JS Bach: The Complete Cantatas
JS Bach: The Complete Cantatas
2 Opus Classic
13 Grammy nominations
18 Echo Classic
“Only a label with a clear profile, with a clear recognition effect still has a chance today”. The producer and label chef Günter Hänssler are convinced of this. Its products impress with their originality, innovation and sound quality. For this purpose, the label has already been awarded several times: 18 x with the Echo Classic, 2 x with the Opus Classic (formerly Echo Classic), Label of the Year (Cannes Classical Award), countless times with the ICMA (International Music Award) and even with 13 Grammy nominations, the label was considered.
Leading international artists, such as Christian Thielemann, Julia Fischer, Frank-Peter Zimmermann, can be found in the program as well as successful newcomers of the classic scene. The repertoire is complemented by selected, digitally elaborately restored historical recordings and interpretations of legendary reputation (including Günter Wand, Karl Richter, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau) in new, unfamiliar digital sound quality. With the Semperoper edition or the Mrawinsky edition, profile strikes a bridge from the past into the present and thus sees itself as a keeper of musical traditions.
Experience incomparable musical hours with the total recording of the work Johann Sebastian Bachs, cantatas that accompany through the church year, with CD world premieres, but also with classic melodies for weddings, Christmas or just for relaxation. In the catalogue of over 1000 titles, all listeners will find the right sound experience for every occasion.
| Dimensions: | 17.5 x 23.29 x 13.21 cm; 1.58 Kilograms |
| Manufacture: | Hanssler Classics |
| Dimensions: | 17.5 x 23.29 x 13.21 cm; 1.58 Kilograms |
| Origin: | Germany |
For just over 55 you receive a complete set of Bach’s cantatas (71 CDs). These are masterfully sung and an additional CD has all the libretti as well. One of the best music purchases that I have ever made.
Definitivamente deberan mejorar el empaque individual de los CD’s vienen en un sobre de muy mala calidad y al abrirlo se rompen, tuve que comprar sobres para ir colocando los discos.
This is a very enjoyable set, full of quality if not starry names My only concern might be that the music goes through in order with BMV 1,2 & 3 on disc 1, etc rather than simply reproducing the original recordings which mixed things up – Hyperion did the same with their complete Schubert Song box set..
German neatness means each disc was SEALED in its own envelope! WARNING: If you order this for delivery in Canada, you can expect to pay C$27 in import duty when you pick up your parcel – a bit of a shock.
Il est impossible de ne pas croire en Dieu aprs avoir cout ces cantates.
L’enregistrement est trs bon, mais pas toujours aussi net qu’avec les enregistrements numriques actuels.
Ce coffret est d’un rapport qualit prix exceptionnel.
Je le recommande chaudement toute personne voulant dcouvrir les cantates dans une interprtation superbe la mesure du trs grand Jean-Sbastien Bach.
On entre en recueillement devant tant de beaut, c’est une merveille !
Je prfre cette interprtation celle de Harnoncourt et Leonhardt.
Je rends grce M. Helmut Rilling d’avoir jou intgralement ce monument historique.
Bonne coute tous
There is nothing “creaky” about these recordings and the only reasons to “wonder why these recordings are still in the catalog” are either ideological or based on personal “taste”.
I have listened to (and poorly played) Bach on an almost daily basis for over 30 years. In addition to this Rilling set, which I bought a few months ago (I had bought a few of Rilling’s single discs over the past 20 years), I own Harnoncourt & Leonhardt’s complete set, the 75-cantata set by Karl Richter, most of the Herreweghe cantata recordings (mostly very good if a bit “soft”), a sprinkling of the Rifkin’s (interesting minimalism) and (alas) years ago I bought the first issue of the Koopman set (I did not buy the second). I also like Suzuki’s efforts (probably the best of his generation), in most cases, although I do not collect his recordings because they are still very expensive. I have a low opinion of Gardiner’s musicianship (try his abysmal St. John’s Passion to see what I mean — one of the worse recordings in my collection)
Having musically grown up at the height of the “original instrument” movement (20+ years ago I even bought a Baroque bow for my violin) I have come to believe that there is no intrinsic superiority of one approach versus the other. I intensely dislike terms such as “historically informed performance” (as if Karl Richter, the son of a Lutheran pastor, deeply steeped in Lutheran theology, a Thomaner himself, organist at St. Thomas, were less informed than one of his British or Dutch “HIP” colleagues (I won’t name names)) or, even worse “Authentic” (hey listeners lend me your authentic years, you who have listened to all sorts of 20th and 21st century noise but whose ears still really really suffer when they hear a diminished seventh).
