S. Kuijken Cantatas for the complete Liturgical ... - Euroton Musik AB

For several years, we
have chosen to perform
the vocal works of J. S. Bach
(Cantatas, Motets, Passions
etc.) with vocal forces of one
singer to a part, and not with
a “choir“ in the usual sense.
Indeed, some well-founded
musicological studies,
started nearly a quarter of
a century ago by Joshua Rifkin, demonstrated that
Bach – as well as his contemporaries – was used to
composing his “modern“ music for performance by
such a vocal quartet. So, in the Cantatas, Passions,
Magnifi cat and Masses, these “performers“ would
have to sing everything that appeared in the score: the
recitatives, the arias, the chorales and the ensembles
(choruses). Thus the works for double choir (certain
Motets, the St. Matthew Passion) had to have eight
singers. This corresponds exactly with Bach‘s kind of
writing. Even if there exist nowadays choirs of reduced
size, which can perfectly overcome the technical
diffi culties posed by Bach‘s scores, it seems to me more
and more that the practice of tripling and quadrupling
the vocal forces in Bach‘s works is comparable to
playing a Haydn quartet with 16 musicians. Certainly
“realizable“, but less appropriate to the actual essence
of the work‘s writing. In the version with “soloists“,
the whole can remain transparent, and yet “inhabited“
by the individual contributions of the four singers.
A certain “madrigalism“ can be detected, which
hardly corresponds to a “choral“ performance. The
instrumental forces are also those suggested by
Bach, and are those found every time in the original
material which comes down to us. Needless to say, the
10
performance without a “conductor“, in the “modern“
sense, is vital from this point of view, and thus the
creation of the moment becomes more than ever a
shared and essential act by all the participants. The
programme presented here is part of a vast project,
spread over many years. Indeed, we have undertaken
the realization of a complete liturgical year of Cantatas.
This will result in about 20 CDs, bringing together the
Cantatas for every Sunday and the great Festivals
of the liturgical year. We will give them in groups
of three or four Cantatas, wherever possible in the
appropriate period of the year.
Sigiswald Kuijken, 15 December 2005
Depuis quelques années, nous avons choisi de
présenter les œuvres vocales de J.S. BACH (Cantates,
motets, passions, ...) avec un effectif vocal d’un chanteur
par partie, et non pas avec un « chœur » au sens habituel.
Des études musicologiques très fondées, initiées il y a
bientôt un quart de siècle par Joshua Rifkin, démontrent
en effet que Bach (ainsi que ses contemporains)
était habitué de concevoir sa musique « moderne »,
concertante pour un tel quatuor vocal. Ceci correspond
parfaitement à la nature même de l’écriture de Bach :
même s’il existe de nos jours des « chœurs » de taille
réduite, qui arrivent parfaitement à vaincre les diffi cultés
techniques posées par les partitions de Bach, je me sens
de plus en plus convaincu que la pratique de tripler ou
quadrupler l’effectifvocal dans les œuvres de Bach soit
comparable à l’exécution d’un quatuor de Haydn à 16
musiciens... Certes « réalisable », mais moins appropriée
à l’essence même de l’écriture de l’œuvre.