Gramophone – September 2019

90 GRAMOPHONE SEPTEMBER 2019 gramophone.co.uk

Vocal

RichardWigmoreonadoubledose

ofVivaldifromDelphineGalou:

AlexandraCoghlanhearsamixed

recitalfromMagdalen,Oxford:

JS Bach

‘Stay, ye angels’

Cantatas – No 19,EserhubsicheinStreit;No149,

Man singet mitFreudenvomSieg;No158,Der

Friede sei mit Dir;No169,Gottsollalleinmein

Herze haben

Lenneke RuitensopAnkeVondungcontr

Benedikt KristjánssontenPeterHarveybass

David Franke orgGaechingerCantorey/

Hans-ChristophRademann

Accentus F ACC30466(74’• DDD)

Recorded live attheStadtkircheSanktWenzel,

Naumburg, Germany,September 2018

Recordedlive

inthechurchof

StWenceslasin

Naumburg,this

assortment offourcantatasfeaturesits

magnificent historicorganbuiltby

Zacharias Hildebrandtandtestedby

Bach in 1746.TwoyearslaterHildebrandt

became chief overseerofchurchorgansin

Leipzig, wherehehadalreadybeenBach’s

harpsichord tunersincethemid-1730s.

AppropriatelyforaMichaelmasconcert,

the first and lastcantatasarebothforthe

feast of St MichaeltheArchangel,whose

princely role astheleaderofheaven’s

armies againstLuciferisreflectedinBach’s

use of three trumpets,timpaniandrich

woodwind in bothNo19,Eserhubsichein

Streit (1726), andNo149,Mansingetmit

Freuden vom Sieg(1728/29).Theorchestra

and choir of GaechingerCantoreyare

conducted expertlybyHans-Christoph

Rademann; ebullienttrumpet-laden

choruses fizz withacompoundofsonorous

muscle, rhythmicflairandcontrapuntal

transparency,nowheremoresothanthe

convivial openingchorusofNo 149

(parodied fromtheHuntCantata).

The centrepieceofNo 19 istheEminor

siciliano ‘Bleibt,ihrEngel,bleibtbeimir!’,

sung compassionatelybyBenedikt

Kristjánsson; itsharmonicallyrichstring

parts are shapedperfectlyanditshigh

trumpet choraletuneisplayedgentlyby

Hans-Martin Rux-Brachtendorf.The

closingchoraleisrepletewithimprovised

flourishesfromtheawe-inducingorgan

betweenphrases.

Theinterveningsolocantatasadvocate

God’speace.TheHildebrandtorgan

takescentrestageinNo169,Gottsoll

alleinmeinHerzehaben(forthe18th

SundayafterTrinity,1726),allthree

movementsprobablyadaptedfromalost

keyboardconcerto.Thereisathrilling

synergybetweenorganistDavidFranke

(exploitingtheinstrument’sspectacular

registrations)andthealertorchestra

(furtherenrichedbytwooboesd’amore

andtaille)intheSinfonia;thedramatic

singingofAnkeVondungconveysdark-

huedwisdom.No158,DerFriedeseimit

Dir(dateunknown),seemstobeforeither

CandlemasorthethirddayofEaster,

andmightnotbepreservedintact;Peter

Harvey’ssolicitousVoxChristiinthefirst

recitativeleadsintoanarticulatedialogue

ariawithNadjaZwiener’sconcertante

violin(‘Welt,ade,ichbindeinmüde’).

ThereareanexcellentessaybyHolger

SchneiderofStuttgart’sInternationalBach

Academyandeye-catchingillustrations,but

nosungtextsortranslations.DavidVickers

JCFBach.Altnickol

‘Bach’sFamily– ChoralMotets’

AltnickolBeiehldudeineWege.Nundanket

alleGott,BWVAnh 164 JCFBachIchliegund

schlafeganzmitFrieden.Wachetauf,ruftuns

dieStimme

StuttgartChamberChoir/ FriederBerniuswith

SonntraudEngels-Benzorg

HänsslerClassicFHC18014(56’• DDD• T)

The setting of Nun

danket alle Gott by

Altnickol was once

erroneously ascribed

to his father-in-law: thus accorded a place

in the BWV appendix, it has surely

attracted more recordings – at least

three before this one – than its relatively

undistinguished merits would otherwise

deserve. In six minutes of lively

counterpoint the copyist shows himself an

assiduous imitator, one too schooled in his

master’s ways to commit any solecism that

would have offended Bach, save in want of

his own imagination’s exercise.

Emerging with more confidence from

its model of Jesu meine Freude, the 12-verse

Befiel du deine Wege makes play with genre

types such as chorale settings, ‘straight’

and elaborate, chromatic fugue (verse 2)

and, more originally, a kind of concerted

drama shaking a Lutheran fist at

devilish stratagems.

Johann Sebastian’s motet-writing

also supplied his son Johann Christoph

Friedrich – ‘the Bückeburg Bach’ – with a

template for his treatment of the ‘Wachet

auf’ chorale, as much in terms of virtuoso

vocal-consort techniques as structure. The

chorale theme weaves its way through all

three movements including a delightfully

sprung central panel (‘Zion hört’), which

Frieder Bernius effectively assigns to a

quartet of soloists drawn from the ranks

of his Kammerchor Stuttgart.

Reduced to forces of 7.7.5.5, Bernius’s

ensemble lives up to its own standards of

excellence with splendidly fresh and vivid

singing that makes its rivals on record

sound tentative or unwieldy by comparison.

The choir is backed by a discreet organ

continuo rather than the more obtrusive

(if historically plausible) string-band

accompaniment for an all-Altnickol album

from the Norddeutscher Figuralchor on

Carus (for whom Bernius makes most of

his records).

That said, a Capriccio recording of

Bach family motets from 2010 shouldn’t be

overlooked by those hankering after all-male

voices in this repertoire. Under their equally

longstanding and underrated director

Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden, the Tölz Boys’

Choir bring more unaffected polish to both

Altnickol’s Befiel du deine Wege and the

most poignantly affective work on either

album, Ich lieg und schlafe by JCF Bach. Less

radical or unpredictable than anything by

his brother CPE, the arpeggiated melodies

and moulded suspensions of this funeral

motet from 1780 nevertheless demonstrate

‘It’s easy to take the RedPriestforgranted,yet

even Vivaldi-sceptics mightbestruckbythis

music’s expressive power’ REVIEW ON PAGE 100

‘Magdalen’s sound has alwayshadan

unmannered, forthright quality,andthere’sreal

generosity from these singers’ REVIEW ON PAGE 101