“Jesu, Deine Passion” = BACH: Cantatas No. 22; No. 23; No. 127; No. 159 – Soloists/Collegium Vocale Gent/Philippe Herreweghe – Harmonia mundi

by | Mar 23, 2009 | Classical CD Reviews | 0 comments

"Jesu, Deine Passion" = BACH: Cantatas No. 22, “Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwolfe”; No. 23, “Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn”; No. 127, “Herr Jesu Christ, wahr’ Mensch und Gott”; No. 159, “Seht, wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem” – Dorothee Mields, soprano/ Matthew White, alto/ Jan Kobow, tenor/ Peter Kooy, bass/ Collegium Vocale Gent/ Philippe Herreweghe, conductor – Harmonia mundi 901988, 63:47 ****:

It seems that Philippe Herreweghe is coming rather late to the Bach Cantatas; after all the years he has spent with the composer there now seem to be a flood of HM releases with this conductor at the helm. I am not complaining; although there are a number of superb Bach cantata series underway at the moment, Herreweghe’s promises to be one of the best since he has such a long and established way with the composer, a suave sense of melody, gorgeously balanced choirs, and a devotional approach that always treats the composer’s intentions with the highest respect.

All four works on this disc were composed for the first Sunday before Lent, Nos. 22 and 23 as trial pieces the same year to gain Bach a post in Leipzig. His elaborate scoring and highly polyphonic structures were undoubtedly designed to appeal to the traditionalists on the jury, looking for compositions with an integrated appeal to the text while making use of all available forces. The remaining two works are also large in concept as due the preparatory times before the Lenten Season, and Herreweghe is fully aware of the need to emphasize the complexity of the works while keeping the profile to that consistent with a devotional and meditative experience. Soloists are very good, and this is another in what we can all hope will be an ongoing series. The sound is terrific, a hallmark of all Herreweghe releases.

— Steven Ritter  

Related Reviews
Logo Pure Pleasure
Logo Crystal Records Sidebar 300 ms
Logo Jazz Detective Deep Digs Animated 01