Track Listing

1. Mass in B minor BWV 232 - Qui sedes
2. Mass in B minor BWV 232 - Agnus Dei
3. St. John Passion BWV 245 - "Von den Stricken"
4. St. John Passion BWV 245 - "Es ist Vollbracht"
5. St. Matthew Passion BWV 244 - "Du lieber Heiland du... Buss' und Reu'"
6. St. Matthew Passion BWV 244 - "Du lieber Heiland du... Buss' und Reu'"
7. St. Matthew Passion BWV 244 - "Erbarme dich"
8. St. Matthew Passion BWV 244 - "Erbarm'es Gott!... Können Tränen"
9. . St. Matthew Passion BWV 244 - "Erbarm'es Gott!... Können Tränen"
10. Cantata "Ich habe genug" BWV 82a - "Ich habe Genug"
11. Cantata "Ich habe genug" BWV 82a - "Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen"
12. Cantata "Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust" BWV 170 - "Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust"
13. Cantata "Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd!" BWV 208 - "Schafe können sicher weiden"

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10564 in Music
• Released on: 2008-08-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .24 pounds
• Running time: 67 minutes

Customer Reviews

A glorious celebration of a singer's and composer's art
This is a long-awaited Bach disc from David Daniels. We are more accustomed to having him sing heroic Handel operatic roles, branch out into American folk songs, or even into Berlioz, but somehow it was inevitable that he would end up recording the Bach arias he has often sung in concert performances of the Passions, the B Minor Mass or Cantatas. And what a disc it has turned out to be. I had never heard him sing Bach before so this disc was a revelation to me. Andreas Scholl has received notable and deserved praise for the purity of his tone and somewhat restrained [Church] interpretation of Bach cantatas for alto, but Daniels' performances here are a different animal, as you would expect from an experienced operatic singer. But these are not vocal fireworks for the sake of it, far from it: just as sensitive to the texts as Scholl, Daniels somehow draws you into the melodic lines with dramatic intensity, carefully colouring the vocal line with shades of light and dark, accenting certain words in a way that some countertenors would have hammed up. His voice has lost the luscious soprano tone of his earlier recordings, but he has gained so much more in many ways in the lower and middle reaches of his voice, and his ability to float the line and long-held note is gorgeous. Daniels believes every word he is singing, his interpretation almost making you feel that you are the one singing the words. For him the Word is made flesh.

Inevitably, one picks out highlights in a disc such as this. Daniels' singing of two movements from Ich Habe Genug - Ich Habe Genug and Schlummert Ein - are worth the price alone, and his Erbarme Dich from the St John Passion is heart-rending. I had not, until listening to this disc, really felt all that much affinity with the Bach Cantatas or Passions, but Daniels has won this listener over with his careful caressing of every phrase. He has revealed greater depths in this music than I have heard from other countertenors or contraltos singing this repertoire, and there cannot be any greater praise for an instinctive and under-rated interpreter than that.