Bach: Nine Sacred Cantatas

Release Date: 9th Mar 2018
Catalogue No: ELQ4827642
Label: Eloquence
Length: 3 hours 45 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Bach, J S: Cantata BWV1 'Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern'

Work length25:41

Herman Schey (bass), Gunthild Weber (soprano), Helmut Krebs (tenor)
Berliner Philharmoniker, Berlin Motet Choir
Fritz Lehmann
Recorded: 1952-06-10
Recording Venue: Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin

1. (Coro): Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern

Track length10:39

2. Recitativo: Du wahrer Gott und Marien Sohn

Track length1:02

3. Aria: Erfüllet, ihr himmlischen göttlichen Flammen

Track length4:43

4. Recitativo: Ein ird'scher Glanz, ein leiblich Licht

Track length1:00

5. Aria: Unser Mund und Ton der Saiten

Track length6:44

6. Choral: Wie bin ich doch so herzlich froh

Track length1:33

Bach, J S: Cantata BWV4 'Christ lag in Todesbanden' (Easter Cantata)

Work length25:29

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Maria Jung (organ), Helmut Krebs (tenor)
Bach Festival Orchestra 1950, Chor der Staatlichen Hochschule für Musik, Frankfurt am Main
Fritz Lehmann
Recorded: 1950-07-31
Recording Venue: Johanniskirche, Göttingen

1. Sinfonia

Track length1:17

2. Versus 1: "Christ lag in Todesbanden"

Track length5:49

3. Versus 2: "Den Tod niemand zwingen kunnt"

Track length4:31

4. Versus 3: "Jesus Christus, Gottes Sohn"

Track length2:21

5. Versus 4: "Es war ein wunderlicher Krieg"

Track length3:05

6. Versus 5: "Hier ist das rechte Osterlamm"

Track length4:21

7. Versus 6: "So feiern wir das hohe Fest"

Track length2:34

8. Versus 7: "Wir essen und wir leben wohl"

Track length1:31

Bach, J S: Es erhub sich ein Streit Cantata, BWV 19

Work length21:10

Gunthild Weber (soprano), Helmut Krebs (tenor), Herman Schey (bass)
Berliner Philharmoniker, Berliner Motettenchor
Fritz Lehmann
Recorded: 1952-06-09
Recording Venue: Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin

1. Chor: Es erhub sich ein Streit

Track length5:02

2. Rezitativ: Gottlob! Der Drache liegt

Track length1:10

3. Arie, Sopran: Gott schickt uns

Track length4:26

4. Rezitativ: Was ist der schnöde Mensch

Track length0:50

5. Arie, Tenor: Bleibt ihr Engel

Track length7:42

6. Rezitativ: Laßt uns das Angesicht

Track length0:38

7. Chor: Laß dein Engel mit mir fahren

Track length1:22

Bach, J S: Cantata BWV21 'Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis'

Work length42:59

Karl Steins (oboe), Gunthild Weber (soprano), Lore Fischer (alto), Herman Schey (bass), Helmut Krebs (tenor)
Berliner Philharmoniker, Berliner Motettenchor
Fritz Lehmann
Recorded: 1952-06-11
Recording Venue: Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin

Sinfonia

Track length3:10

2. Chor: Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis

Track length3:51

3. Arie: Seufzer, Tränen, Kummer, Not

Track length4:28

4. Rec: Wie hast du dich, mein Gott

Track length1:42

5. Arie: Bäche von gesalznen Zähren

Track length6:28

6. Chor: Was betrübst du dich, meine Seele

Track length4:09

7. Rec: Ach Jesu, meine Ruh, mein Licht

Track length1:44

8. Duett: Komm, mein Jesu, und erquicke

Track length4:23

9. Chor und Choral: Sei nun wieder zufrieden

Track length6:36

10. Arie: Erfreue dich, Seele

Track length3:00

11. Chor: Das Lamm, das erwürget ist

Track length3:28

Bach, J S: Cantata BWV79 'Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild'

Work length16:47

Gunthild Weber (soprano), Lore Fischer (alto), Herman Schey (bass)
Berliner Philharmoniker, Berliner Motettenchor
Fritz Lehmann
Recorded: 1952-06-13
Recording Venue: Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin

1. Chor: Gott der Herr ist Sonn' und Schild

Track length5:10

2. Arie, Alt: Gott ist unsere Sonn'

Track length3:37

3. Choral: Nun danket alle Gott

Track length2:19

4. Rezitativ: Gott Lob, wir wissen

Track length1:09

5. Duett, Sopran und Bass: Gott, ach Gott, verlaß die Deinen nimmermehr

Track length3:39

6. Choral: Erhalt uns in der Wahrheit

Track length0:53

Hoffmann, G M: Meine Seele rühmt und preist

Work length16:52

Renate Noll (cembalo), Walther Ludwig (tenor), Hermann Töttcher (oboe), Gustav Scheck (flute), Ilse Brix-Meinert (violin)
Fritz Lehmann
Recorded: 1951-08-03
Recording Venue: Bavaria-Filmateliers, Halle 4, München

