Noami Roseth writes of her response to Bach’s Cantatas, particularly BWV 4.

A few of us periodically join the Illawarra Choral Society concert.  It is an accomplished choir and they don’t really ‘need’ us but it is a pleasant outing, the singers are hospitable and share our love of choral music so we enjoy joining them.  Last year in one of their twice-yearly concerts they performed Faure’s Requiem and Bach’s Cantata No 4 – ‘Christ lag in Todes Banden’.  I have sung the Requiem several times – always a joy.  But the Bach Cantata was entirely new to me.  I listened to it on YouTube in preparation to the Wollongong concert and was absolutely hooked from the first moment.  And the more I rehearsed it, the more I felt connected to this music.  There is something so soothing and deep about it.  I have been through some stressful times of late and I find that listening to this cantata lifts and calms me.

So I got interested in Bach’s cantatas.  Google tells me that there are 200 of them but a glance through YouTube suggests there are a lot more.  I decided to make a project out of it and systematically listen to them all, starting with no. 1 and working my way through to the last one.  I planned to listen to a cantata a day, but that of course does not work.  There are some days in which no time for cantatas can be found.

I am up to No 76 now.  I have a way to go.  I listen to the rendition by the Netherland Bach Society, or to John Eliott Gardiner’s recording.  There are several excellent recordings of German Bach societies.  There isn’t any among those 76 that is not pleasant.  This is Bach, after all.  He just did not write anything that is not pleasant.  Some are more engaging than others but so far none of them does for me what this No 4 does.  I enjoy them all, I reflect about the miracle of Bach’s genius and his gift to us, but none of them lifts, stirs and fills me with joy as that No 4 does.  And none of them has that delightful shimmering filigree-like Hallelujah chorus.

But it’s early days.  Will I find another one that means so much to me?  I wonder.  In the meantime, I so enjoy rehearsing that No 4.

Thank you, Naomi.