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Reviewer: George
Chien
Bach’s
Magnificat survives in two versions: the original, in E♭, composed in 1723,
and a revision, transposed down a half-step to D Major, dating from about a
decade later. The original included four interpolated chorales that are
rarely heard today because they were omitted from the much more popular
revision. Among my collected Magnificats the D-Majors outnumber the E♭s by a
ratio of 10 to one, and the competition is, to say the least, a healthy one.
I won’t impute that Aleander Weimann has shaped his program for competitive
advantage, but his two surprises can’t hurt. First, he’s included the four
chorales from the E♭ score in his D-Major performance. Second, he has
recorded a Christmas cantata by Johann Kuhnau, Bach’s predecessor as
Leipzig’s cantor. Recordings of Kuhnau’s Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern
are, unless I miss my guess, considerably rarer than those of the
interpolated chorales. The good news is that the Kuhnau canata is an
agreeable piece. It’s not Bach, but it’s well worth your time, and it’s well
sung. The chorales should satisfy your curiosity, too, though I would have
preferred a chorus to the solo quartet. The soloists, however, acquit
themselves well in the choral movements of the Magnificat proper. Overall,
this is an OK disc that gets a boost from its unusual inclusions.
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