La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Kantaten im Januar (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Even after the completion of the highly praised Bach cantata series, which was released between 2004 and 2014, and in which La Petite Bande recorded cantatas for every Sunday of the liturgical year, Sigiswald Kuijken still does not let go of his great passion for Johann Sebastian Bach. He turns once again to the cantatas and presents on his new recording three works that Bach wrote for the end of January and the beginning of February, and that he performed in Leipzig at St Thomas’ Church between 1725 and 1729. Two of these cantatas – BWV 72 “Alles nur nach Gottes Willen” (1726) and BWV 156 “Ich stehe mit einem Fuß im Grabe” (1729) – were composed for the third Sunday after Epiphany, and the other one – BWV 92 “Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn” (1725) – for the Sunday Septuagesima, i.e. for two weeks later. Kuijken remains true to his performing decisions for the cantata series: all instrumental and vocal parts are occupied only by soloists, which results in a very transparent sound and makes the structures and layers of Bach’s sometimes highly complex works always easily audible.

Sigiswald Kuijken’s Bach cantata recordings, and in particular his complete series for Accent which culminated almost a decade ago now, haven’t enjoyed quite the degree of international attention garnered by those of John Eliot Gardiner and Masaaki Suzuki with their own respective series, and this perhaps isn’t completely surprising when Kuijken has consistently championed the one-voice-to-a-part approach. After all, even if one can get on board with one-to-a-part from a historical accuracy perspective, many find it a little harder to get on board with from a pleasure-listening angle, when the casualty of all that authenticity is textural variety – and indeed there’s evidence that Bach himself was often frustrated by the slim vocal forces at his disposal.

As ever, therefore, this three-strong, January-shaped return to the cantatas – for the third Sunday after Epiphany and the Sunday Septuagesima (the third Sunday before the start of Lent) – features one voice to a part, with La Petite Bande correspondingly chamber-forced. Also worth flagging up is that Kuijken has opted for a female rather than a male alto soloist. Inevitably therefore, the choruses lack the punch you’ll hear from multi-voice offerings. However what you lose in weight, you gain in nimbleness, and the vocal performances here are all both enjoyable and text-aware. Likewise, the sound from La Petite Bande is sprightly, mostly attractive of tone, and with perhaps slightly less bite than heard from The English Baroque Soloists. The church acoustic meanwhile comes across with naturalness and a gentle bloom, and on the whole a good balance between parts, although the busy cello lines of BWV 92’s Das Brausen von den rauhen Winden do rather cry out for a little more engineering love.

If intimate, one-to-a-part Bach is of interest, this is certainly worth a listen. – Charlotte Gardner

Tracklist:
01. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Alles nur nach Gottes Willen, BWV 72: No. 1, Alles nur nach Gottes Willen (03:35)
02. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Alles nur nach Gottes Willen, BWV 72: No. 2, O selger Christ, der allzeit seinen Willen (02:27)
03. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Alles nur nach Gottes Willen, BWV 72: No. 3, Mit allem, was ich hab und bin (04:25)
04. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Alles nur nach Gottes Willen, BWV 72: No. 4, So glaube nun! (01:01)
05. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Alles nur nach Gottes Willen, BWV 72: No. 5, Mein Jesus will es tun, er will dein Kreuz versüßen (03:19)
06. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Alles nur nach Gottes Willen, BWV 72: No. 6, Was mein Gott will, das g’scheh allzeit (01:23)
07. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe, BWV 156: No. 1, Sinfonia (02:39)
08. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe, BWV 156: No. 2, Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe (05:14)
09. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe, BWV 156: No. 3, Mein Angst und Not (01:40)
10. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe, BWV 156: No. 4, Herr, was du willt, soll mir gefallen (04:04)
11. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe, BWV 156: No. 5, Und willst du, dass ich nicht soll kranken (01:09)
12. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe, BWV 156: No. 6, Herr, wie du willt, so schicks mit mir (01:15)
13. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn, BWV 92: No. 1, Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn (06:33)
14. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn, BWV 92: No. 2, Es kann mir fehlen nimmermehr! (04:10)
15. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn, BWV 92: No. 3, Seht, seht! Wie reißt, wie bricht, wie fällt (02:42)
16. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn, BWV 92: No. 4, Zudem ist Weisheit und Verstand (03:15)
17. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn, BWV 92: No. 5, Wir wollen nun nicht länger zagen (01:23)
18. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn, BWV 92: No. 6, Das Brausen von den rauhen Winden (04:17)
19. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn, BWV 92: No. 7, Ei nun, mein Gott, so fall ich (02:28)
20. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn, BWV 92: No. 8, Meinem Hirten belieb ich treu (03:29)
21. La Petite Bande & Sigiswald Kuijken – Bach: Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn, BWV 92: No. 9, Soll ich denn auch des Todes Weg (01:29)