If you’re like me, you may sometimes have a hankering for some good old Bach Cantatas.  I would like to pass on some resources that I have found useful in this regard, the information is available to use, but in some cases is either copywritten, or for sale.  Enjoy!

Recordings

I am a big fan of the following groups:  All can be downloaded on iTunes, but I am not sure about other places as I haven’t checked.  I recommend iTunes, because of its simplicity and fair prices.  In addition, there is a good availability of most of the titles. To do a search in iTunes, I usually put the following keywords:  ”BWV” then “Artist” 

If you choose a low number for the BWV, you will be directed to the Cantatas.  You can also just use the word “Cantata” and iTunes will find it for you. 

Now to the groups:

English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner: A classic and groundbreaking group, for whom we can thank for a significant amount of pioneering Bach research and performance.  They have a clean and glossy sound, but the online MP3’s are a bit lacking in production quality, from what I can hear.  This is very slight, and shouldn’t dissuade the eager buyer, in my opinion.   

The Bach Ensemble with Joshua Rifkin: This is one of the premiere American Bach ensembles, and their recordings are good, I mean Really Good.  Unfortunately, there are only a few examples available for download.  I am not sure how much they have released. Sound is dirty and honest, a great start for the drama lover.  

Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra with Ton Koopman: Great sound, great performances, a bit in the English Baroque Soloists category of glossiness and “cleanliness”, so to speak.  Recordings are excellent, but slightly marred by a certain attempt at perfection.

Bach Collegium Japan with Masaaki Suzuki (Recommended): Not only is their iTunes discography enormous, the Bach Collegium Japan are the acknowledged champions of Cantata recordings.  They have made countless breakthroughs in performance practice over the course of the last decade, and seem to still be going strong. The later recordings (2005 and up) are completely transcendental.  Jaems’ favorites (no, I can’t afford them all yet!) Volumes 23, 25, 33, 21, 28, 14, 27, 31, 13, 17, 36, 35, and 24.   Homepage

Translations

I can only recommend one site, and it is located here: link

The translations were done by Mezzo-Soprano Pamela Dellal, also a language scholar and personal friend of mine. Boldface is used for Chorale texts, and regular typeface for recitative and Aria texts.  For mixed movements, the reader can easily identify which is which. 

Juxtaposition of Chorale / Verse text

Scores

I know of one place and it is located HERE Excellent resource, with piano reduction.  Full scores are generally not available for free, but these reductions are. Thanks to whomever put it up: an excellent resource. 

Catalogue (BWV)

Oh, and one more thing: if you are interested in the numbering system of the complete canon of Bach works in the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, you can find a PDF version at the following link: Here

Update: You can download the complete works of Bach. Information located here. [link]

Added: Aug. 12, 2008:

Concordances

I don’t know how I could have forgotten Bach-Cantatas.com. This is a boon for the Cantata Traveler.  There is an alphabetical index over chorale tunes, with each tune being represented in the original context where possible.  Each verse of the chorale used in cantata movements is then represented, with a wide variety of possible translations in several languages. Melodies are represented with a single staff and the key used in each piece.  It seems like the alphabetical index only includes the main concordant for the melody, so you may need to do a bit of independent research if the text setting you are looking for is not on the list.  Example:  BWV 73: “Herr, wie du willt, so schick’s mit mir”.  You can do a search on BWV number if you have it.  But the melody “Herr, wie du willt, so schick’s mit mir” is not on the alphabetical melody list, because it is the lesser known of that set. If you didn’t have the BWV number, you would need to know that it’s the same melody as “Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält”, then you could find it in the list.  Mostly, it can be advised that you have the BWV number in order to search. 

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