A Life in Music volume 1 - Early Cantatas

• Label: Harmonia Mundi
• Soloists: Miraim Allan (soprano), Maarten Engeltjes (countertenor), Thomas Hobbs (tenor), Edward Grint (bass); Benjamin Alard, organ
• Ensemble: Les Arts Florissants, dir. Paul Agnew
• Recording: Philharmonie de Paris, May 2022
• Sound Engineer: Florent Ollivier

An interesting new release from Paul Agnew is the first of what appears to be a new series for Harmonia Mundi entitled J.S. Bach: A Life in Music. The concept for this album is to provide us a look into his years at Arnstadt and Mülhausen with three cantatas: BWVs 4, 150, 106. Coupled with this is related organ works, performed by Benjamin Alard, and finally, a cantata by Johann Kuhnau, Christ lag in Todes Banden.

The liner notes indicate a desire to be historically authentic in terms of the forces of instruments and singers based on Bach’s available sources at the time of composition. I always go back to why ensembles take on works that are already well represented in the recorded canon. Luckily I hear things being done differently in this release, which for me is a rationale for recording these pieces anew.

Previous to this recording I had favorite recordings of BWV 4 and BWV 150. Both adopted small vocal forces. In contrast to these I admired to some degree the recordings from his 2000 cantata pilgrimage by John Eliot Gardiner, the conductor who punches. Gardiner in his later years has led performances of Bach that are quite emotionally intense, which made me sit up and take notice. The rhetoric in the music may command such ferocity, but one wonders if this type of performance was normal for a baroque church?

Under Agnew’s baton these works take on a similar intensity that Gardiner brought originally, only now it’s with a small, intimate ensemble, which makes the effect even more rhetorically interesting. Likely my favorite example is the swift tempo from the fifth movement of BWV 150, Zedern müseen von den Winden. I’d really like the recording directed by Françoise Lasserre with Akadêmia. That recording used single voices throughout, with a 1/part instrumental ensemble. Agnew in turn uses a back-up chorus to double the soloists. I think sonically both solutions work; Agnew’s is the more interesting and intense, in terms of tempos and emotional fortitude.

Lasserre? More elegant, perhaps with stronger soloists? These are for sure different interpretations with different sonics from the recordings. But the rawness with Agnew’s new release for me is palpable in a way that few earlier recordings are.

I can’t listen to BWV 4 without thinking back to my first exposure to this of Bach’s earliest cantatas, which reveals to all of us now and likely then his extreme genius. I was sitting in a class at the Eastman School entitled J.S. Bach taught by Alfred Mann. We internalized the structure of the piece as it was played to us from a record. I looked around the class and tried to take notice of the faces of my fellow students. My gaze landed upon a student I’d gotten to know from another class on orchestration named Samuel. He and I locked gazes for a few seconds, smiles appearing across our faces as the music reverberated around the room. He wrote something into the margin of his notebook. Bach is awesome? We looked at each other again and I smiled with a nod.

My reaction at the time was in part drawn from the novelty of the music. Bach took the piece and broke up the stanzas, one per movement, based upon the same foundation. The results was perfection in their profound creative application of voices and instruments. I know the greatness inherent in his B minor mass and St Matthew Passion, but this earliest of cantatas for me still is among the most profound music in my estimation by Bach. The vocal-forward approach here, and the forwardness of the soloists amid several movements with their intense approach for me made me take especial notice. The intensity Agnew achieves is palpable. It’s not polite. It’s in your face. It takes the words at face value with an intensity that isn’t kind or polite. It’s refreshing if nothing else.

The duet Den Tod nieman zwingen kunnt is intensely realized, and I loved every moment. The following movement feels rushed. Maybe other performances milk more drama out of this one, but otherwise I find little fault in Agnew’s interpretation of the work. The dance in the seventh movement is sublime. Thomas Dunford on lute stands out in this movement, along others, which I can’t speak to its authenticity as a continuo instrument in Bach’s earlier years, but his contribution adds depth to the sound. I really liked how this recording relies upon organ as the main keyboard instrument rather than a harpsichord.

The Actus Tragicus is less successful for me musically than BWVs 4 and 150. It’s still a remarkable work, with its telltale double recorders haunting us throughout. Agnew achieves quite a bounce in the aria Bestelle dein Haus. There’s something ultimately Bachian about that bounce. There are moments that the two records sound as if they’re coming out of sync, but one makes me wonder why Bach asked for two recorders to play the same line if not to achieve this effect?

The voice in the aria In deine Hände is quite direct, beautifully rendered with an intensity demanded by the text. It’s this approach which is probably the most direct in this track that epitomizes this recording. These singers are upfront and intense. It’s rare in Bach, honestly, and I enjoyed the directness.

The singers are each in their own strong, but they aren’t necessarily equally matched in style or sound. It’s the one element which would have been nice to achieve. Their individual gifts come out, but one would think that a director would demand some consistency among an approach given a particular court, church, etc., and I don’t think it’s too much to demand more consistency in style (particularly in intensity and use of vibrato) that Agnew might have rained-in for the purposes here of promoting the ultimate reach of historical authenticity.

Alard’s performances on organ are of note here, too. He does not perform with the ensemble, but instead alone with three pieces (BWV 1107, 742, 718). The historical organ is not equally-tempered which is a delicious sound; the capture of his playing is exquisite as far as organ recordings go, I get the feeling of the full stereo effect of the organ in its environment. His performances are straightforward but the sound of this instrument and the way it was captured is sublime. I dare anyone to name an organ recording that isn’t more interesting than this.

All said, I am not sure this recording replaces my previous-held favorite renditions. I love them so. But the result instead is a recording that provides new insight into the works performed. For this Agnew and friends should be proud. This is what we should all want with new recordings. Freshness. Congratulations to all involved and I look forward to the next volume.