1. Aria: Meine Seele rühmt und preist

Track length7:05

2. Recitative: Denn seh' ich mich und auch mein Leben an

Track length1:31

3. Aria: Gott hat sich hoch gesetzet

Track length3:33

4. Recitative: O wass vor grosse Dinge treff ich an allen Orten an

Track length1:25

5. Aria: Deine Güte, dein Erbarmen

Track length3:18

Bach, J S: Cantata BWV39 'Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot'

Work length25:24

Herman Schey (bass), Lore Fischer (alto), Gunthild Weber (soprano)
Berliner Philharmoniker, Berliner Motettenchor
Fritz Lehmann
Recorded: 1952-06-12
Recording Venue: Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin

1. Chor: Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot

Track length8:57

2. Rec: Der reiche Gott wirft seinen Überfluss auf uns

Track length1:36

3. Arie: Seinem Schöpfer noch auf Erden

Track length4:24

4. Arie: Wohlzutun und mitzuteilen Gottes Sohn

Track length3:00

5. Arie: Höchster, was ich habe

Track length3:28

6. Rec: Wie soll ich dir, o Herr

Track length2:10

7. Choral: Selig sind, die aus Erbarmen

Track length1:49

Bach, J S: Cantata BWV105 'Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht'

Work length28:37

Gunthild Weber (soprano), Herman Schey (bass), Helmut Krebs (tenor), Lore Fischer (alto)
Berliner Philharmoniker, Berliner Motettenchor
Fritz Lehmann
Recorded: 1952-06-15
Recording Venue: Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin

1. Chorus: "Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht"

Track length6:42

2. Recit: "Mein Gott, verwirf mich nicht"

Track length1:02

3. Aria: "Wie zittern und wanken"

Track length7:40

4. Recit: "Wohl aber dem, der seinen Bürgen weiss"

Track length2:28

5. Aria: "Kann ich nur Jesum mir zum Freunde machen"

Track length7:40

6. Chorale: Nun, ich weiss, du wirst mir stillen"

Track length3:05

Bach, J S: Cantata BWV170 'Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust'

Work length22:34

Elisabeth Höngen (alto), Heinz Schnauffer (organ)
Bayerisches Staatsopernorchester
Fritz Lehmann
Recorded: 1951-10-24
Recording Venue: Amerikahaus, Theatersaal, Munich

1. Aria: Vergnügte Ruh', beliebte Seelenlust

Track length7:44

2. Die Welt, das Sündenhaus

Track length1:35

3. Aria: Wie jammern mich doch die verkehrten Herzen

Track length6:53

4. Rec.: Wer sollte sich demnach wohl hier

Track length1:19

5. Aria: Mir ekelt mehr zu leben

Track length5:03

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The complete cantata recordings of a Bach conductor who defined performance standards of these works in his day, newly remastered and compiled together for the first time on CD. In the generation of Bach interpreters before Karl Richter who brought his cantatas to an international audience, the name of Fritz Lehmann stands out: and indeed might still have eclipsed Richter but for his early death in 1956, at the age of just 51 and significantly just before the stereo era would move recorded music into a new era. Lehmann’s recorded legacy is nonetheless significant on its own terms, made mostly for Deutsche Grammophon and encompassing the Brahms’s German Requiem, and a Christmas Oratorio which he was recording at the time of his death, completed by Günther Arndt and now reissued by Eloquence (4827637).

Of even greater historical significance, however, was the sequence of cantata recordings which he had made between 1950 and 1952 for DG’s then-new Archiv imprint of early and Baroque music. Listening in particular to the sonorous and noble solo singing in particular, few would claim these recordings to accord with ‘historically informed’ principles of performance as we understand them, but only the most doctrinaire of listeners will resist the many charms of Lehmann’s approach. The Berlin Motettenchor is a superbly disciplined vocal ensemble of evidently young voices, and from the ranks of the Berliner Philharmoniker come obbligato instrumental solos of an eloquence still to rival any recording in the catalogue (such as the oboist accompanying Gunthild Weber in the heart-stopping aria ‘Wie zittern und Wanken’ from BWV 105, Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht). Lehmann’s choice of cantatas is also notably judicious: every single one of the works here finds Bach on inspired form, while avoiding the well-trodden territory of Wachet auf or Ich habe genug. There is the youthful Christ lag in Todesbanden, which Bach returned to throughout his career; then Ich hatte viel Bekummernis, perhaps his earliest extended masterpiece in any form; and mature Leipzig-era works of still-breathtaking ingenuity and beauty such as Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern and Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht. ‘Fritz Lehmann adopts a slower tempo [than Mogens Woldike], which I personally prefer, and gives, in general, a more sensitive and imaginative treatment of this beautiful cantata.’ (BWV 105) Gramophone, May 1978

‘Listening to Fritz Lehmann's performances today I am struck by his perceptive choice of tempi which, although often tending towards the slow, are generally effective and are kept alive by the rhythmic pulse of his direction … In each of these works Lehmann captures its spirit and its individual imagery with perception and refinement.’ Early Music, July 1978

Bach: Nine Sacred Cantatas

3 CDs

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