The Most Important Recording Projects Ever (No. 10: The Harnoncourt/Leonhardt Bach Cantata Cycle)

[@metallian2952]

I'm collecting the vinyl boxes you are talking about........................ still 10 to go and hunt down. Love them they look and sound great, this is coming from a metalhead who listens to death and black metal.

[@jjquinn2004]

Really enjoyed your comments about "time" because I think about that a lot when I'm trying to go through one of my numerous box sets and literally ticking off the CD numbers as I listen to them. I do have two series that I bought piece by piece: Adam Fischer's complete set of Haydn symphonies and Gardiner's Bach cantatas. I recall how I researched them, played them, and replayed each set for weeks or months until the next set arrived. Reminded me of how we all used to buy and listen to music when we first started out as pre-teens / teens - one record at a time. Thank-you for a wonderful episode.

[@gfhit7520]

the Suzuki cycle too; the first volume was in 1995 and the last (the 55th) in 2013.

[@steveschwartz8944]

I'm old enough to have bought the original LP albums. Dave is right about the sense of occasion (and, I would add, elation) that came with the purchase of each volume. It was like Christmas each time. My chore money burnt a hole in my pocket until the arrival of the next one.

[@anthonycook6213]

Or like Advent, Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, etc, each time😅

[@bbailey7818]

A friend of mine, who also ran a record shop, had the whole series on LP. It looked tremendously impressive and took rows of shelf space in those boxes with scores. He was a Leonhardt guy, I preferred the Harnoncourts.

[@robkeeleycomposer]

@@bbailey7818 These boxes (yes, I'm just old enough to recall the thrill) were sumptuous. I just wish they didn't reproduce the scores in red - and then there were those funny clefs...One also learned, incidentally, that even the great JSB caught be caught (heard?) napping on the rare occasion.

[@TimSwensen]

A beautiful Hommage to this landmark set, David. The emotion and nostalgia come through.

[@davidaiken1061]

A wonderful tribute to a remarkable project. Yes, it took its sweet time to unfold and it took us Bachians time to absorb all that astonishingly expressive and ingeniously constructed music. I will observe that other Bach Cantata projects also came out gradually with evidence of TLC: Rilling on Hänssler (exactly contemporary with Harnoncourt/Leonhardt, but completed a few years before them); Koopman on Challenge Classics (begun by Erato); and Suzuki on Bis. The Bach Cantatas deserve nothing less. On the other wand there were rush jobs such as Gardiner's "Cantata Pilgrimage" and Leusink on Brilliant. Some suggestions for turther "important projects" might include Schanbel again (his Schubert recordings which single-handedly--well, maybe I should say double-handedly--introduced the listening public to a largely ignored body of work; Harnoncourt again, who gave us the first scholarly and dramatically convincing renditions of the three Monteverdi Operas; Davitt Moroney's complete keyboard music of William Byrd; and the Consort of Music's complete music of John Dowland. Both of these projects were firsts and, I believe, still the only ones available for those two composers. Thanks so much, Dave for these enlivening reviews!

[@carlcurtis]

When the LPs were coming out, I had to travel to either Dallas or Houston--which I did on occasion--to find them. I still have the few I bought. And, yes, I now have the "cube." It may not have the wonderful extras of the original LPs, but it sounds wonderful (and takes up very little space.) Great review.

[@Runicen]

As someone coming to classical music late and well past the expiration date of the music industry as it was, it's helpful to get a sense of how things used to be. The idea of a staged release for these huge bodies of work makes them seem less ludicrous than these mega boxes (which I'm, admittedly, an intimidated fan of).

[@LyleFrancisDelp]

If memory serves, the final few volumes of this cycle were issued only on CD. So, if you had been collecting the deluxe (and very well pressed) LPs over the years, with the accompanying scores, you were out of luck in trying to complete that set.

[@colintaylor7248]

Not in the U.K. -- I still have the complete L.P. set -- scores, scholarly notes and all !

[@LyleFrancisDelp]

@@colintaylor7248 That’s good to know!

[@etiennegue2538]

I don't know if my comment will be read, but here it is. I absolutely love Bach Cantatas, and I am very satisfied with the one's from Herreweghe. When I try and listen to older one's, from other directors, it is like there is something missing, or it is not what I like to hear. The fact is, I need to have a sens of the evolution of the Bach cantatas interpretation from the last 50 or 60 years. I need guidance : videos, book chapters, on the evolution of the interpretation, with the most important directors and what they brought. The ideal would be to listen to the same cantata, recorded by maybe 10 directors, and have someone knowledgeable to comment. Any idea.where I can find something like that?

[@WarerBrow]

the problem is that you will notice not only personal directors qualities, but also the time, the era in which it was recorded. If we compare cantatas from this cycle with your beloved Herreweghe, we will see this big difference that digital audio made. analog recordings aren't transparent, so they are barely a reference. One needs to establish sound all from the beginning, as Herreweghe did. But I doubt that we will see any more cantata cycles in the future

[@philippecassagne3192]

Wonderful ! A true monument. I listened to more recent complete cycles, but never found the same emotional intensity. Suzuki is fine also, but unfortunately with an horrible (for my taste) counter-tenor (Robin Blaze). As you rightly said, Dave, time is an important factor, and it took Harnoncourt / Leonhardt almost 20 years to deliver their whole cycle.

[@mickeytheviewmoo]

One project, and it might of been mentioned previously was Albany's George Lloyds symphonic works. There was no way the major labels would of ever recorded these works.

[@DvdAndrsn]

A young Thomas Hampson is the bass for some of the Harnancourt cantatas before he ascended to glory (in his own mind and elsewhere). I was surprised to see him but he was quite good of course. You can hear the anticipation of the older more mature Hampson; the voice isn't as drastically different as, say, the young Gerald Finley's, who barely sounds like his older self in his early recordings.

