Just when you think that
Ton Koopman's magnificent cycle of the complete cantatas of Bach can't get any better, on the last disc of the last volume, it does with a reconstruction of Bach's fragmentary Cantata 193 Ihr Tore zu Zion by
Koopman himself. After 19 volumes of three discs apiece,
Koopman has proved himself to be perhaps the current reigning champion of what may be the greatest single body of musical religious works after Palestrina's masses. His unending insights, his unfailing enthusiasm, and his unstinting energy,
Koopman and his forces have expressed a great deal of the spirituality and all of the humanity in Bach's cantatas. And by re-composing Ihr Tore zu Zion, a work for which only a set of parts without continuo existed,
Koopman and enriched the greatest single body of musical religious works after Palestrina's masses with the addition of a nearly religious work celebrating the inauguration of a new town council. Anyone who loves Bach's music will sooner or later have to confront the master's cantatas. When your time comes, try
Koopman. Antonie Marchand's sound is clear, deep, and real.