Due to his strict adherence to compositional principles for this cycle, Bach largely created new works, ruling out the use of existing material.
Interpretation
The performers on this recording use a contrabassoon in some outer movements, even though Bach only had access to this instrument in the late 1730s.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Bach combined the Central German chorale cantata form, cultivated by his predecessor at St. Thomas's, with more modern forms inspired by Italian opera.
Compositional Technique
Bach's second cantata cycle is unified by its structure: each cantata is based on a hymn that begins and ends the work, with the opening as an elaborate chorale fantasia and the final movement plainly harmonized.
Instruments
The organ used in this recording is similar in size to the Brustwerk organ Bach had in Leipzig, and it plays a prominent role in the music.
Composition History
This album features cantatas from Bach's annual cycle of chorale cantatas, which he wrote between Trinity Sunday 1724 and Easter 1725.
Interpretation
This recording's approach to secco recitatives avoids a normative style, performing bass notes consistently short or consistently long within each cantata, rather than subtly differentiated.
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