Anyway, this set is excellent. Rilling himself is deeply steeped in the protestant tradition (try his lectures on the B Minor Mass on youtube) and choral conducting. The performances are tasteful with no rhythm bashing or mannered swellings (try Fabio Biondi’s violin with Ian Bostridge for that) or other received wisdom from the prophets of the “auffhrungspraxis”. The choir is big but not as big as, say, Richter’s. The contrapuntal textures are very clearly audible, for the most part. The instrumental soloists are also very good.
Some people view the interpretive restraint in this set as a weakness. I view it as a strength.
The singing ranges from good to excellent with a healthy dose of natural vibrato. If you are picky about singing and never really swallowed the self-serving fashion for falsetto male singers pushed by the Brits and the Dutch (I am often appalled at some of this “singing”) you will like this set. The roster of singers is a who’s who of Bach’s singing (many of the singers have also worked with Harnoncourt, Leonhardt, Richter, and Herreweghe).
For those who object that Bach dealt with all male forces I would reply that first, the recreation of original conditions is an obsession I do not share, second, you can carefully read his letter on “Well Appointed Church Music” to see how he liked his “original conditions”, third you can listen to Harnoncourt and Leonhardt’s set: they employ boy sopranos (this unique set is worth owning just for that) and you will realize that, as one wit observed: “they have no strong opinions about intonation and rhythm”. Even allowing for the fact that, apparently, in Bach’s days boys changed their voice later and hence were more mature musicians, you get the idea.
Obviously, no set of 200 cantatas will satisfy you always. But at the current price buying this set is the opposite of a “rookie mistake”. It is a very smart choice.
Highly recommended addition to (or beginning of) your collection.
di Karl Richter, insuperabile esecuzione ma il coro non registrato bene; quella di Harnoncourt Leonhard a volte lagnosa e noiosa ).
Bisogna procurarsi un’altra scatola, questa non va bene perch bisogna tenere i CD orizzontali.
A great bargain of beautiful music. 76 hours of bliss
Rilling’s set is the antithesis of the HIP approach that L&H took. His is a lush orchestral sound, with a very strong choir. His soloists are often excellent, but two things make this one of the last sets I turn to. (I have 6 complete Cantata sets.) First, Rilling’s tempi can be a bit turgid at times; there’s is often too much solemnity and not enough joy. Second, the recording process is weird; there is often a soloist on one channel, an obligato instrument (such as a violin or oboe) on the other channel, and the main orchestra in the center. This is especially annoying on headphones.
Gardiner’s “Bach cantata pilgrimage” set is far superior in so many ways: more energy, more subtlety, better soloists. Suzuki’s soon-to-be-finished-in-a-few-years set on Bis is excellent as well, but sometimes too clean. But I’d take either of them over Rilling any day. At this price, if you’re a fan of the cantatas, it’s a must-have set, but I wouldn’t want this to be the only set one has; Rilling’s approach is too limited for such astounding music.
The box set is simple and “budget” but very well organised. It has 60 cds with the sacred cantatas on red discs and 11 cds with
secular cantatas on blue discs. They have a big number making it very easy to find out what you are looking for. They don’t call cd one, two etc but volume one, two…
volume 69 is formed by cd 1 and 2 so you have 69 volumes but 70 css.
The 72th disc is a cdrom with texts for all songs , a biography and a complete track list. Texts for songs are in German, English, French and Spanish.
I have mac but the cd rom is for windows. Fortunately, it is not a problem because Hnssler also thought about that. All you need to do is to open the cdrom and look for a pdf for macs. You can copy it to your mac
and you will have all texts, biography and track list. I don’t know if the cd rom has content that is accessible only for PCs but it doesn’t really matter because all the important stuff
is available in the pdf for macs.
There are also two booklets, one with an introduction to the set and one with a complete track list, which is reproduced in the cd rom , showing
how more considerate Hnnsler is than bigger companies such as Deutsche Grammophone.
The technical quality of sound and playing seemed very good to me. The performers are German so the singing is more natural and they don’t force
guttural sounds like Gardiner’s British performers do.
