Bach: Trauer Music - Music To Mourn Prince Leopold / Parrott, Taverner Consort

$14.99
Label
Avie Records
Release Date
September 1, 2011
Format
Added to Cart! View cart or continue shopping.


    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      BACH, J.S.
    • PERFORMER
      Van Evera, Wilkinson, Daniels, Meglioranza, Parrott, Taverner Consort & Players
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      September 01, 2011
    • UPC
      822252224122
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      AV2241
    • LABEL
      Avie Records
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Choral - Sacred
    Works ⌄

    1. Part III: Aria: Lass, Leopold, Dich nicht begraben (Bass)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Players

      Performer: Thomas Meglioranza

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    2. Part III: Recitativo: Wie kont es moglich seyn (Alto)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Players

      Performer: Clare Wilkinson

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    3. Part III: Aria: Wird auch gleich nach tausend Zahren (Bass)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Players

      Performer: Thomas Meglioranza

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    4. Part III: Recitativo: Und, Herr, das ist die Specerey (Tenor)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Players

      Performer: Charles Daniels

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    5. Part III: Aria a 2 Choren: Geh, Leopold, zu Deiner Ruh (Tenor, Chorus)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Consort, Taverner Players

      Performer: Emily Van Evera, Clare Wilkinson, Charles Daniels, Thomas Meglioranza

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    6. Part I: Coro: Klagt, Kinder (Chorus)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Consort, Taverner Players

      Performer: Emily Van Evera, Clare Wilkinson, Charles Daniels, Thomas Meglioranza

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    7. Part I: Recitativo: O Land! Besturtztes Land! (Tenor)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Players

      Performer: Charles Daniels

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    8. Part I: Aria: Weh und Ach (Alto)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Players

      Performer: Clare Wilkinson

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    9. Part I: Recitativo: Wie, wenn der Blitze Grausamkeit (Soprano)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Players

      Performer: Emily Van Evera

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    10. Part I: Aria: Zage nur, du treues Land (Soprano)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Players

      Performer: Emily Van Evera

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    11. Part I: Recitativo: Ach ja! Dein Scheiden geht uns nah (Tenor)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Players

      Performer: Charles Daniels

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    12. Part I: Coro: Komm wieder, theurer Fursten-Geist (Chorus)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Consort, Taverner Players

      Performer: Emily Van Evera, Clare Wilkinson, Charles Daniels, Thomas Meglioranza

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    13. Part II: Coro: Wir haben einen Gott, der da hilfft (Chorus)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Consort, Taverner Players

      Performer: Emily Van Evera, Clare Wilkinson, Charles Daniels, Thomas Meglioranza

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    14. Part II: Recitativo: Betrubter Anblick, voll Erschrecken (Alto)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Players

      Performer: Clare Wilkinson

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    15. Part II: Aria: Erhalte mich Gott (Alto)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Players

      Performer: Clare Wilkinson

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    16. Part II: Recitativo: Jedoch der schwache Mensche zittert nur (Soprano)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Players

      Performer: Emily Van Evera

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    17. Part II: Aria: Mit Freuden sey die Welt verlassen (Soprano)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Players

      Performer: Emily Van Evera

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    18. Part II: Recitativo: Wohl also Dir, Du aller Fursten Zier (Tenor)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Players

      Performer: Charles Daniels

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    19. Part II: Coro: Wir haben einen Gott, der da hilfft (Chorus)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Consort, Taverner Players

      Performer: Emily Van Evera, Clare Wilkinson, Charles Daniels, Thomas Meglioranza

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    20. Part IV: Aria: Bleibet nun in eurer Ruh (Bass)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Players

      Performer: Thomas Meglioranza

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    21. Part IV: Recitativo: Und Du betrubtes Fursten-Hauss (Tenor)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Players

      Performer: Charles Daniels

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    22. Part IV: Aria: Hemme Dein gequaltes Krancken (Soprano)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Players

      Performer: Emily Van Evera

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    23. Part IV: Recitativo: Nun scheiden wir, Hochseelger Leopold, von Dir (Tenor)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Players

      Performer: Charles Daniels

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott

    24. Part IV: Coro: Die Augen sehn nach Deiner Leiche (Chorus)

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Ensemble: Taverner Consort, Taverner Players

      Performer: Emily Van Evera, Clare Wilkinson, Charles Daniels, Thomas Meglioranza

      Conductor: Andrew Parrott




BACH Trauer-Music, BWV 244a • Andrew Parrott, cond; Emily van Evera (sop); Clare Wilkinson (ms); Charles Daniels (ten); Tom Meglioranza (bar); Taverner Consort & Players • AVIE AV2241 (78:40 Text and Translation)


Anyone wishing to perform the funeral music for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, Bach’s onetime boss, comes up against a serious technical problem:There is no music for it, though the text survives. Doing something about such situations is the very stuff of much modern musicology. Consider the new movements for the music of Mahler, Elgar, Britten, even whole new music (in the style of or, perhaps, not: Manfred Tojahn’s for La clemenza di Tito or Luciano Berio’s for Turandot ). The arguments for this sort of thing are well worn but are still making the rounds: The composer did this sort of thing himself, the composer would have wanted this piece finished, it gives us a new view of this or that period, approach, style of the composer, and so on without any end in sight. Bach is an especial victim of this sort of carpentry, and BWV 244a is a tempting target, along with the St. Mark and St. Luke Passions.


When he compiled the Bach Werke-Verzeichnis in 1950, Wolfgang Schmieder noted that a good deal of Picander’s 1728 text fit certain numbers of the 1725 St. Matthew Passion (which is why it shares the same BWV number) and the 1727 Trauer-Ode (BWV 198). In what I assume will be the notes for this recording, Andrew Parrott makes clear what fits where, leaving only the problem of the recitatives, which he composed himself and about which he himself says “caveat emptor,” and the final organization of the whole, which he posits took place in four sections instead of what seems to be only two or three, and began the night before with the funeral itself, followed the next day with the memorial service. This necessitates a rearrangement of the libretto as printed, which he argues may not have represented exactly what happened.


To the question of why we need this reconstruction Parrott gives no direct answer, but, as the longest of the known remaining texts for which there is no music, it clearly constitutes a challenge. He also thinks it refreshing to encounter some of this music in a different context. It must be said, then, that Parrott meets this challenge with his customary energy and expertise.


This performance is made with the kind of disposition Parrott has used for decades, and argued forcefully for in The Essential Bach Choir (2001), mostly one-to-a-part, with the choruses doubled here. While this approach seems reasonable for the church cantatas, I think it entirely unlikely for the passions, the Trauer-Ode , and this piece, music that required the greatest possible effect, not least in the choruses. Interestingly, as with the Trauer-Ode and the secular cantatas, but not with the Passions, there are no chorales.


Let it be noted, then, that, within his musicological choices, Parrott has made a convincing job of this piece. The Taverner Consort plays with long-won expertise, and the soloists are uniformly good. The eight-member chorus just does not have enough gravity, and the sopranos tend to be a bit shrill in places. When it joins the tenor in two numbers, they are recorded distantly, though on their own quite close up, as is most of the recording. As near as I can tell, there is no other recording of an attempted reconstruction of this music. No matter; if one is needed, this one will do nicely.


FANFARE: Alan Swanson