Germany's Gaechinger Cantorey is the group formerly known as the Gächinger Kantorei, one of the country's fabled small regional choirs. The respelling was not due simply to the German spelling reform but to the ascent of a new conductor, Hans-Christoph Rademann, and to a new emphasis on historical instruments (the Cantorey includes both singers and instrumentalists). The result is an interesting mix that stands out from other Bach cantata recordings (a substantial task). Rademann does not cut his choir down to one-voice-per ...
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Germany's Gaechinger Cantorey is the group formerly known as the Gächinger Kantorei, one of the country's fabled small regional choirs. The respelling was not due simply to the German spelling reform but to the ascent of a new conductor, Hans-Christoph Rademann, and to a new emphasis on historical instruments (the Cantorey includes both singers and instrumentalists). The result is an interesting mix that stands out from other Bach cantata recordings (a substantial task). Rademann does not cut his choir down to one-voice-per-part dimensions, or even two; the Cantorey has four voices on each part, and it retains the rich, plummy sound of German choirs. However, the instruments have a considerably spikier texture that brings out Bach's responses to the text. These are mostly solo cantatas, and your mileage may vary with the soloists, some of whom follow the early-music pruning of vibrato, while others do not (to these ears alto Anke Vondung is the best of the group). There are borrowings from other works,...
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