If just the idea of hearing
Bach's Cantata "Mein Herz schwimmt im Blut" in the Leipzig version puts a smile on your face, if just the thought of hearing his Cantata "Ich habe genung" is enough to brighten your day, then this recording by the New England
Bach band
Aston Magna will put a smile on your face all the live-long day. While there have been better recordings of these cantatas back in the antediluvian pre-digital age -- one thinks of
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's "Mein Herz" or
Hans Hotter's "Ich habe genug" -- that takes nothing away from these passionate performances by the cream of the New England
Bach scene. And while one might note that not all the notes are hit and perhaps even complain that for all its passion, not all the words are comprehensible, that takes very little away from the intensity of the performances by the sons and daughters of the hard soil of New England. Because, for all that they are not German Lutherans whose weltanschauung was formed by a different zeitgeist, the
Aston Magna musicians still sound like they understand the passionate pessimism and the joyous resignation of
Bach's cantatas and they do their level best to make the listener feel the same way. Centaur's sound, always variable, is quite fine here with plenty of clarity and just enough warmth.