Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra - J.S. Bach: Dialogue Cantatas I (2008)

Legendary Dutch historical-performance conductor and keyboardist Ton Koopman, in his youth a radical but now (in these days of one-voice-per-part revisionism) something of a conservative, has issued a variety of Bach cantata recordings on his own Antoine Marchand label (that's French for Ton Koopman). They come from various places and times, but Koopman has assembled them into interesting new groups, frequently bouncing different kinds of soloists off of a group of pieces linked by a common feature. This disc is an excellent example, and the only thing that keeps it from being an ideal choice for a basic collection of Bach cantatas (at least for those who do not speak German) is the lack of printed texts. Even that may not be a serious problem; texts and translations for most of these cantatas are widely available. Here the common feature is the use of dialogic musical settings, following the frequent tendency of cantata text writers to metaphorically represent the relationship between the soul and Jesus or God as marital or even sexual. All four of these cantatas assign the role of Jesus to a bass voice, sung in each case by Klaus Mertens even though the cantatas were recorded on three different occasions over a period of four years. The female singers are all very distinct from one another, however. Sample the ethereal Sandrine Piau in the familiar Cantata No. 140 ("Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), BWV 140, and place her in contrast to the operatic and even volatile Sibylla Rubens in the Cantata No. 49 ("Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen," I go and seek with desire), BWV 49, for an example of what Koopman is trying to do with these releases; some of his Bach performances from this stage of his career have been structured around the talents of individual soloists. His Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir are superb, with delightful effects obtained by the use of the instruments Bach specifies, including an oboe d'amore, violoncello piccolo, and the still rarer violino piccolo (played by the faultless Margaret Faultless). Koopman's entire series can be recommended, and the performance of the Cantata No. 140 here, even with oddly brisk tempos in the chorales, may be a good place to start with the whole deal. What Koopman's method clearly communicates is Bach's rhetorical combination of the pastoral and dialogue ideas in this famous cantata.