Track Listing

1. Aria - Ich Habe Genug
2. Recitativo - Ich Habe Genug
3. Aria - Schlummert Ein, Ihr Matten Augen
4. Mein Gott! Wann Kommt Das Schone: Non!
5. Aria - Ich Freue Mich Auf Meinen Tod
6. Sinfonia
7. Recitativo - Es Will Der Hochste Sich Ein Siegsgesprang...
8. Aria - Ja Tausend Mal Tausend Begleiten Den Wagen
9. Aria - Ich Armer Mensch, Ich Sundenknecht
10. Recitativo - Ich Habe Wider Gott Gehandelt
11. Aria - Erbarme Dich! Lass Die Tranen
12. Recitativo - Erbarme Dich!
13. Chor - Bin Ich Gleich Von Dir Gewichen
14. Sinfonia
15. Aria - Der Ewigkeit Saphirnes Haus
16. Aria - Sanfte Soll Mein Todeskummer
17. Recitativo - Dies Hat Gott Klar
18. Aria - Des Vaters Stimme Lies Sich Horen
19. Aria - Gott Ist Mein Freund
20. Sinfonia

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49646 in Music
• Released on: 2000-10-02
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 68 minutes

Customer Reviews

Divine Bach
Ian Bostridge with Europa Galante was one of the highlights of this year's BBC Proms, and this disc continues their fruitful partnership. It also demonstrates Bostridge's growing range and confidence as a recording artist. Much of this music was not originally set for the tenor voice; but Bach was never too precious about re-arranging his work, and surely the sheer brio of Bostridge's singing would delight him. "Gott ist mein Freund" displays a warm lower register; in "Ich habe genug" the drama of the words is matched by some well-controlled poignancy in the voice; the recitatives are as nimble as ever.

And Bostridge is well-served by Europa Galante's light and deft ensemble playing. This was never going to be a poor record, but they raise it above the realms of the ordinarily good. If the religious feelings expressed in the original pietist texts are not shared by the players, they produce a marvellous simulation: the whole performance has the intensity of religious experience.

Perhaps, after all the celebrations of this year, the last thing people want to hear is more Bach; but anyone who loves music should buy this record.

TOWARDS THE HEREAFTER
There is a very interesting and thoughtful essay accompanying this disc, by Michel Roubinet and quite superbly translated into genuine English by Hugh Graham. In it the author draws attention to some aspects of the pietist tradition of Lutheranism, in particular its strong emphasis on the worshipper as an individual, and even more particularly the recurring theme of death as the gateway to each individual's final fulfilment. This was the spirit of much of the poetry that Bach set in his cantatas, and it must have been to a great extent the particular strain of belief that underlay the transcendental musical inspiration of Bach himself. Bach knew love and he knew grief and he believed both to be God's dispensation. He knew his own talent, he believed that to be God's gift, and he worked to perfect it with an industry that would have been astonishing in someone who had far more perfecting to do. The spirit of his music is introspective, but it seems to me completely untouched by guilt or fear. Bach's talent, unlike Milton's, was not death to hide because for him death held no terrors.

A review of this recital in a Sunday newspaper was phrased in such extravagant terms of praise that I noted it as something to acquire. I am relieved to calculate that this review can only have been five years ago, so long does it seem that I have been failing to do anything about it, but the name of Ian Bostridge registered firmly with me, and I now own the disc with a good idea, obtained in the intervening period, of why the original reviewer was so impressed. Bostridge is not only highly accomplished, he has an exceptional voice in the first place. It is what I think of as a 'true' tenor, as opposed to the 'mezzo-tenor' timbre of Schreier or Padmore. In spite of this Bostridge has a quite remarkable low register, something that he needs frequently in Bach and nowhere more on this disc than in Ich Habe Genug, where he adapts the soprano version and shows his self-assurance by leading off with it. There is more than an hour's music here, it is all music of much the same type, but between composer and interpreters the experience was over in no time. Bostridge seems to me to hit the right expression in every piece without exception, and he is admirably offset by the Europa Galante group, not just the instrumentalists but also the three singers who perform the final chorale in Ich Armer Mensch.

In addition to the arias, recitatives and the one chorus, there are three short instrumental numbers, the disc being rounded off with a sinfonia from the Peasant Cantata, providing an unexpected and pleasant contrast to the unrelieved devoutness of the rest of it. The recorded tone is admirable, and the liner-note is of real value. Apart from anything else, the translation by Hugh Graham puts his fellow practitioners to shame. If you read the note in English without realising it is a translation, as I did, you would never know, or at least I never suspected.

I suppose it is slightly unusual for a young artist to introduce himself with an exhibition disc consisting entirely of music that is not only great but deeply serious and even solemn as well. However one of the most extraordinary things about Bach is just how strong his appeal has always been and always looks like being. The technical difficulty of his music that once seemed formidable seems so no longer, and in some ways he is easier to interpret successfully than most composers of similar stature. That does not detract in the slightest from what Bostridge has achieved here, and I would suggest that admirers of both great music and great singing would do well to be less dilatory about obtaining this disc than I was.

AN ELEGIAC TREAT
Bostridge impresses again with his peerless dovetailing of musical intelligence with controlled emotionalism in these Bach cantatas. The cantatas and arias on this disc were mainly written for performance during Holy Week, and consequently share a measured, elegiac mood that is most attractive to listen to right through, especially on a damp Sunday afternoon! There is a compelling sense of unity of intention to Bostridge and Europe Galante's admiral performances, and I heartily concur with the above reviewer also that 'Gott ist mein fruende' is one of the high points of this CD - an infectiously joyous declaration of simple faith, delivered with power and mastery, and once again demonstrating Ian Bostridge's typically involved sense of total musical conviction. Verdict: sublime.