David Greco & Van Diemen’s Band Bach Cantatas CD

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach is pure perfection: a vast yet intricate tapestry of heavenly beauty and human emotion. Music was for Bach the means through which mortals could directly experience the divine, and his cantatas reveal his extraordinary gift for communicating directly with his listeners, even across three centuries. As dramatic and passionate as any opera, each cantata carries us deep into the heart of its story.

This CD presents Bach’s two sacred cantatas for solo bass, performed by acclaimed Australian baritone David Greco and the exciting Tasmanian Baroque ensemble Van Diemen’s Band. Both cantatas offer us a vision of comfort and hope, beautifully conveyed by Greco’s rich, warm tones: Ich habe genug (It is enough), BWV82, is an outpouring of uttermost relief and joy: long, agonising years of waiting are forgotten as the old man Simeon realises that the baby he is cradling in his arms is the Christ child who brings new hope for the world. Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen (Gladly will I bear the cross), BWV56, presents the human journey as a sea voyage, tossed on raging waters before coming safe home to port in heaven.

The album also presents a selection of bass arias and instrumental movements taken from cantatas across Bach’s long career, from the carefree joy of the opening sinfonia to his cantata Der Herr denket an uns (BWV196) – written for a wedding, perhaps even for Bach’s own wedding in 1707 – to the profound tranquility of Betrachte, meine Seel (Contemplate, O my soul) from the St John Passion, as revised by Bach in 1749, just one year before his death.

Warmth, honesty, truth, compassion and transcendent beauty: this recording by the cream of Australia’s early music specialists will make you fall in love with Bach all over again.