Bach: Cantatas for Soprano / Sampson, Mullejans, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra

For his biographer Philipp Spitta, Bach's period as organist and later Konzertmeister to the Duke of Weimar (1708-17) was the time of his ‘early mastery’. Nowhere is this more evident than in the small but highly distinguished body of cantatas he wrote there, whether for the court chapel – the Himmelsburg or ‘Castle of Heaven’ – or for some clearly very joyful wedding (BWV 202). From the ravishing duets for soprano and oboe of the latter to the penitential strains of BWV 199, the radiant voice of Carolyn Sampson and the virtuosos of the Freiburger Barockorchester do full justice to the composer’s infinite variety.