Bach Cantatas - which interpretation do you prefer?

[harman/kardon]

I grew up with my late father's Richter collection (Archiv). When he retired he purchased the Rilling releases (Hänssler) which I do not like because Rilling, in my opinion, puts too much of his self-satisfaction into Bach's music.

Twenty years ago I purchased the Leonhardt/Harnoncourt cantatas on CD (Telefunken). I liked the interpretation of Harnoncourt most for a long time, but suddenly it sounds to me too dry, too functional (still appreciate it, though). So I returned back to the roots, back to Richter. I am not familiar with the conductor Gardiner, by the way.

 

[harman/kardon]

Folks... er... are you serious? No comments??? Gosh...

 

[GuyK]

I don't know many of Bach's Cantatas well enough to comment intelligently, and suspect this is the case for many of us.

 

[KevinJS]

Give me a couple weeks, Chris. I’m not home ATM. I have several of Gardiner’s and judging by what you have been posting, some of Richter’s. I have several of those Archiv Produktion LPs with the index cards. I’ll do a comparison.

FWIW, I’ve never heard a Gardiner recording that I didn’t like.

 

[guiller]

My favorites:
Old style: Richter.
New style: Koopman, Herreweghe, Suzuki and Gardiner. Jacobs is also great.

 

[harman/kardon]

I don't know many of Bach's Cantatas well enough to comment intelligently, and suspect this is the case for many of us.

Guy, I am generally not a very intelligent person - regarding to logical skills, I am nothing but a monster of emotions...

 

[jgannon]

I have some recordings by Richter that I really love, including two separate recordings of BWV 140 that are so beautiful.

 

[guiller]

Regarding old style interpretations, some cantatas recorded by Scherchen are also great!

 

[harman/kardon]

Is anyone of you familiar with the interpretation of Hellmuth Rilling? As I already mentioned above, I do not like his cantatas very much, but I appreciate his motets.

 

[GuyK]

Guy, I am generally not a very intelligent person - regarding to logical skills, I am nothing but a monster of emotions...

I don't believe this for a moment! Anybody that is successfully teaching themself the intricasies of the English language via online forums when it is not their native tongue is in possesion of a superior intellect.

 

[harman/kardon]

But it is a one-sided, extremely intuitive intelligence. Thank you for your comment, anyway! Very nice! Much appreciated!

I will get a bunch of Richter cantatas in a couple of days in order to expand my later father's Richter collection and I am looking forward to them!

 

[guiller]

I will get a bunch of Richter cantatas in a couple of days in order to expand my later father's Richter collection and I am looking forward to them!

One of the major assets of Richter's recordings is the superior set of singers he managed to gather!

 

[harman/kardon]

@Ilikevinyl

Amongst them the very young Fischer-Dieskau, back then in the early fifties. When Archiv Produkiton released the very demanding solo cantatas BWV56 and BWV82 in 1951, Fischer-Dieskau was at the beginning of his breathtaking career, and just 26 years old.

 

[guiller]

Amongst them the very young Fischer-Dieskau, back then in the early fifties. When Archiv Produkiton released the very demanding solo cantatas BWV56 and BWV82 in 1951, Fischer-Dieskau was at the beginning of his breathaking career, and just 26 years old.

Yes! And also Maria Stader, Edith Mathis, Sir Peter Pears, Hertha Töpper, Ernst Haefliger, Theo Adam, Anna Reynolds,Peter Schreier, Kurt Moll and many other great singers alongside the young Fischer-Dieskau!

http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Richter.htm

 

[guiller]

PS: another great series of recordings in the Old Style was made by the always clever Ernest Ansermet! http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Ansermet.htm

 

[harman/kardon]

Since a lot of my Richter records, decades old, played countless times, do not sound very nicely anymore, I purchased this box and got it yesterday. Love it!

 

[bimasta]

Another vote for Karl Richter. At the time, his were the "Authentic" versions, and I preferred them by far for their smaller scale and tasteful ornamentation to the prevalent inflated performances. For me, at that age, the first version I heard of great music made the deepest impression, and became "the" version, so it's still Richter for me.

I saw him conduct the B-Minor Mass in Carnegie Hall when I was college student. It was his full Munich Bach Orchestra and Chorus, just like the Arkiv records (though a couple of the soloists didn't make the trip) but it was real and LIVE in the perfect acoustics of Carnegie. As a student, I was in "standing room" (ticket: $1) but when the house lights went down, empty seats were up for grabs. I ended up sitting first row center.

Not the ideal seat. For one thing, the more distant parts of the orchestra never came into balance. Secondly, I was continually spattered with Nicholai Gedda's spit.

Ten years later, I saw Richter in London, with the same orchestra and chorus, doing the Monteverdi 1610 Vespers — in St. Paul's Cathedral. The acoustics weren't perfect, they were transcendental.

And in an incredible quirk of timing, Neville Marriner also did the 1610 Vespers only two weeks later — in Westminster Cathedral.

Amazing experiences. So lucky.