Famous Cantatas Vol. 1 by Ton Koopman / The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir

Ton Koopman / The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir

Famous Cantatas Vol. 1

Price: € 12.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917289725
Catnr: CC 72897
Release date: 08 October 2021
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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917289725

Catalogue number
CC 72897

Release date
08 October 2021

"Amsterdam Baroque's performances are well worth revisiting."

Choir and Organ, 22-4-2022

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

Bach's sacred music written before he went to Leipzig, including all the works from the Weimar period, are often lumped together as "early" cantatas. This is misleading and ultimately inaccurate, since Bach was already 38 years old when he moved from his post as Kapellmeister at Köthen in 1723 to take up his duties as Kantor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. In fact most of Bach's church cantatas date from the Leipzig years, as does the consolidation of the stylistic, structural and technical features of his vocal works, but even the repertoire composed before 1714 can hardly be termed "early". The works composed at Mühlhausen, demonstrating a striking sureness of touch in their conception, placed the 22-year-old among the finest contemporary cantata composers. Bach's earliest church cantatas are still clearly marked by 17th-century traditions. As well as the influences of older members of the Bach family, those of Buxtehude and Pachelbel the Elder, and Italian and French masters are evident, technically, structurally and stylistically. A particularly characteristic feature of the pre-Leipzig cantatas is Bach's exceptional delight in experimental and complex handling of an extremely wide range of instruments, with refined sound effects (such as the use of the bassoon) and poly- and homophonic settings and forms.

Dit is het eerste deel in de reeks beroemde Cantates van Johann Sebastian Bach, uitgevoerd door dirigent Ton Koopman en zijn Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir. De cantates komen uit de indrukwekkende verzameling met alle cantates van Bach die Ton Koopman met vertrouwde goede vrienden en medewerkers rond de eeuwwisseling bij elkaar bracht.

De reeks is chronologisch gestructureerd. Deze eerste opname van de serie bevat cantates die Bach componeerde in Mülhausen, in de jaren 1707 en 1708. Er staan vier grote en bekende meesterwerken op, waaruit toen al de beheersing en volwassenheid bleek van de 22-jarige Bach. Deze werken tonen aan dat hij tot een van de beste cantatecomponisten uit die tijd behoorde.

Bachs vroegste kerkcantates zijn nog duidelijk gebaseerd op de tradities van de 17e eeuw. De invloed van oudere leden van de Bach-familie, zowel als die van Buxtehude en Pachelbel en de Italiaanse en Franse meesters zijn in technische, structurele en stilistische zin overduidelijk. Karakteristiek voor de cantates uit de tijd voor Leipzig, is Bachs buitengewone lust tot experimenteren met een breed scala aan instrumenten, met verfijnde geluidseffecten - zoals het gebruik van de fagot - en poly- en homofone vormen.

Bach schreef de meeste cantates als muzikale omlijsting van de zondagse kerkdienst. De cantates sloten inhoudelijk aan bij de lezingen en de preek van die zondag of kerkelijke feestdag. Het was dus functionele gebruiksmuziek, maar van een hoog muzikaal niveau. Vaak beginnen de cantates met een uitgebreid openingskoor, gevolgd door enkele aria's en recitatieven (vertellende stukken, zonder tekstherhalingen).

Tussen 1994 en 2004 nam dirigent Ton Koopman de enorme taak op zich om alle 202 bewaarde cantates – Bach schreef er vermoedelijk 295 - op te nemen met zijn Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir. Het overgrote deel van deze cantates kwam tot stand in de jaren 1723-1725 in de tijd dat Bach in Leipzig verbleef. Althans volgens biograaf Christoph Wolff, met wie Ton Koopman samenwerkte aan het enorme Bach-project. In deze prachtige nieuwe reeks zijn Bachs beroemdste cantates opgenomen.

