The six church cantatas in this new twoCD set were once thought to be products of Bach's pen. Four of them, in fact, are included in Vol. 41 of the old Bach Gesellschaft. Even as recently as 1950 Schmieder listed all six works in his catalogue as being unequivocally by Bach though by then or shortly after scholars, notably Alfred Durr, were beginning to express their doubts concerning Bach's authorship. In the second edition of his thematic catalogue (1990), Schmieder demotes the pieces to Anhang status, listing all the important literature leading to their diminished significance to the Bach canon. We now know that two of the cantatas, Gott der Hoffnung erfulle euch and Siehe, es hat uberwunden der Lowe, are by Telemann, while Mein Odem ist schwach is by Bach's nephew and one-time pupil at the Leipzig Thomasschule, Johann Ernst (1722-77). The remaining three retain their anonymity.
The notion of putting these spurious 'Bach' cantatas together for a recording is a good one. When or where else do we get an opportunity of hearing them? And there are others, too, equally deserving of an airing (BWV15, 53, 141, 142, 160, 189), though some of these are occasionally performed. There is little music in the present anthology that approaches the inspired legacy of the Leipzig Cantor and it is hard to understand how some of it could ever have been mistaken for his work. Some isolated movements, however, rise well above the merely proficient, sharing at least superficially a common expressive language with Bach's work. Such is the case with the affecting opening D minor chorus of BWV217. But the subsequent alto aria with flute, a beautiful pastoral evocation, and the closing chorus are of a wholly different aesthetic, inclining towards the galant.
Both the Telemann pieces have texts by Neumeister and probably date from the composer's Frankfurt period (1712-21). Gott der Hoffnung is a cantata for Pentecost with a lively opening chorus scored for a pair of horns with strings. The two arias are attractive, too, without being in any way memorable. The other Telemann work, Siehe, es hat uberwunden der Lowe, deals with St Michael's battle with the dragon. Here the brass instruments are trumpets which lend appropriate and effective colour to the story. The most impressive movement here is the bass aria whose writhing vocal strand, punctuated with trumpet fanfares, conjures up a colourful picture of the encounter. But how conservative Telemann's writing appears compared with the much more powerfully conceived imagery of his oratorios of the 1750s and early 1760s. The performance is somewhat understated, perhaps, but is nevertheless far more convincing than the undernourished alto aria dogged by miserable string playing.
The remaining works comprise a mixed bag. BWV220 is really rather undistinguished, a quality emphasized by the inadequacy of the solo tenor, who is far and away the weakest member of the solo team. BWV221 is patchy both in quality and performance. Once again the latter is severely compromised by the solo tenor, Harry Geraerts, who partners a much more accomplished bass, Phillip Langshaw, in an engaging galant duet; Berlin seems a far more likely home for this piece than Leipzig. The most distinctive movement is perhaps a short but delicately scored bass aria towards the end of the work. Finest by far is the cantata by Johann Ernst Bach, which commands attention in its opening measures with bold, chromatic harmonies. Here and throughout, the choir play a more prominent role than in the remaining works, sometimes alternating affectingly with declamatory solo passages.
For Johann Ernst's cantata alone this double disc set may be worth considering; but few readers will be other than disappointed by the lustreless, ragged and dispiriting performances which sound thoroughly under-rehearsed. What a pity for, as I say, the idea of collecting together cantatas once ascribed to J. S. Bach is an interesting one. Hand in hand with variable singing and playing comes an undistinguished recording, though the booklet contains a helpful introduction and full texts of the cantatas in German, English and French. Much of this music has more to yield than either the Alsfeld Vocal Ensemble or the Bremen Steintor Barock has discovered.'