Cantata No. 134, "Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiss," BWV 134 (BC A59)
Cantata No. 54, "Widerstehe doch der Sünde," BWV 54 (BC A51)
These performances of Bach cantatas for the seventh and ninth Sundays after Trinity, the third day of Easter, and perhaps the third Sunday in Lent are part of a series by La Petite Bande and its leader Sigiswald Kuijken, performing Bach cantatas covering the entire liturgical year. They are in the fashionable one-voice-per-part style, perfect for groups aiming to avoid strenuous fundraising rigors. Others may find it unsatisfactory, and certainly the fact that cantatas were performed this way in churches in the 18th century ...
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These performances of Bach cantatas for the seventh and ninth Sundays after Trinity, the third day of Easter, and perhaps the third Sunday in Lent are part of a series by La Petite Bande and its leader Sigiswald Kuijken, performing Bach cantatas covering the entire liturgical year. They are in the fashionable one-voice-per-part style, perfect for groups aiming to avoid strenuous fundraising rigors. Others may find it unsatisfactory, and certainly the fact that cantatas were performed this way in churches in the 18th century, whose economic realities were nothing like our own, says little about how they were intended. Be that as it may, there are worse ways to try out Kuijken's series or the one-voice-per-part approach in general. The chorus, if there had been one, doesn't have too much to do in these cantatas (except in the big finale of the Cantata No. 134, "Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiß," BWV 134, where you really do miss it). Instead the action happens in the solo arias, and the singers,...
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