J.S. Bach: Kantaten BWV 152,199,202 – Carolyn Sampson

   in Early Music Today (Jun, 2017)
How refreshing to encounter a soprano Bach cantatas disc that doesn’t feature the ubiquitous ‘Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen’ (BWV 51) – I’ve no doubt that Carolyn Sampson would dispatch it with aplomb, but alongside the familiar ‘Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten’ (BWV 202) and ‘Mein Herze schwimmt in Blut’ (BWV 199) she has chosen the dialogue cantata ‘Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn’ (BWV 152). All three works are linked by their period of composition – Bach’s time in Weimar (1708–1717), in the employ of the ducal court and chapel – but are very different from one another.

‘Weichet nur’ is a wedding cantata (the identity of the lucky couple has, sadly, not …