BACH Cantatas: No. 150;1,3,5,7 No. 67;3 No. 42;1,3,5,7 No. 158;7 No. 104;6,7 No. 85;2,4,6,7 No. 1122,4,6,7 • John Eliot Gardiner, cond; Gillian Keith (sop);1 Katharine Fuge (sop);2 Daniel Taylor (ct);3 William Towers (ct);4 Charles Daniels (ten);5 Norbert Meyn (ten);6 Stephen Varcoe (bs);7 Monteverdi Ch; English Baroque Soloists (period instruments) • SOLI DEO GLORIA 131 (2 CDs: 111:31 Text and Translation)

Volume 23 of John Eliot Gardiner’s Cantata Pilgrimage edition is devoted to the first and second Sundays after Easter, with Cantatas 158, for Easter Tuesday, and 150, for an unspecified occasion, tossed in for good measure. No. 150 may have been Bach’s earliest cantata, probably composed during Bach’s stay in Arnstadt, which, incidentally, is where Gardiner’s pilgrims performed and recorded it. Gardiner hypothesizes that Bach might have composed it to show what he could do, and to counter the criticism that had come his way after his extended absence in Lübeck and the incident with the “unauthorized maiden” (apparently his fiancée, Maria Barbara) in the choir loft. Cantata 158, for solo bass, is one of Bach’s late cantatas. Generally dated 1735, it may be a fragment. Cantatas 67 and 104 from Bach’s first annual cycle of cantatas for Leipzig, and Nos. 42 and 85 from the second, are examples of the master at the height of his powers. BWV 112 is another late cantata, composed in 1731 after Bach had stopped writing cantatas on a regular schedule. It is cast as a chorale cantata, possibly to extend the cycle that he did not complete in 1725. For unknown reasons he had abandoned that project before Easter, so BWV 42 and 85 more closely resemble the first annual cycle of cantatas.

Gardiner has approached these cantatas with his customary vigor, but the pastoral elements of the second-Sunday cantatas are appropriately tender. His impetuous tempo in the duet of BWV 112 puts soprano Fuge and tenor Meyn to the test, but they emerge, if not entirely unscathed, at least still breathing. Otherwise, the present set is free from the eccentricities that surfaced in the previous volume. The soloists are fine throughout, though Stephen Varcoe, who handles the bass solos on both discs, struggles with the bottom of the range. Trust me, some things, if you are a bass, have to be sung very early in the morning. Up in his register, Varcoe contributes some lovely singing.

Sound and presentation are, as always, exemplary, making this a worthy extension of the record of the Cantata Pilgrimage. If you are already collecting this series, you’ll buy this set anyway, and you’ll be glad you did. If you are new to this series, you might just sign on after hearing this set.

FANFARE: George Chien