Bachs geistliche Musik, die vor seinem Wechsel nach Leipzig entstand, einschließlich aller Werke aus der Weimarer Zeit, wird oft als "frühe" Kantaten bezeichnet. Dies ist irreführend und letztlich ungenau, da Bach bereits 38 Jahre alt war, als er 1723 von seinem Posten als Kapellmeister in Köthen nach Leipzig wechselte, um sein Amt als Kantor an der Thomaskirche anzutreten. In der Tat stammen die meisten von Bachs Kirchenkantaten aus den Leipziger Jahren, ebenso wie die Konsolidierung der stilistischen, strukturellen und technischen Merkmale seiner Vokalwerke, aber selbst das vor 1714 komponierte Repertoire kann kaum als "früh" bezeichnet werden. Die in Mühlhausen entstandenen Werke, die eine auffallende Sicherheit in der Konzeption aufweisen, reihen den 22-Jährigen in die Reihe der besten zeitgenössischen Kantatenkomponisten ein. Bachs früheste Kirchenkantaten sind noch deutlich von den Traditionen des 17. Jahrhunderts geprägt. Jahrhunderts geprägt. Neben den Einflüssen älterer Mitglieder der Bach-Familie sind auch die von Buxtehude und Pachelbel d. Ä. sowie von italienischen und französischen Meistern in technischer, struktureller und stilistischer Hinsicht offensichtlich. Besonders charakteristisch für die Kantaten aus der Zeit vor Leipzig ist Bachs außergewöhnliche Experimentierfreudigkeit im Umgang mit den unterschiedlichsten Instrumenten, mit raffinierten Klangeffekten (z. B. dem Einsatz des Fagotts) sowie mit poly- und homophonen Setzungen und Formen.

Artist(s)

Ton Koopman (conductor)

Ton Koopman was born in Zwolle in 1944. After a classical education he studied organ, harpsichord and musicology in Amsterdam and was awarded the Prix d'Excellence for both instruments. From the beginning of his musical studies he was fascinated by authentic instruments and a performance style based on sound scholarship and in 1969, at the age of 25, he created his first Baroque orchestra. In 1979 he founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra followed by the Amsterdam Baroque Choir in 1992.
Koopman's extensive and impressive activities as a soloist, accompanist and conductor have been recorded on a large number of LPs and CDs for labels like Erato, Teldec, Sony, Philips and DG, besides his own record label “Antoine Marchand”, distributed by Challenge Records.
Over the course of a forty-five-year career Ton Koopman has appeared in the most important concert halls and festivals of the five continents. As an organist he has performed on the most prestigious historical instruments of Europe, and as a harpsichord player and conductor of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir he has been a regular guest at venues which include the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Théatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the Philharmonie in Munich, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York and leading concert halls in Vienna, London, Berlin, Brussels, Madrid, Rome, Salzburg, Tokyo and Osaka.
Between 1994 and 2004 Ton Koopman has been engaged in a unique project, conducting and recording all the existing Cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach, a massive undertaking for which he has been awarded the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis "Echo Klassik", the BBC Award 2008, the Prix Hector Berlioz, has been nominated for the Grammy Award (USA) and the Gramophone Award (UK). In 2000 Ton Koopman has received an Honorary Degree from the Utrecht University for his academic work on the Bach Cantatas and Passions and has been awarded both the prestigious Silver Phonograph Prize and the VSCD Classical Music Award. In 2006 he has received the « Bach-Medaille » from the City of Leipzig. Recently Ton Koopman has embarked on another main project: the recording of the whole works by Dietrich Buxtehude, one of the great inspirer of the young J.S. Bach. The recording will be accomplished in 2010 with the release of 30 CDs. Ton Koopman is President of the “International Dieterich Buxtehude Society”. Ton Koopman is very active as a guest conductor and he has collaborated with many prominent orchestras in Europe, USA and Japan. He has been Principal Conductor of the Netherland Radio Chamber Orchestra and has collaborated with the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, DSO Berlin, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in Munich, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Cleveland Orchestra, Santa Cecilia in Rome, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and Wiener Symphoniker. In the following season he will work on new programmes with the New York Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Orchestra RAI in Turin, Stockholm Philharmonic, Tonhalle in Zurich. After the great success of his tour at the beginning of 2008, Ton Koopman has been nominated Artist in Residence at the Cleveland Orchestra for three consecutive years starting in 2011. Ton Koopman publishes regularly and for a number of years he has been engaged in editing the complete Händel Organ Concertos for Breitkopf & Härtel. Recently he has published Händel’s Messiah and Buxtehude‘s Das Jüngeste Gericht for Carus. Ton Koopman leads the class of harpsichord at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, is Professor at the University of Leiden and is a Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. Ton Koopman is artistic director of the French Festival “Itinéraire Baroque”.

