Emma Kirkby, Michael Chance, Charles Daniels, Peter Harvey, Purcell Quartet - Bach: Weimar Cantatas (Early Cantatas, Volume 2) (2007) [Hi-Res]

When recording Bach's 199 sacred cantatas, various strategies have been employed to impose meaningful order on them. There's the "everything from BWV 1 to BWV 199" approach, the "everything in the church year" approach, and the less frequently employed "everything in chronological order" approach, adopted here by the Purcell Quartet. In this the second volume in the series, the four works come from Bach's Weimar period, specifically from 1714 and 1715: Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12 (Weeping, sighing, sorrowing, crying); Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18 (For as the rain and snow fall down from heaven); Nun Komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61 (Now come, the heathen's Savior); and Komm, du süsse Todesstunde, BWV 161 (Come, sweet hour of my death). As so often with Bach's sacred cantatas, the predominant mood is dark and gloomy, even morbid. But the performances themselves, while fully sympathetic to the text, the music and the mood, are essentially light, clear, even ultimately life-affirming. Part of this is due to the stylish singing by the four soloists who also double as the one-voice-to-a-part chorus -- counter-tenor Michael Chance, tenor Charles Daniels, bass Peter Harvey, and sublime soprano Emma Kirkby. Part of this is due to the expert playing by the Purcell Quartet -- violinists Catherine Mackintosh and Catherine Weiss, cellist Richard Boothby, and organist Robert Woolley -- plus the additional eight musicians, particularly clarion trumpeter David Blackadder. But most of this is due to the music, which, despite its weeping, sighing, and longing for death, cannot help but affirm the primacy of hope and joy in its final choruses. As in the previous volume in this series, Chandos' sound is close, clean, warm, and deep. ~ James Leonard