Unfortunately I made the mistake of ordering from a seller different from Amazon UK itself and my box set arrived looking like it had a previous owner
so I returned it. I also ordered Harnoncourt and am now in doubt between those two sets and Suzuki’s. Music is not my main “thing”, let’s say, so I
don’t think I will have more than one cantata as some reviewers have. My doubt there is just aesthetical because Suzuki is out of the equation for me as
It is ridiculously expensive now because is out of print. But I am glad that I narrowed cantatas collections down to only three after a personal and thorough research.
Cantatas that I tried but didn’t interest me were Koopman, the one from Brilliant Classics and Gardiner. Gardiner’s cantatas sound like a Broadway show rather than
music “written to exalt the glory of God and to encourage Lutheran worship”.
I am not religious but I see as a cultural dumbing down the conversion of sacred songs to secular ones played liked flashing colourful lights.
I am still searching for other cantatas but it is likely that I will end up choosing Harnoncourt. The technical quality is inferior to other cantatas, especially Gardiner and Suzuki,
but the singing is more convincing, it has more soul. Besides, it uses only male voices, in the way Bach imagined the cantatas. Women’s voices are more beautiful and more “complete” than boy’s voices
but there is a much stronger contrast between women’s and male’s voices than male’s and boys’ voices. Bach, the utmost musician ( although sometimes I think it was Beethoven ), wasn’t in the business of
“one size fits all” so if he wrote the cantatas for males and boys’ voices this is the way I prefer to listen to them.
But Harnoncourt box set is too bare and, unlike this one, doesn’t have secular cantatas or even texts for the songs. The technical quality of sound and the playing of instruments is not as good as in this box set but, to my ears, Harnoncourt offers the
best, more convincing Bach experience. Harnoncourt lacks in technical quality but, I think, it has more soul and emotion than any other cantata that I listened to.
If you don’t care about who is singing (women or boys) and want a better technical quality than Harnoncourt then
this Rilling box set is the best option. Unless you can afford to spend 700 on Suzuki’s cantatas.
P.S. I changed my mind and will order this box set again, even if I end up with two collections of cantatas. I will do that because Hnssler showed a concern for its customers that I don’t see
in giant recording labels such as Universal and Warner or, for that matter, smaller companies such as Harmonia Mundi. Thank you, Hnssler!
I retract an earlier review that I made of this product. Amazon has (promptly) refunded me the import duty/VAT charges imposed by Royal Mail. Five stars to All Your Music who responded to a complaint of mine within a few minutes.Excellent value…less than 1.00 per CD (I had purchased one of the discs about 20 years ago for well over 10…about double that in today`s money).
j’apprcie l’interprtation “traditionnelle” du Chef H Rilling; les voix sonnent justes; l’ensemble est de trs bonne qualit d’aprs les cantates que j’ai coutes (je suis encore loin d’avoir fait le tour du coffret).
Je retrouve avec trs grand plaisir, toutes les facettes du gnie musical de JS BACH dans une interprtation qui me convient. la qualit d’enregistrement et de restitution est bonne dans l’ensemble.
Livret dtaill de chaque cantate sur CD avec version Mac et version Windows.
Un trs beau produit et des heures de plaisir venir.
Returning to the present age for the moment, one notes with some dismay that the consolations of great music do not come without a cost–yes, the cost of intellectual effort, but also financial outlay. And it is on this point that Hnssler-Verlag’s reissue of Rilling’s Cantata Cycle maintains a distinct advantage, whatever it musical merits or vices. With the Secular Cantatas included, along with exhaustive scholarly notes, texts and translations downloadable (and printable) from the CD-Rom included, this is a bargain that no collector can or should resist at the current asking price. Even if you own other other Bach Cantata recordings in abundance, don’t pass this up.
