Cantatas BWV 62, 45, 192, and 140
Publick Musick continues its distinguished survey of Bach’s choral output with four of his finest cantatas: BWV 62, Nun danket alle Gott; BWV 45, Es ist dir gesagt, Mensch, was gut ist; BWV 192, Nun danket alle Gott; and BWV 140, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, one of the composer’s most beloved works. Recorded in the sanctuary of St. Michael’s Church in Rochester, New York.
Bach’s sacred cantata cycles are a world unto themselves and, as a collection, represent the largest corpus of sacred choral/instrumental music ever conceived. Totaling around 200 extant works, varying in length from 12 to 50 minutes or more, these are the compositions that define Bach as the consummate church musician.
The cantatas comprise a spectrum of virtually every form of composition known to Bach and are representative of the baroque era: from fugue to recitative to ritornello form, both in the old (stile antico) as well as the modern (stile moderno) style. Nowhere else in Bach’s music is the universe so vast and diverse as in his cantatas and there is no end to the gorgeous music contained therein.
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