Search - Johann Sebastian Bach, Pieter Jan Leusink, Netherlands Bach Collegium :: Bach Cantatas Complete (Box)

A Bach Cantata Series To Reckon With

Johannes Climacus | Beverly, Massachusetts | 10/24/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"By and large, reviewers have been condescending toward Brilliant's bargain-priced complete edition of Bach Cantatas. Leusink and his doughty band of (mostly) Netherlanders, however, know what they are about in this vast segment of the Leipzig Cantor's output. Indeed, to my ears Leusink's efforts compare quite favorably to those of Koopman, Gardiner and Suzuki), while the quality of musicianship, though inconsistent, surpasses that of Harnoncourt and Leonhardt in their pioneering cantata cycle.



Leusink's tempos strike me as exactly right (neither the slow trudge of many traditional Bach cantata performances, nor the frantic race to the finish of more recent period performance practitioners), his phrasing and rhythmic articulation are consistently imaginative, and his care over details of texture (always significant in Bach) is second to none. His instrumental ensemble, while not the tidiest I have ever heard, play with gusto and (in the case of the winds) considerable virtuosity and expressive nuance; the brass playing is also consistently outstanding--far better than in the Harononcourt/Leonhardt series. Only the string playing gives some cause for concern; in ensemble, the violins, in particular produce an insubstantial, almost feathery sonority; in solo obbligati, the timbre is often unpleasantly wiry. But at very least the strings usually play in tune, and with more than a modicum of sensitivity to Bach's deeply expressive melodic lines.



Leusink's choir (men and boys) makes quite a distinctive sound--robust, full-throated, somewhat darker in hue in the upper register than one commonly encounters with all-male choirs. Their singing conveys an undeniably fetching enthusiasm, even though they are several leagues behind Gardiner's Monteverdi Choir or Suzuki's vocal ensemble in terms of refinement and expressive nuance. Whether by design or accident, interior parts sometimes dominate obtrusively in dense contrapuntal passages. At least all strands in the polyphonic texture are audible most of the time (which is more than can be said for some better known Bach choirs). Most importantly, there is something ineffably Lutheran about their earthy, up-front manner; rarely have Bach's great contrapuntal structures sounded less academic, or less precious.



Leusink's soloists have elicited the greatest number of critical comments from reviewers. Not to be contrarian, but on this score I part company with the critical consensus. To my ears the soloists are, if not quite exemplary, at least adequate to their challenging tasks and frequently far more than that. Ruth Holton sounds a wee bit like Emma Kirkby, though with greater expressive range. Occasionally she runs out of breath, but so do some other sopranos in more glamorous Bach Cantata enterprises. Strijk, her soprano counterpart in a minority of cantatas, has a pleasing voice and knows how to use it effectively. The countertenor, Sytse Buwalda, sings with a rich, burnished tone, though he's sometimes unsteady and frequently has tuning problems. On the other hand his is by no means the white, hooty countertenor voice many of us have come to dread. The "three tenors" (Schoch, Beekman and Nico van der Meel) are mostly light-tined and agile, though Schoch occasionally has difficulty negotiating Bach's more florid passages, and can sound strained in the upper register. Schoch gets the lion's share of tenor arias, however, and whatever his limitations, his contribution to the series is far better than most reviews have indicated. Finest of all, however, is Bas Ramselaar, the bass soloist. As with countertenor Buwalda, Ramselaar gets to sing all of the arias assigned to his range throughout the series (quite an accomplishment in itself). He knows how to modulate his firm and fruity tone depending on style and idiom (Bach's bass arias differ most from one another in respect of range and pathos), and the results are consistently satisfying. His voice resembles that of better-known basses Kooij (for Suzuki) and Mertens (for Koopman), but he manages to surpass them in conveying the diverse affects of his arias. There is a narrative quality to his contribution that draws one in and holds one's attention whenever he is singing. Leusink's modestly-priced cantata cycle is almost worth the price of admission for Ramselaar's contribution alone. He is a real find.



In all of the performances I have sampled so far the recorded sound is clear, pleasingly resonant, and closely observed. The latter quality is not always an asset; in some arias, for instance, the soloist is just too close to the microphones, so that there is a slight (but noticeable) hint of peaking from time to time; this problem afflicts Buwalda's contribution more than it does the other soloists.



