Sir John Eliot Gardiner's series of the complete Bach cantatas, recorded during his year-long Bach Pilgrimage around the world with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in 2000, has been an outstanding achievement from the very start, both in terms of excellent recording quality and brilliant musicianship. But this new release of cantatas for Easter seems to have an extra dimension of spirituality and atmosphere, perhaps as a result of its having been recorded in the church of St George in Eisenach, where Bach was baptised and was a chorister as a young boy. The choir, instrumentalists and conductor work as one, putting not a foot wrong as they negotiate six of Bach's most inspired choral works.
Indeed, I would place the Cantata for Easter Sunday, Christ lag in Todesbanden, BWV 4, amongst his most moving and accomplished compositions in any genre. Easter Sunday is one of the most important religious feasts in the year, commemorating Christ's resurrection from the dead, and the theme draws some astonishing text-setting from Bach. In particular, the opening stanza cleverly juxtaposes the tragic with the optimistic: it combines a depiction of the death of Christ on Good Friday with the message that his sacrifice will bring eternal salvation to all. This contrast pervades all eight verses of the piece; death is vanquished only in the final two of these.
So moving is Gardiner's performance of this cantata that I have listened to it seven times already; such emotional poignancy on record is rare. The choir points the words very carefully, dynamic levels are varied but controlled, and the conductor's choices of tempo are all sensible.
Few live performances achieve such technical perfection as this does, and even were the other five works on the record inferior, this would still be a 'must-have' for Lent 2007.
As it is, the remaining pieces are performed with equal élan. The second Easter Sunday cantata featured here, Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret, BWV 31, was composed in Weimar when Bach was at the ducal court there at the age of thirty and is considerably more exuberant in mood than its predecessor (indeed, how could it be otherwise with an opening line of 'The heavens laugh! The earth rejoices'?). The English Baroque Soloists deserve especial praise in this performance, with an astonishingly vibrant trumpet solo in the opening movement and beautifully lucid violin textures. Meanwhile, the first of the Easter Monday cantatas, Erfreut eich, ihr Herzen, is cheeky and pert in mood. 'Rejoice, all ye hearts', reads the translation, and that's not difficult when listening to sounds as beautiful as those made by the Monteverdi Choir in this rendition.
The other Easter Monday cantata, Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend warden, BWV 6, has another mood altogether. The words impart an air of anticipated despair, acting as an open supplication to God not to abandon his people even though his body has left the earth. Gardiner's performance brings out the sighing of the opening figure - 'Bleib bei uns' or 'Abide with us' - and the choir becomes increasingly vehement in its cries of 'Shield thy poor Christendom, that all Christians might praise thee eternally'.
No less impressive are the two cantatas for Easter Tuesday. Tenor James Gilchrist and alto Daniel Taylor excel in BWV 134, Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiß, while BWV 145, Ich lebe, mein Herze, zu deinem Ergötzen, is one of the merriest of Bach's sacred works. The latter features a particularly beautiful bass aria, 'Merke, mein Herz', with a delicate instrumental part for several of the wind instruments; Stephen Varcoe is superb as the vocal soloist.
In all, an unmissable, unstoppable recording, that deserves a place in the collections of all Bach enthusiasts.