Another entry in Harmonia Mundi’s ongoing Bach Edition, this recording from 1993 exemplifies both the consistently high standard of performance we’ve come to expect from Philippe Herreweghe and his Collegium Vocale and the astonishing musical variety and emotional/spiritual depth of Bach’s vocal works. As usual in this series, the program reflects a theme, in this case the feast of Ascension, for which Bach wrote what proved to be his final oratorio (improperly catalogued as a cantata in the original edition of Bach’s works) and at least three cantatas. The oratorio contains both original music and, as has recently been shown, several movements taken from cantatas no longer extant. It’s a compelling and inexplicably underperformed work, far shorter than Bach’s other oratorios, complete with some terrific orchestral music, two wonderful festive choruses, a tenor Evangelist narrator, a charming little duet for tenor and bass, and arias for soprano and alto.
The rest of the program contains two cantatas composed for Ascension-tide. The choral and instrumental performance and the spacious sound perfectly captures the expansive exuberance of BWV 43’s opening chorus, while alto Catherine Patriasz’s bittersweet, richly colored renditions of her arias in BWV 44 and in the oratorio highlight the recording’s vocal solos. Soprano Barbara Schlick doesn’t seem in her best form here–somewhat shaky of pitch and tentative in places–but the orchestra beautifully expresses its happy, energetic accompaniment in her very tricky aria “Es ist und bleibt der Christen Trost”. And the orchestra really does shine throughout this recording. You find yourself paying more than usual attention to it during choral sections, such as the opening to the oratorio–which is as ideal an integration of all aspects of performance as you can expect to hear. Buy this for the oratorio, but you will be glad to have the two rarely performed and even more rarely recorded cantatas as well.
