The four secular cantatas included in this two-disc set were first issued on two separate LPs in 1968. Then they comfortably took the lead over other performances available at the time. By present-day standards, however, there are aspects of interpretation which may strike us as a little pedestrian. The two weakest areas are probably those of instrumental executancy and internal balance. In these respects the Wedding Cantata, Weichet nur, betrubte Schatten is the weakest, with unsteady oboe playing and too weighty continuo support.

Even here, though, I found plenty to enjoy, above all in the alluring voice of Elly Ameling who seldom disappoints the listener either in this work or indeed, in the other three. She is beguiling both as the wilful Lieschen in the Coffee Cantata and as the spirited, coquettish Miecke in the Peasant Cantata. In these cantatas the two other singers, Gerald English and Siegmund Nimsgern, the latter as the peppery Schlendrian in the Coffee Cantata, and as the country lad with little on his mind other than opening time and a good roll in the hay (Peasant Cantata), are excellent. Some of the playing by members of the Collegium Aureum is enjoyable too, with stylish harpsichord continuo throughout. Maddeningly, the players are not named but I seem to recall that Gustav Leonhardt was the harpsichordist.

To sum up, an album well worth acquiring, above all for consistently lively interpretations by the singers who create a pleasing sense of theatre. Well recorded.'

-- Nicholas Anderson, Gramophone [10/1990]