Bach: Cantatas Bwv 3/ 65/ 72

This is volume 3 in a superb series of Bach cantata recordings covering works written for the principal church festivals of the year - in this case Epiphany, and bringing us Cantatas BWV 3, 65 and 72. These are live recordings from Bach's own church in Leipzig, by the choir of the Thomaskirche and the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester directed by the excellent Thomaskantor Georg Christoph Biller. According to the booklet notes there are ten discs in the series in all, of which most have now appeared with, at the time of writing, just a couple more still to come. I've already written reviews for some of these, so I hope readers will forgive repetition of the explanatory information contained in these first two paragraphs.The volumes I've heard so far in this Leipzig series have been absolutely splendid, and this present one is no exception. These are spirited, forthright, engaging performances - not strictly in the historically-informed style which has become common in recent years with period instruments, and in some cases one voice per part in the choruses, as in recordings from such as Kuijken, Rifkin and, to some extent, Suzuki and Gardiner. Rather these Leipzig recordings are somewhat closer to the traditional manner formerly exemplified by the likes of Günther Ramin, Karl Ristenpart, Fritz Lehmann, Kurt Thomas or, a little later, Karl Richter - but with many differences too, as will be seen. Having said that, in addition to modern recording quality, the performances in the present series bring their own brand of authenticity, based as they are on the illustrious Leipzig tradition, greatly enhanced by the fine and superbly trained voices of the boys' choir of St. Thomas's and, of course, by the splendid Gewandhaus Orchestra. The solo arias for upper voices are taken by boy trebles and altos, with only the occasional slight lapse in tuning more than compensated by lovely tone and expressive sincerity.Starting with BWV 65, "Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen", the rich scoring of the eponymous chorus makes a splendid opening to this trio of cantatas. Corni da caccia, flutes, oboes and all the rest sound absolutely superb, as do the Thomanerchor. Bass Gotthold Schwarz is excellent in his aria "Gold aus Ophir", and the tenor aria "Nimm mich dir" again gets glorious support from the pair of corni da caccia.The short Latin hymn separating the main works is followed by the chorale cantata BWV 3, "Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid". Its deeply contemplative opening chorus, in motet style with solemn instrumental accompaniment, sounds especially fine in this performance. But the highlight of this work, and for me of the whole disc, is the soprano/alto duet "Wenn Sorgen auf mich dringen" (track 13). This extended piece is quite beautifully sung here by boy treble Conrad Zuber and boy alto Martin Deckelmann, both of the Thomanerchor. Their very lovely performance is enhanced by sensitive instrumental support and an ideally sprightly tempo, and altogether this rendering of Bach's duet is an absolute delight. The disc ends with a fine version of the chorale cantata BWV 72, "Alles nur nach Gottes Willen". Especially effective is the alto aria "Mit allem, was ich hab und bin" (18), this time from the equally excellent Thomaner boy alto Stefan Kahle and a lovely, elaborate two-violin accompaniment.Once again, then, these are outstanding performances of these three cantatas, with uniformly excellent solo singing and instrumental work and with the very great asset of Leipzig's superb Thomanerchor. The use of boy singers, both for chorus and solo work, brings especially handsome rewards on this disc. These are forthright, natural-sounding performances of Bach's music, entirely without distracting gimmicks but delivered with sincerity, devotion and outstanding skill and musicality throughout. They're also beautifully recorded in the fine Thomaskirche acoustic, and all texts and translations are provided in the CD booklet. I've greatly appreciated all the discs I've heard so far in this series on the German Rondeau label, such as the cantatas for the Reformation, Marian Feasts and Pentecost. Those volumes that are not listed by Amazon here are easily found and sampled at amazon.de and other European mail order sources, or obtained from the label's own website.P.S. Since this review is already long enough, I've confined a few additional comments on a related matter to the Comments section below; hence the title above.

Part of a complete series with Biller conducting.Practically anything by this choir is good.Anything conducted by Biller, a very demanding Thomas Cantor, is good, bordering on excellent.