Bach- Cantatas

Amazon.com Yes--as some of the customer reviews point out, this recording doesn't come from John Eliot Gardiner's year 2000 "Bach Cantata Pilgrimage" concert series; it's a full-price reissue of a disc made in 1989. That doesn't matter: featuring the crackerjack Monteverdi Choir and four excellent soloists at the height of their powers, it's definitely worth the price. The collective view of Bach's vocal music might have shifted some since 1989--it now seems clear that Bach wrote the "Actus tragicus" and possibly even the "Trauer-Ode" for four soloists, instead of a small choir. To be sure, Gardiner's chorus somewhat overwhelms the little instrumental ensemble (two recorders, two viols, and continuo) for the "Actus tragicus," but they sing with such sensitivity that the piece works anyway. The real treasure here, however, is "O Jesu Christ, mein's Lebens Licht," a luminous little gem of a motet for chorus, strings, and antique brass to which these musicians bring a winning and none-too-easy-to-achieve combination of clarity and warmth. --Matthew Westphal