"For newcomer to the Bach-cantata canon, Koopman's series, which features a generally top-notch array of solo singers, ome of the world's best Baroque instrumentalists, and a superb chorus, coupled with crisp, clearly articulated performances, richly colored orchestral timbre, and intelligently, affectingly moderated tempos and expressive effects, is a perfect placeto begin." - ClassicsToday Most of the cantatas in this last issue of Bach’s complete cantatas were composed between 1730 and 1740. This volume contains—among others—the famous cantata "Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme" BWV 140, with the famous chorale "Zion hört die Wächter singen". Ton Koopman and his choir and orchestra continue to uphold a standard of tremendous vividness and joy in their immaculate performances of Bach’s... Less

The cantatas of Vol. 20 combine the concluding items from the "Picander" year of 1728-29 with a series of cantatas from the first half of the 1730s. A special feature is inclusion of a hitherto unknown sacred work from Bach’s Weimar period, now assigned the BWV number 1127. The acclaimed series of complete Bach cantatas with The Amsterdam Baroque conducted by Ton Koopman, originally begun on the now-defunct Erato label, has been revived by Challenge Classics. This is the latest volume in the acclaimed re-packaging of the complete Bach Cantata Series on Challenge Classics. Includes 84-page booklet with extensive documentation and complete texts of the cantatas in German, English and French. Ton Koopman and his choir and orchestra continue to uphold a standard of tremendous vividness... Less

Release Date: 2001-11-13, Audio CD, Harmonia Mundi Fr.

Release Date: 2006-04-04, Audio CD, Brilliant Classics

Release Date: 2004-02-10, Audio CD, EMI Classics

This musical release from Bachchor Mainz, Dorothee Mields, and L'Arpa Festante with conductor Ralf Otto captures a live performance of the rediscovered Cantatas of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, recorded at the Augustinerkirche, Mainz on June 1st, 2010.

Release Date: 2001-07-10, Audio CD, Harmonia Mundi Fr.

hänssler CLASSIC is proud to present Helmuth Rilling's landmarkrecording of the complete Bach Cantatas in a new, specially- pricecollector's edition. Rilling was the first conductor to ever record thecomplete Bach cantatas and still, 25 years after they were firstreleased in celebration of the Bach tercentennial in 1985, theyremain the standard by which all other interpretations are judged.Timeless performances featuring many of Europe's finest singers atthe height of their careers!An attractive new display box with complete documentation andinteractive CD ROM containing complete booklet notes and texts isincluded!

Release Date: 2004-01-20, Audio CD, Naive

What is it about Bach cantatas and the millennium? For years after the landmark Harnoncourt- Leonhardt series from the early 1980s, none of the big-name period- instrument conductors (or their record labels) were inclined to tackle all 200-plus Bach cantatas. Then three complete sets started appearing in the late '90s--conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (the entire series to be issued in 2000), Ton Koopman (well under way), and proverbial dark horse Masaaki Suzuki. He and his Bach Collegium Japan got off to a less-than-flashy start with volume 1 but have gone from strength to strength since then: vol. 7 and vol. 8 are superb; vol. 6 is positively exhilarating. Volume 9 is just as impressive-- especially the exultant Cantata No. 76, Die Himmel erzählen, featuring an extensive... Less

A work-by-work commentary on the Bach cantatas by one of the world's most famous Bach scholars, now available in English and in paperback for the first time. It includes all the cantata libretti in German-English parallel text. An indispensable reference book for anyone listening to, performing, or studying any of the Bach cantatas.

This volume contains parallel texts and translations of all Bach's church and secular cantatas that have come down to us complete. They have been translated into an accurate and readable English style that does not attempt to render the rhythm and rhyme scheme of the original German texts but allows the reader to appreciate the beauty and atmosphere of the poetry set by Bach. The volume also includes a short glossary of geographical and mythological names, a list of dedicatees of the secular cantatas, a list of the poets with their dates, and an introduction to the cantatas by Martin Neary, former organist of Winchester Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. This corrected and revised printing incorporates a number of corrections to the text and a new alphabetical index of the cantatas by title.

Release Date: 2002-12-23, Audio CD, Angel Records

What type of choir did Bach have in mind as he created his cantatas, Passions and Masses? How many singers were at his disposal in Leipzig, and in what ways did he deploy them in his own music?Seeking to understand the very medium of Bach's incomparable choral output, Andrew Parrott investigates a wide range of sources: Bach's own writings, and the scores and parts he used in performance, but also a variety of theoretical, pictorial and archival documents, together with the musical testimony of the composer's forerunners and contemporaries. Many of the findings shed a surprising, even disturbing, light on conventions we have long taken for granted. A whole world away from, say, the typical oratorio choir of Handel's London with which we are reasonably familiar, the essential Bach choir... Less

Release Date: 2004-06-08, Audio CD, Challenge Classics

Release Date: 2005-10-11, Audio CD, Challenge Classics

Release Date: 2006-11-14, Audio CD, Challenge Classics

SDG is delighted to presentVolume 12 - Cantatas for thetwenty-second and twenty- thirdSundays after trinity.The highlight of this album isWachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme(Sleepers, wake) one of Bach'sbest known cantatas and one thathas long been part of theMonteverdi Choir's repertoire. It isdescribed as 'a cantata withoutweaknesses , without a dull bar,technically, emotionally andspiritually of the highest order'.Ich armer Mensch, ichSündenknecht (I, wretched man, Islave to sin) is Bach's only cantatafor solo tenor still in existence. It issung movingly by James Gilchrist.

John Eliot Gardiner's original Millennium Bach Cantata Pilgrimage plan involved weekly Deutsche Grammophon recordings of all the concerts, but the plan did not prove practical. This CD of Bach's Ascension Day cantatas dates from 1993 and 1999. The pride of the disc is BWV 11: The opening chorus is an adrenaline fix of blazing, suitably ascending motifs led by studio- immaculate baroque trumpets. Thereafter, the mood changes. The alto aria "Ach bleibe" (actually the great Agnus Dei from the Mass in B Minor) is, in countertenor Michael Chance's silky throat (1993 model), a poignant, drooping song of sorrow for the departed Lord. Chance's 1993 fellow soloists are Nancy Argenta, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, and Stephen Varcoe. They sing BWV 43 (Gott fähret auf) and BWV37 (Wer da gläubet) with clear... Less

Release Date: 1994-12-20, Audio CD, Teldec

Release Date: 2011-05-24, Audio CD, Universal Japan

Release Date: 2009-04-14, Audio CD, SDG - Soli Deo Gloria