With so many recordings of Bach's cantatas to choose from, why should the listener choose Volume 11 of Ton Koopman's survey of the complete cantatas? Does it include any of the "greatest hits" among the cantatas? No, none of the nine works included here, all from the second year of Bach's residence in Leipzig, are particularly well-known. Does it include any works which have heretofore been unrecorded? No, everything here has been done by one or more of the usual suspects -- Harnoncourt, Rilling, Richter, and Gardiner -- and there are no newly completed works or recently discovered works. So why should the listener choose this three-disc set?
In a word, because it's so good. The repertoire is, of course, good. Bach's cantatas form the greatest, the most spiritual and the most musical body of sacred works since Palestrina's masses, and the cantatas on this disc are consistently deeply devout and profoundly moving. The performances are likewise good. Koopman, a gifted keyboard player and a skilled conductor, is surely one of the great Bach interpreters of his time with a thorough knowledge of every aspect of the music, the consummate musicianship to articulate all of it and the humility to let the music speak for itself and not to impose his personality on it. With the achingly beautiful and wonderfully characterful singing of soprano Sibylla Rubens, alto Annette Markert, tenor Christoph Prégardien, and bass Klaus Mertens, Bach's lyrical melodies are granted their full expressivity. And with the superlative accompaniment of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and the heartfelt singing of Amsterdam Baroque Chorus, Bach's glorious music is given its full intensity. Recorded in clean, close sound, Koopman's Volume 11 is a superlative choice, whether one has hundreds of cantata recordings or none at all.