BACH Motets • Peter Kooij (cond); Sette Voci • RAMÉE RAM 0906 (70:23 Text and Translation)
Since the motets are the only works by Bach that remained continuously in use after his death, one would think that we should know how to perform them. Yet the thinking on so basic an issue as accompaniment has turned completely around. A cappella singing was the norm probably for two centuries, but it is now commonly thought that instruments were used in Bach’s time. By the same token, the motets have been an integral part of the choral tradition for just as long, but there is now an increasing sentiment in favor of solistic performances. One-to-a-part recordings of Bach’s motets are still relatively few, but who can doubt that the number will increase?
Peter Kooij, familiar to listeners as the favored bass soloist of both Philippe Herreweghe and Maasaki Suzuki, hereby casts his lot with the minimalists. Four of the extant motets were written for double chorus, so eight singers are required. His vocal ensemble, Sette Voci, is a veritable United Nations of talent and excellence. Kooij (who does not sing here) presents a very modern, spare Bach, sung with a minimum of vibrato and extraordinary precision. The results are more intense than sentimental, but do not suffer from lack of feeling. The singers are discretely supported by dual organs and a continuo bass player.
Added to the six canonical motets is Ich lasse dich nicht, now, according to Ramée’s notes, confirmed to be the work of Sebastian Bach, not of his cousin Johann Christoph, a common attribution. It’s a fine work, considerably shorter than the other motets, whose attribution has undergone as many changes as the preferred practice of performing the motets.
Kooij’s one-to-a-part performance joins versions by the Hilliard Ensemble (ECM) and Cantus Cölln (DHM). Hilliard, unaccompanied, except for the organ continuo of BWV 230, sounds a bit anemic. Cantus Cölln, directed by Konrad Junghänel and robustly accompanied by an ensemble of 10 instruments, is a better option. Kooij strikes a happy medium, and of the three gets my nod.
Nevertheless, I’m inclined to favor the choral versions by Marlowe, Kuijken, and Herreweghe. Add Bo Holten’s recent entry to the list. Holten, incidentally, a believer in the Rifkin doctrine, chose to record the motets with three singers to a part. His justification, if I may be so bold as to summarize it, is that they sound better that way.
