Bach: The Six Motets, BWV 225-30/Jesu, Meine Freude Fantasia
Editorial Reviews
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The historical-performance movement preaches the gospel of the demythologized Bach. He was no god incarnate; he was just a man. But try as we may, even the most experienced period performers still approach him with a certain reverence and varnish his music with a layer of studied interpretative detail. The motets have so much to say that to be anything other than painstaking and eloquent in one's musical responses would be like mounting a Shakespeare play on a single read-through. And yet we all know how empty and off-putting self-consciously 'meaningful' and over-rehearsed Shakespeare can be. It's not always easy to find that middle path between the under-played and the over-egged. The Sarum Consort opt for the less-is-more approach. Scaled down to just one voice per part, they sing the notes fairly straight and simple. I'm not saying they are not expressive; it's just that they are not excessive. Unlike some disastrous, close-miked attempts to beef up one-to-a-part versions, The Sarum Consort have been recorded at a little distance with plenty of space around the voices. There's a chamber organ for support, but unlike most other recent recordings they deny themselves the (authentic) luxury of instrumental doublings. What I enjoyed most was a sense of madrigalian intimacy and an obvious delight in Bach's glorious part-writing. It makes a thought-provoking change from the weightier and richer-toned performances of the RIAS Chamber Choir or even The Sixteen. But I can't recommend this new version ahead of them. This is a very ambitious project for so new and, in this repertory, so inexperienced a group, and for some listeners there may be a few reservations about pitch, ensemble and their ability to sustain momentum. But when they hit the mark – as they do in the jubilant final chorus of 'Singet dem Herrn' – The Sarum Consort will surely strike a chord in the heart of every Bach lover. Simon Heighes
Bach: The Six Motets, BWV 225-30/Jesu, Meine Freude Fantasia, Music, Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Quinney, Baroque Motet, Chamber Music & Recitals, Choral, Chorale Prelude or Chorale Treatment for Keyboard, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Keyboard, Motet
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