The reason is simply that this is the ONLY complete Bach Cantata cycle performed with modern instruments, ample mixed choirs (not a countertenor among them!, and soloists accomplished in traditional (one may even call it “operatic”) vocal technique. Admittedly, a series of this magnitude, directed by a single conductor, and recorded over a span of at least two decades, will sometimes fall below expectations. But the standard of accomplishment Rilling has achieved here is consistently high. Though some of the earlier recordings are lacking in rhythmic vitality and favor too much legato phrasing, Rilling’s priorities changed perceptibly during the first decade of this project, so that the bulk of these renditions are stylistically aware without being pedantic, energetic without being rushed, expressive without being romanticized. Indeed, if one compares Rilling’s “learning curve” to that of Harnoncourt and Leonhardt in *their* pioneering Bach Cantata series–factoring out, for the moment, differences in performance practice priorities–one notes a conspicuous decline in the latter’s engagement with the music, whereas one observes the opposite trend in Rilling’s cycle. In other words, Harnoncourt/Leonhardt evidently began to lose interest in the project after it was well underway, whereas Rilling’s engagement never faltered, but only became more intense over time.
This is obviously not the place to go into a detailed analysis of Rilling’s performances. I have been familiar with them, and impressed by them, since the days of vinyl discs. Certain works, particularly the more festive ones, have rarely been surpassed for heady exuberance. One of my fellow reviewers cites BWV 129 as a salient example, and I readily concur. The opening chorus of BWV 100 provides another example of Rilling’s ability to convey rapturous joy, and one could also cite the sparkling display of musical fireworks throughout the incomplete, and rarely heard, wedding cantata BWV 195. Rilling also frequently finds the charm in Bach’s writing, particularly in those arias with obbligato winds; the delightful bass aria from BWV 123 provides a good example: the “walking bass” really really swings, with something like a detectable “back-beat,” while the flute solo enchants the ear with its florid passagework. Finally, I would note that at least one cantata–the well-known BWV 78–receives a rendition that is as close to “definitve” as any recorded Bach Cantata I know. The famous duet zips along with enormous brio, and elsewhere the drama and pathos of this multi-diminsional score are perfectly conveyed.
There are, of course, also interpretive misfires. The monumental opening chorus of BWV 102 bogs down into something of a sodden slog, and the four great choral pillars around which BWV 21 is constructed are similarly earthbound. Occasionally, one finds Rilling insensitive to the affect of text and music, as in his brisk, mechanical treatment of the ineffable chorale setting with which BWV 105 concludes. That movement should begin in anxiety, and proceed through rejoicing to inner quietude; in Rilling’s account, it remains boisterous all the way through. I could cite further examples in this vein, but fortunately for prospective purchasers, they are not numerous.
Overall, then, the ratio of successes to failures, both in terms of entire works, and in terms of movements within cantatas, is remarkably high. Of course, that positive outcome has as much to do with the quality of the vocal soloists (Helen Watts Arleen Auger and Phillipe Huttenlocher outstanding among them), choral singing (nice balance, good diction, sometimes too prominent vibrato) and ensemble playing (not quite in the class of Richter’s Munich Bach Orchestra,but expert), as with Rilling’s intelligent and unfussy direction.
What of the recorded sound? Some of the earlier recordings in the series suffer from a rather shallow “soundstage” which, together with some close spotlighting of instrumental and vocal soloists, can create a cramped or harsh effect. Elsewhere, I noticed a persistent artificial-sounding resonance that might prove distracting on repetition. However, sonic imperfections scarcely detract from Rilling’s achievement–the first single conductor to have run the Bach Cantata marathon–and Hnssler’s unbelievably low price tag. As with the other reviewers I can only entreat my readers to obtain this bargain box before it becomes history.
Helmuth Rilling was the first person ever to record all the cantatas. He actually didn’t set out with this in mind, but it sort of worked out that way. The whole thing took over 20 years to do, and the later performances were more informed by the growing knowledge of and interest in period performance. Nevertheless, these are played on modern instruments with a choir with female singers and using female soloists (including Arleen Auger, who sang in many of them). This, of course, will not appeal to folk who like “authentic” performance, but the fact of the matter is that we can never have truly authentic performance, and it’s a delusion to think otherwise. In any case, I have always thought that Bach is music for eternity, to be played in the spirit in which it is written, and not confined to a musical straitjacket.
Rilling was a great Bachian, and this set is outstandingly musical, an absolute joy. I personally regard some of these cantatas to be the best versions available anywhere – ones that come to mind are BWV129, BWV90 and BWV148. The others are also all splendid. They are different from my other sets (complete Gardiner and Leusink, and various Koopman, Suzuki, Werner and Harnoncourt), but every bit as enjoyable. And at this price they’re a bargain. If I didn’t already have them all, I’d snap this up. Go snapping.