BACH: Cantatas (Complete) – Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir/ Ton Koopman, conductor/ Various soloists – Challenge 72350, 67 CDs! 70+ hours **** [Distr. by Allegro]:
Koopman got thrust into a difficult situation when Erato went defunct and he was in the middle of his complete Bach cantatas cycle. Fortunately for him and everyone else Challenge picked up the slack and took all of the original recordings on board while agreeing to finish the product.
When the Harnoncourt project was completed there was a great sigh of “finally!” as the first-ever complete series was released. But that formidable project—originally on LPs—still left a lot to desire both in terms of sound quality and performance values, period-instrument playing being in a much more primitive state than that which we have become accustomed to today. But I have to say that hearing Harnoncourt’s re-recording of several of these works recently proves the mettle of those first efforts, even though they are still lacking in many ways, as so many trailblazing efforts often are.
But then around 1995-2000 we had Ton Koopman and Masaaki Suzuki embarking on yet another complete series, this after Helmuth Rilling completed his very fine package on modern instruments, a much-needed corrective to some of the Harnoncourt scrapings. So with two in the can these two superb conductors set out to show us the lay of the Bach land. Many critics have taken a liking to each of them, many to both, and only a few insisting that period instruments are still not their preference in this music. I might be one of them, but perhaps only because of what I grew up on, Karl Richter and some of the old “Bach Guild” recordings found on Vanguard. Both were fairly advanced for the time, and Richter especially still brings a sense of mystical devotion that I find absent from most period recordings. Yet as time goes on, the period instruments have softened, interpretations have become less rigid and more musical, and the players go at this stuff like they were born to do so. Which brings us to the Rifkin doctrine—were these meant to be sung one singer per part? That’s the new dogmatism, utterly wrong in my opinion, though there have been some wonderful recordings on Atma and Florigeum that try to prove the point, along with Rifkin’s own Oiseau-Lyre recordings from a number of years back. But the best period sets—Koopman, Suzuki, and Gardiner—use nicely full choruses supported by a decent complement of instruments.
There is one other current set, though its availability may be limited. Brilliant Classics released a set from the Netherlands that used boy’s voices and period instruments and supposedly was sold at an unbelievably cheap price in drug stores. I have not heard it, but many think it a great thing, though uneven, and you might find it for around $80, which is phenomenal. Suzuki has released many of his in three sets also for around $200 for three boxes, but I do not know if they are complete—my sense is no. I have no doubt that BIS will eventually discount the series heavily, but I am sure that release will be standard CD and not SACD.
Interpretatively it breaks down like this, though many critics differ. I admit to not having liked Koopman when it first arrived 15 years ago. At that time I was somewhat prejudiced against period instruments (still am to some extent, but more to the philosophy and static interpretations than to the playing itself) and it took me a while to warm up to the better angels of the movement. But hearing this set complete has given me a different perspective. It took other recordings to break the ice for me, and when I returned to this one I realized that it was as good as most of those others, it just came to my attention at the wrong time. Suzuki is on SACD; for many that will be enough right there. There is no other Bach cantata series like that, and his interpretations are very rich and devotional, perhaps more inspiring than most, certainly a believer’s Bach. Gardiner has recorded only the church cantatas, so it is not an exact competitor, though his readings are more spontaneous and exciting. His sound varies from location to location, but is always vivid; sometimes more congested or closed-in depending on where he and his group happen to be. Koopman’s is the cleanest and most exact (along with the most interesting continuo), not as fervent as Suzuki (perhaps because his Amsterdamers are recorded further back in a more objective manner) and one gets the impression that this may be the most “authentic” sound of the current crop. The standard among discs varies little, and the singing is excellent, especially among the soloists. I could not possibly list them all, but they include such luminaries as Barbara Schlick, Christoph Pregardien, Klaus Mertens, Andreas Scholl, Sandrine Piau, and Nathalie Stutzmann.
Challenge has given us a “bare bones” package, meaning there are no notes included, which is a little irritating if one wants to read about the variants that are included as appendices, but they say you can go out to one of several websites for all of this, including the complete texts. What we do get is about an eight-inch wide box with 67 CDs inside in thin cardboard covers along with a booklet that gives track listings. The company claims it was cheaper for the consumer to do it this way, and it doesn’t bother me at all. Speaking of consuming, this set was listed at about $400 dollars at Amazon a couple weeks ago, which is reasonable, but now it says $732 and shipping from Austria, which is absurd for U.S. collectors. Shop around and you will find it much cheaper. It also includes Bach masses as well, an additional bonus. The sound (I did a straight up comparison with the Suzuki SACDs in the same works) is very good. While it cannot compete with the SACD’s spacious surround for Suzuki it comes close, and I noticed only a little less broad sound-space in the front minus of course the back speakers. As I said, if you want SACD or are already well along in collecting the Suzuki, this set is not for you. But if you want the complete cantatas in modern CD sound with exceptionally robust and consistently fine readings, close to half a grand just might be worth it. This is a big investment to be sure, but the Bach cantatas are so foundational an acquisition for anyone who calls his or herself a music lover that the outlay is worth it. There are some other series of varying states of completeness underway (and none claiming to include all the cantatas), several in Super Audio, though they all espouse one-to-a-part which I highly discourage. As it is, it will come down to Harnoncourt, Rilling, the Brilliant set, Suzuki, and Koopman. For period instruments only the last two are fully acceptable. Koopman has a very valid take on this incandescent music, different from Suzuki which makes it all the more interesting. Easily recommended!
— Steven Ritter
