Bach Cantatas BWV 179, 199 & 113

Rating:
Summary: Kozena redeems the purchase.
Review: I was actually a little disappointed when I watched this DVD. Without the soprano Kozena in BWV 199, I would give give it 3 stars. With BWV 113 one of my favorite cantatas, I initially figured nothing could really go wrong. And Gardiner is usually very good. The problem was that the performances were largely boring. Each cantata is performed in the same place: a tiny cathedral (England?) and the usually dramatic tenor Padmore was rather unconvincing, looking more like an actor than a singer of sacred music. The "congregation" hardly treats the performance as the sacred church music it was written as, as they clapped at the end of each cantata.

I had heard many nasty things about Kozena, but upon seeing and hearing her for the first time, I was quite impressed. She has an interesting habit of half closing her eyes all the time but this did not bother me. She had a good voice, good interpretation and good presentation. This DVD is only enjoyable for her rendition of the solo soprano cantata BWV 199.

The orchestra was also superb, but could not redeem either BWV 179 or even the normally wonderful 113 because of the lackluster singing. Ponseele on oboe was nice to see and hear, especially in BWV 199.

Towers and Loges (counter-tenor and bass) were both unconvincing and rather monotimbre (although very good technical singers). The chorus was also rather unconvincing and not very sharp sounding.

Basically without Kozena, this DVD is not worth buying, but with her it gets a 4 star rating and a recommendation "buy it if you want."