Alpermann Bach 57

The church cantata very quickly came to occupy a privileged place in Bach’s output, but it was in his Leipzig period that he explored new stylistic possibilities for the genre in several cycles. The third of these, mostly scored for relatively small forces, features in these Dialogkantaten three fine examples of the ‘madrigalian’ type: in their arias, recitatives and chorales, the composer deploys a poetry that does not exclude audacity and an eloquence worthy of opera.

The secular cantatas afford us a glimpse of what J.S. Bach could have done if he had been tempted to write an opera. They reveal a composer who was highly sensitive not only to the place where they were to be performed (in the Zimmermann cafe or gardens in Leipzig), but also to the texts he was given to set and to the audience that was to listen to them. As performed by the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin and Rene Jacobs, these fascinating works demonstrate the full range of Bach's musical palette.

As the title implies, the soprano and the baritone soloists in Bach's three Dialog Cantatas are partners in conversation. The works, also designated as concertos - Concerto in Dialogo - feature sacred dialogues, between the soul and Christ, presented in glorious musical settings that allow the vocalists to shine. This recording features Sophie Karthäuser and Michael Volle, backed by the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin in performances that set a new standard for these unique works in Bach's oeuvre.