[@MartinRobidoux]

Very touching video Dave 🥲

[@bingbongtoysKY]

it was an EVENT!!! exactly! special, very special.

[@anthonycook6213]

The first gradual Teldec CD Bach Cantatas release and the Sony Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky giant box release at the same time are what convinced me to buy a CD player and switch fron LPs ca. 1980.

[@איילבראון-ס8ה]

I think that the Leonhardt "part" of the cycle stood the "test of time" much better than Harnoncourt's: Leonhardt''s Cantata no 106 is still the best I know- a very moving performance.

[@orenlurie6422]

Dave would you consider a video recommending some individual CDs of Cantatas? As a manageable way to get to know the Cantatas and different performing approches?

[@felipeechavarria7229]

Hi David, your opinion on the Helmuth Rilling cycle? I see it in the background, lol.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

It's excellent. He has the best singers, on the whole.

[@felipeechavarria7229]

@@DavesClassicalGuide Thanks David!

[@bumblesby]

I purchased the Riling box since it is reported to use female voices rather than boy choirs. That's just my preference. I have only listened to a few of the cantatas so far :)

[@felipeechavarria7229]

@@bumblesby Thanks. I believe that would be my preference too.

[@moshegoldstein4663]

Hi dave.of course we m u s t mention the haydn beux arts complete piano trios...

[@geertdecoster5301]

I can't praise both men highly enough. Harnoncourt and Leonhardt. As for the full cycle, well, that I don't have that one yet. The period in which the recordings grew was my growing into the scared music period too though. Now I just love listening to especially the Leonhardt recordings. It's oh so dripping delicious good. Grace in full, I'd argue. Is anyone missing the female voice though? Yes, the Harnoncourt-Leonhardt cycle excludes female voices entirely. I seem to remember that with the exception of the taxing Soprano solo cantatas BWV 51 and 199, all of the soprano arias are taken by boy choristers; and, of course, the choral ensembles rely entirely on boy sopranos and altos

[@trraviss1977]

Hi Dave, what about to include in this series the Philips Great Pianists Of The 20th Century Edition?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

It wasn't repertoire-based.

[@gavingriffiths2633]

How about the complete Johann Strauss orchestral works (Marco Polo, now Naxos)? And would it be the most or least important recording achievement....?

[@HYP3RK1NECT]

Un solo tomo, era demasiado caro. No me imagino cuanto costaba esa caja.

[@monkface]

I'm pretty sure the cube version is on the top shelf behind you unless that's a different set.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Yes, it is. But it's around somewhere.

[@CortJohnson]

I collected most of this decades ago. My first introduction to Bach’s cantatas - and things went on from there. I now have Rilling, Suzuki and Gardiner but remember how poignant the first set was.

[@RequiemAeternam01]

How about Leopold Hager's recordings of Mozart's early operas on Deutsche Grammophon/Philips?

[@jimcarlile7238]

I miss The Cantata Schlep! What ever happened to that?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

It's schlepping.

[@thebiblepriest4950]

I admire this project because it took plenty of time, and because it was a team effort, and also because it recorded and presented the cantatas in numerical sequence. It is the only cantata cycle that did any of these three things. Leusink's project from 1999 took only a year to record (for release during the 2000 Bach jubilee), and the result is consistently scruffy, but in their cube release they unscrambled the cantatas by the number. If I want to compare two or more recordings of the same cantata, these two cycles are easy to dip into. Meanwhile, in Switzerland, over the course of time, Rudolf Lutz has released more than half the cantatas, each on an individual DVD, with rehearsal footage, lectures and reflections, in 14 boxes so far. I unscrambled the individual discs myself by the numbers, and can access them easily. These are my three top cantata cycles, with the Lutz still in progress, I hope. Of all the many Bach organ sets, only Stephen Preston's has scrupulously followed the BWV number sequence. Many of the other sets, for example, have odiously scattered the six Trio Sonatas, BWV 525 to 529. They appear together in the original manuscript, for God's sake. Why send me hiking to find them? I also prefer my Beethoven symphonic sets in numerical order. Peppier conductors like Toscanini and John Nelson and even Takashi Asahina often have sequential sets on 5 discs, and peppy is good! More often than not, however, the overall sequence is often something like 1 with 3, 2 with 6, 4 with 7, 5 with 8 and 9 all by itself, just to cram everything onto 5 discs. Charge me a little more and give me 6 discs, please! Of course, junk in sequence is still junk. But good stuff scrambled has been presented like junk, and that is even more offensive in its way.

[@bendingcaesar65]

David, what, in your opinion, is the overall best Bach cantata cycle, just in terms of performance and interpretation quality? Is it this one?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Probably the Suzuki cycle on BIS, but it costs a fortune.

[@bendingcaesar65]

@@DavesClassicalGuide Thanks. It's probably worth waiting for Robert to box them up and put out his own cube at a reduced price.

[@philippecassagne3192]

@@DavesClassicalGuide Yes, but only if you have no allergy to the counter-tenor Robin Blaze ! It is the main reason why I did not buy it.

[@youtuber5305]

Important recording projects = Hugo Wolf Society prewar recordings?

[@bbailey7818]

I'd say so but, overall, the 1930s Society set movement in general. Historically, it saw the classical recording industry through the depression and artistically, the sets made available music never before recorded from Bach's WTC, Mozart operas, Haydn quartets through Delius and Sibelius. Not to mention in performances which often are still compelling today. One example from the project you mention, who has ever come close to Roswaenge's harrowing Der Feuerreiter?

[@tuttifrutti2229]

Great works and recordings but personally when I listen to 1-2 cantata , I have listen to all of them. I could never sit and listens to many of them in one go. I think they are better serve in moderation…