Considering that this project was largely completed over a few months during 1999-2000 (in time for the Bach 250th anniversary year), Leusink's achievement is extraordinary--indeed, breathtaking. Gardiner's series, also recorded on the wing during his "cantata pilgrimage" of the Bach celebratory year, features more consistently refined choral and solo singing, and a bigger and (usually) more polished band of instrumentalists. His approach to Bach is similarly robust, though also significantly more detailed--sometimes to the point of turning his performances into "commentaries" on the music. Those commentaries are almost always illuminating, though I fear that Gardiner comes uncomfortably close at times to "loving the music to death" (something of which Leusink could never be accused). Suzuki's series is the one to go for if spit-and-polish perfection of ensemble, style, and scholarly acumen are what you value most. I find him to be, paradoxically, tremendously exciting but too reserved emotionally. Koopman is efficient and enlivening, but sometimes rather casual-sounding, as if he's not quite willing to confront the "big issues"--existential and theological--encoded in Bach's endlessly fecund scores. Heereweghe is probably the most deeply reflective of all recent interpreters of Bach's sacred music; too bad he hasn't yet given us a complete Cantata cycle (though he appears to be working on one--albeit at a snail's pace). Among more traditional styles of Bach interpretation, there's something to be said for the old Kapellmeister tradition, as exemplified by Fritz Werner and Karl Richter at their best. Rilling follows in their wake, though his cantata series, recorded over a long span of nearly two decades, is quite uneven in matters of both style and execution. And then there is Teldec's *Kantantenwerk* series, featuring didactic Leonhardt and eccentric Harnoncourt (and you've got to love them both for their considerable achievements); it had the field to itself, at least among period performance versions, until fairly recently. They still strike me as unsurpassed for conveying the expressive core of the music (at least at their best), and their adult soloists (Equiluz, Esswood, van Egmond, et. al.) remain the finest team of all. Too bad the soprano solos are (except in BWV 51) all taken by boy sopranos in various states of vocal meltdown. Charming though their contribution can be, they tend to weigh down the accomplishment of these two great pioneers of "authentic" Bach performance (as it used to be called).



To sum up: do consider purchasing this inexpensive Brilliant Box if you are exploring Bach's great testament of musico-theological devotion for the first time or even if you have been collecting one or more of the other available series. I don't think you will be disappointed (at least overall) in the quality of the performances or the perceptiveness of the interpretations--even if, in the final analysis, one might prefer the greater polish to be found with Gardiner (remarkably, given the exigencies of his cantata pilgrimage schedule), Suzuki or Koopman.



Please note that the above remarks are based on my auditioning single volumes of Brilliant's Bach Edition devoted to Leusink's Cantata cycle rather than the integral set housed in the gigantic box advertised above. The performances and recordings are identical, but I cannot vouch for the documentation (or lack thereof) or the CD pressings in the "bulky box." If you are interested in collecting the series, but aren't sure you want to invest in the boxed set (inexpensive though that is), due to the other reviewer's remarks about sparse documentation and defective CD pressings, you might want to consider purchasing individual volumes. These are still available, very inexpensively, on the Amazon website (seek and you will find). With respect to this earlier format, I can vouch for the fact that brief notes plus texts in German only are included with each jewel case in every 5-CD volume. Nor have I encountered any defective CD pressings to date.



Concluding postscript: By now I have heard all of the cantatas in Leusink's estimable series at least once, and I have returned to several to check my initial impressions or simply for enjoyment. My estimation of the series has not substantially changed, though I now have an even higher regard for the soloists (fewer reservations concerning tenor Knut Schoch and counter-tenor Buwalda). I am perhaps less taken with the all-male choir than I was initially. I noted that they offer enthusiastic, if unpolished, singing, but I must warn readers to expect rough patches in some of the more complicated choruses (the magnificent opening chorus of BWV 79, for instance, is really something of a mess). These can sometimes be distracting. My strong endorsement of the series as a whole, however, stands firm. This inexpensive box is worth anyone's money (even in a tough economy) and will afford countless hours of listening pleasure--to say nothing of edification."

A Remarkable Achievement

Rick A. Graber | Anchorage, | 01/19/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is the best bargain on the market for one looking for a complete set of the sacred cantatas of Bach. The set receives only 4 stars because of the omission of BWV 190 and a couple of others, and a less-than-perfect pressing for all of the disks (my copy has an unplayable track on cantata 57). Documentation is very minimal. The soloists sing with considerable enthusiasm and skill, as does the choir, and although the performances do not quite measure up to the extraordinary standards of the Rilling, Harnoncourt/Leonhardt, Koopman, and Suzuki series, they are never less than good, and in many cases, excellent. Highly recommended, especially given the price."

A very authoritative and exciting performance

Claudio Di Veroli | Bray, Rep. Ireland | 01/03/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I fully share the enthusiasm shown by the other 2 reviewers. Having heard most of the 60 CDs over a year, I find the performances ranging from the very good to the marvellous. Everything is right here: tempi, phrasing, instruments, balance, Baroque style in most of the singing. The-very few-slight mistunings just add to the authenticity for we know that performances in Bach's time were far less accurate. This recording is certainly as good as the other well known recordings, and in many cases actually better.

Claudio Di Veroli

http://harps.braybaroque.ie/"