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Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir

Ton Koopman founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979. The group consists of internationally renowned baroque specialists who meet up several times a year and work together to prepare and perform new exciting programmes. For the musicians each concert is a new experience and Koopman's boundless energy and enthusiasm are a sure guarantee of the highest quality.
The Amsterdam Baroque Choir was founded in 1992 and it made its debut during the Holland Festival of Early Music in Utrecht performing the world première of the Requiem (for 15 voices) and Vespers (for 32 voices) by H.I.F. Biber. The recording of both of these works won the Cannes Classical Award for the best performance of 17th/18th century choral music. For its rare combination of textural clarity and interpretative flexibility, the Amsterdam Baroque Choir is considered among today’s most outstanding choirs. In 1994 Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir embarked upon the most ambitious recording project of the last decades: the integral recording of Bach’s secular and sacred cantatas. For this extraordinary project Koopman and his ensemble received the Deutsche Schallplatten-Preis Echo Klassik. Next to the CD recordings three books have been edited and published by Ton Koopman and the musicologist Christoph Wolff and a series of six documentaries was produced and broadcasted by various TV stations.
Alongside Bach’s music the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir has recorded all major baroque and classical works. Major recognitions include the Gramophone Award, Diapason d'Or, 10-Repertoire, Stern des Monats-Fono Forum, the Prix Hector Berlioz and two Edison Awards. In 2008 the ensemble and Ton Koopman have been honoured with the prestigious BBC Award. Since March 2003 “Antoine Marchand”, a new sub-label of Challenge Classics, took over the release of Koopman’s new recordings and among many others has published 22 CD boxes of the Bach Cantatas, a new recording of the St. Matthew Passion (on CD and DVD) and St. Markus Passion of J.S. Bach (DVD), live recorded in Milan, as well as the first seven volumes of the Buxtehude Opera-Omnia Edition. Ton Koopman and the ABO & ABC are regular guests at the major concert halls of Europe, the USA and Japan. In the 2008/09 season they will tour extensively in Europe (Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Vienna, Milan, Cologne, Dresden, Düsseldorf etc) and in Far East with concerts in Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo.

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Guy de Mey

Composer(s)

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France. Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Mass in B minor, two Passions, and hundreds of cantatas. His music is revered for its technical command, artistic beauty, and intellectual depth. Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognised as a great composer until a revival of interest in and performances of his music in the first half of the 19th century. He is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.

Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognised as a great composer until a revival of interest in and performances of his music in the first half of the 19th century. He is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.

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Press

Amsterdam Baroque's performances are well worth revisiting.
Choir and Organ, 22-4-2022

If I assume that most readers prefer historically informed performances, period instruments, and adult singers, all of these three completists will please, and this generous collection can be recommended with pleasure.
Fanfare Magazine, 01-3-2022

Listeners who are looking for a selection of the best-known Bach cantatas rather than an exhaustive traversal may find this new series attractive.
American Record Guide, 01-3-2022

Koopman saves the exam with very good note, proposing a very balanced and stylistically current reading of Bach
Ritmo, 03-1-2022

listed among the 10 best releases of the month
Ritmo, 03-1-2022

Magnificent spiritual fullness in the early 1990s. It is a reminder of what the legendary conductor and harpsichordist achieved, more than 25 years ago now, a mastery which is a major act of sincerity...
Classiquenews.com, 12-12-2021