiner's leadership, (as in the previous recordings in this series) this volume again showcases the extreme talents of the Monteverdi Choir, and the English Baroque Soloist (comprising of "original" instruments) who play and sing unbelievably well.

According to the album notes this 2-disc Volume 19 contains the "Epiphany" cantatas. Being a confirmed heathen, I really don't know the religious significance or connotation of what is contained in volume 19; however, I DO know that Volume 19 contains cantatas by J.S. Bach that are simply beautiful! As in the previous releases, Gardiner and his forces perform exquisitely. Now, I must mention some of the soloist in this release.

Tenor, Paul Agnew again is really impressive! Again, in this recording his runs and ornamentations almost had me on the floor in awe. He really sings most impressively-listen to his aria on tracts 2 & 9 of disc 2-wow!. Joann Lunn, soprano is wonderful too; her recitative and aria from the cantata "Mein Gott wie Lang ach Lange", BMW 155 on the first disc is splendid. Countertenor William Towers is very good also listen to his very dramatic aria under tract 7 second disc. He sings with a full and rich voice. As a matter of fact, none of the soloists are less than wonderful.

I totally agree with the notes in the very informative booklet to Volume 19 that the cantata"Jesus, schlaft, was soll ich hoffen?" BMW 81 is splendidly operatic. Gardiner and his forces perform it in a most exciting manner with it sounding, to me, closer to one of Handle's vocal works -bravo!


As before, look to the previous reviewer for a splendidly comprehensive listing of the cantatas on this recording.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ADDED VALUE, March 23, 2008

By 

DAVID BRYSON (Glossop Derbyshire England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bach Cantatas, Vol. 19: Greenwich/Romsey (Audio CD)

Like a number of its companion sets in this series, this one contains six cantatas. It also contains something completely different, namely one of Bach's great motets. This bonus comes about, Gardiner tells us, because there is relatively little choral work in the cantatas here. The motets are choral throughout, with no solo or solo-ensemble episodes, and they are partly unaccompanied a cappella and partly with a discreet organ background. This brings the total playing time of the 2-disc set to well over two hours, as the motet, BWV 227 Jesu meine Freude to the text of one of the set hymns for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany, is actually longer with its 11 sections than either of the cantatas that come with it here for that liturgical date. It is longer also than the third cantata on the same disc, # 26 which is actually for the 24th Sunday after Trinity but had no other home to go to as there was no 24th Sunday after Trinity in the year 2000 when this project was implemented. The other disc contains the three cantatas for the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany.

As usual, the standard of professionalism, understanding of and deep affection for this great music, commitment to quality in everything that is done and unswerving dedication to the awesome undertaking is exemplary. Having collected a sizeable number of the issues so far I can't in my own mind think of this `pilgrimage' as just a collection of separate productions, something I could do if the works in question were the Beethoven symphonies or sonatas. The more I hear of it the more it coheres as a single unity. All the same, my job in reviewing it is to try to assess it on its own, and I couldn't actually say that this is quite the best of the series that I know. Now and then, particularly on the first disc, the soloists seem a little nearer to the microphone than I might have preferred. This comes on top of my sense that these are not quite my favourite soloists in general either. The two basses are very good indeed, and particular credit to Gerald Finley, who apparently had to stand in at short notice. I was a little disconcerted in the opening soprano recitative in the very first cantata, where it sounds as if Joanne Lunn might have a slight cold, and the forward microphone balance that I was just mentioning doesn't help. Matters certainly improve with her aria shortly afterwards, and I find it difficult to assess her in general on the second disc as we don't appear to be told which numbers she takes part in and which feature Katharine Fuge. The two tenors are fine if not my own chart-toppers, and whatever my temperamental difficulty with male altos, William Towers has to get a special mention for his handling of the long notes on `schlaeft' in cantata 81. These are nearly as long as the famous `sed' in the Offertorium of Verdi's Requiem, and a performance like this deserves commensurate fame too. It is also only fair to pay tribute to all the soloists without exception for the mastery they show in handling Bach's difficult and instrumentally-influenced vocal writing.

Mentioning cantata 81 takes me on to Gardiner's usual long essay, which understandably has a lot to say about this unusual cantata. The tenor aria Die Schaeumenden Wellen represents an exceptional attempt by Bach at drama and representational effects. For Gardiner this indicates what Bach might have been like as a composer of opera, and I would agree with that except to add that what he would have been was hopeless. This is a Kapellmeister's idea of drama, and even when it is from the greatest Kapellmeister who ever was it is pedantic stuff in comparison with the real thing from Mr impresario Handel.

Otherwise Gardiner's essay is searching and illuminating as usual. He admits to finding the motet a challenge, so it is not for the likes of me to pretend otherwise. If I may offer a thought of my own, the motets show a distinctive characteristic that comes from being for unaccompanied voices. I said above that Bach's vocal writing is instrumentally influenced, meaning his vocal music with instruments involved. With Bach, as with Wagner later, I really feel that instruments predominate. When composing for instruments Bach is either writing fugues or spinning patterns - patterns of sometimes the utmost sublimity, patterns that seem able to express anything, but patterns that lock the vocal elements into them. Set free from instrumental patterns the voices in the motets sometimes adopt a rhetorical tone - not grandiose Handelian rhetoric, but more the rhetoric of animated conversation such as is sometimes represented in the text by exclamation-marks. I find Bach's motets fascinating, as I also do those of his great follower Brahms a century and a half later. Brahms asked Joachim what he thought of his motets, and when Joachim started to praise their academic mastery Brahms cut him off, saying `Never mind that. Are they good music?' I wonder what Brahms himself thought, or what Bach thought. Sometimes music just takes a certain kind of composer over, and there is no relating it to more normal considerations of expressiveness or human emotions.

The format is the familiar `book' format, and for newcomers I would say as I usually do `Be careful in handling the discs.' If newcomers to this series are starting here, it's not exactly where I would have suggested, because there are no obvious smash-hits in this selection, but stay with it all the same. Bach is for life, and however long you live you are going to find more in him with each passing year.