| Site review by Polly Nomial June 27, 2012
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Performance: |
This disc of four cantata's celebrates Christmas day, the first & second days of Christmas and the first Sunday after Christmas.
The vocal team is familiar: Gerlinde Samann (soprano), Petra Noskaiova (alto), Christoph Genz (tenor) and Jan Van der Crabben (bass). They are all on fine form as is the playing of La Petite Bande but there are quirks in the interpretation that grate upon repetition. The first to occur is the extremely four-square and crude accenting by the violins in the otherwise glorious duet "Die Armut, so Gott auf sich" from BWV 91; such ravishing music and singing does not deserve such a blatant and unsubtle response. It's a great shame for the recitatives are anything but dry, the chorales flowing and the arias paced so the drama in the music naturally unfolds.
The sound is one of the best issues of this cycle and hails from Augustinus Kerk, Antwerp.
A great shame about that one movement for those 8 minutes take the gloss an otherwise delightful 75 minutes...
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Copyright © 2012 John Broggio and SA-CD.net
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