The formative collection of cantatas Bach wrote in Weimar represents the tangible musical consequence of his appointment as Concertmaster in March 1714. Ever keen to improve his status and reputation‚ Bach had been elevated – from his court organist position – and was now obliged to deliver a series of monthly cantatas. The three in this new Joshua Rifkin recording constitute a self­contained triptych of pieces composed in quick succession in April and May of that year. Immediate and distinctive‚ each work imparts a clear vision of Bach revelling in the challenge of re­aligning the foundations of German motet text­setting to inhabit the emerging principles of Italian aria and concerted music. Rifkin successfully projects the smaller dimensions of these works (as opposed to the more ‘federally’ eloquent and extended Leipzig cycles)‚ not just in his choice of single­part voices‚ but in the care and attention he affords to details of voicing‚ overall clarity and balance. No 182‚ Himmelskönig‚ sei willkommen‚ is a work of irresistible fragrance which Bach re­visited in Leipzig at least twice. One is struck essentially by Bach’s varied‚ economical and disarmingly direct responses to the text in the arias. Rifkin has chosen soloists‚ each a vital presence in their own right. Michael Schopper is a quiver too far for me (and consistently beneath the note) and yet the stable‚ unassuming sound of Steven Rickards and the seasoned and unmistakable timbre of John Elwes provide a colourful backdrop. The small consort is‚ in the circumstances‚ surprisingly well fused in the choruses‚ especially in the more madrigalesque movements. Those who remember Rifkin’s B minor Mass of 20 years ago and subsequent cantata performances for L’Oiseau Lyre will recognise his identification of rhetorical images‚ most notable in the affect­laden Weinen‚ Klagen (No 12) which contains the precursor to the ‘Crucifixus’ of the Mass. Of the other current ‘chamber’ versions of the work‚ Konrad Junghänel is rather more involving than Jeffery Thomas and his American Bach Soloists though neither is wholly satisfying. Broader points emerge in Erschallet (No 172) where the articulation seems unyielding‚ phrases chopped up and melodic lines merely conveyed rather than experienced. Suzuki has considerably more to say on all fronts. Yet despite moments of sour tuning in the strings‚ Rifkin can still impart the personality of each work in an effective and thoughtful way‚ without saying a great deal more. Increasingly of late‚ I return with relish to Leonhardt and Harnoncourt.