Thankfully, Sigiswald Kuijken doesn't feel the overwhelming urge to record every extant sacred cantata by
J.S. Bach. That project would have consumed years of his life -- and at best only equaled the achievements of other, earlier explorers. By choosing to record only enough cantatas to span a single liturgical year of Sundays plus the major holy days, Kuijken has restricted the number of discs to 20, reduced the number of performers to one singer to a part, and exponentially increased the musical intensity. Volume five, this volume, includes the four cantatas for the 11th through 14th Sundays after Trinity: Siehe zu, dass deine Gottesfurcht nicht Heuchelei sei, BWV 179; Geist und Seele wird verwirret, BWV 35; Ihr, die ihr euch von Christo nennet, BWV 164; and Wer Dank opfert, der preiset mich, BWV 17.
As with any four
Bach cantatas, these are all very different from one another. Siehe zu and Ihr, die ihr are in six movements each, but while Siehe zu starts with a chorus and ends with a chorale and no alto part, Ihr, die ihr alternates arias and recitatives and climaxes in a duet between the soprano and bass. Geist und Seele is in seven movements divided into four plus three and Wer Dank opfert is in seven movements divided into three plus four, but while both parts of Geist und Seele start with a sinfonia featuring the organ, neither part of Wer Dank opfert includes an independent instrumental movement.
In every movement, the soloists of
La Petite Bande acquit themselves magnificently -- clarion soprano Gerlinde Sämann, warm alto Petra Noskaiová, stentorian tenor
Jan Kobow, and stout bass Dominik Wörner, plus organist
Ewald Demeyere -- and Kuijken directs them all from the concert master's chair with a fatherly sternness and affection. Recorded in astoundingly clear, warm, and direct sound by Accent, this disc will be of interest to those following this distinguished series as well as anyone interested in recordings of these works.