Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin – Bach: Dialogkantaten BWV 32 49 & 57 (2018) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Exquisite dialogue The church cantata very quickly came to occupy a privileged place in Bach’s output, but it was in his Leipzig period that he explored new stylistic possibilities for the genre in several cycles. The third of these, mostly scored for relatively small forces, features in these Dialogkantaten three fine examples of the ‘madrigalian’ type: in their arias, recitatives and chorales, the composer deploys a poetry that does not exclude audacity and an eloquence worthy of opera. These fervent musical conversations are here conducted con brio thanks to the rapport between two singers as moving as they are inspired.

Bach’s “Dialogue Cantatas” generally portrayed Jesus in dialogue with the human soul, first tormented and then at peace. The three cantatas selected here by Berlin’s Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, which has, over the years since 1982 (with over a million records sold!) brought together musicians from the city’s different orchestras – first those under Soviet rule and then all orchestras following the fall of the Wall – are a part of this genre; all date from the great Leipzig period, specifically the third cycle written by Bach for Leipzig in 1726. It will come as no surprise, hearing these cantatas, that the essence of the first arias is desperate, heart-rending: and as they go on, they move towards relief and joy. It is in these first moments that we see Bach at his most intense, most pained, most chromatic, terribly modern as well as at his most romantic, profoundly lyrical and yet rigorous in the musical discourse. The most superbly original piece is surely the Cantata BWV 49, which begins with a Sinfoniawith obbligato organ – in which the listener will recognise the final movement of the Harpsichord Concerto in E Major, when Bach recycled it a dozen years later – and continues with an aria with cello and oboe, both soloists immersed in the soprano’s joyous voice; and we finish on a magnificent chorale with an aria – the aria being for the bass of the solo organ, while the soprano part sings the chorale’s theme from on high: a staggering display of modernity.

Tracklist:
01. Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen, BWV 32 : I. Aria “Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen”Sophie Karthäuser 05:14
02. Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen, BWV 32 : II. Recitativo “Was ists, dass du mich gesuchet?”Michael Volle 00:21
03. Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen, BWV 32 : III. Aria “Hier, in meines Vaters Stätte”Michael Volle 06:50
04. Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen, BWV 32 : IV. Recitativo “Ach! heiliger und großer Gott”Sophie Karthäuser 02:00
05. Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen, BWV 32 : V. Aria ” Nun verschwinden alle Plagen”Sophie Karthäuser 05:17
06. Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen, BWV 32 : VI. Choral ” Mein Gott, öffne mir die Pforten”Members of RIAS Kammerchor 01:06
07. Selig ist der Mann, BWV 57 : I. Aria “Selig ist der Mann”Michael Volle 03:28
08. Selig ist der Mann, BWV 57 : II. Recitativo “Ach! dieser süße Trost”Sophie Karthäuser 01:05
09. Selig ist der Mann, BWV 57 : III. Aria “Ich wünschte mir den Tod”Sophie Karthäuser 04:15
10. Selig ist der Mann, BWV 57 : IV. Recitativo “Ich reiche dir die Hand”Sophie Karthäuser 00:21
11. Selig ist der Mann, BWV 57 : V. Aria “Ja, ja, ich kann die Feinde schlagen”Michael Volle 05:07
12. Selig ist der Mann, BWV 57 : VI. Recitativo “In meiner Schoß liegt Ruh un Leben”Sophie Karthäuser 01:11
13. Selig ist der Mann, BWV 57 : VII. Aria “Ich ende behende mein irdisches Leben”Sophie Karthäuser 04:00
14. Selig ist der Mann, BWV 57 : VIII. Choral “Richte dich, Liebste”Members of RIAS Kammerchor 00:47
15. Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen, BWV 49 : I. SinfoniaAkademie für Alte Musik Berlin 06:24
16. Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen, BWV 49 : II. Aria “Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen”Michael Volle 05:21
17. Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen, BWV 49 : III. Recitativo “Mein Mahl ist zubereit”Sophie Karthäuser 01:40
18. Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen, BWV 49 : IV. Aria ” Ich bin herrlich, ich bin schön”Sophie Karthäuser 04:19
19. Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen, BWV 49 : V. Recitativo ” Mein Glaube hat mich selbst so angezogen”Sophie Karthäuser 01:16
20. Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen, BWV 49 : VI. Aria & Choral “Dich hab ich je und je geliebet”Sophie Karthäuser 04:24