The program heard on this Coviello Classics release isn't one that would have appeared in
Bach's own time, and it includes only a few complete compositions, all of them instrumental. It offers, however, a unique cross-section of
Bach's work. The combination of tenor and transverse flute is a common one in
Bach's cantatas, and his output in this vein reached a high point in the years 1724 and 1725. It may be, as tenor and annotator
Daniel Johannsen suggests in his booklet notes (in German and English, including all of the vocal texts and even the track list), that
Bach had an unusually talented flutist at his disposal during this period, or perhaps it was just that
Bach realized all the things that this combination would do at a time when his cantata production was necessarily high. Tenor and flute could work together in similar basic material to produce a little trio sonata-like movement with a cello-and-keyboard continuo (both organ and harpsichord are used here). They could both essay difficult high-energy lines in operatic conceits in which the flute fills in for the orchestra. The flute could set a pastoral mood that the tenor, who generally enters after the flute delivers a full introduction, proceeds to intensify. The flute could set an atmosphere of mystery for when the tenor is in full evangelical or supplicant mode, or one of the other common attitudes traced by
Johannsen in his notes. The result is that despite the similarity of forces, the album has quite a bit of variety, and the inclusion of the Sonata in E minor for flute and continuo, BWV 1034, and of a couple of organ pieces from the Clavier-Übung, is a bonus. You might not pick this album purely as a selection of arias, for
Johannsen's vocal range is not great. But as an illustration of
Bach's ability to extract the maximum from a single structural idea, it's marvelous. Superior sound is another attraction.