This is a superior production from the Quebec historical-performance ensemble
Les Violons du Roy and conductor
Bernard Labadie. The music on the disc is for soloists and orchestra: soprano and alto in the case of "Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden, BWV 1083," with the alto part sung here by countertenor
Daniel Taylor, and a soprano solo in the famed Cantata No. 82, "Ich habe genug," BWV 82. The pairing of works holds enduring interest. "Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden is an adaptation of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's Stabat Mater," fitted to a German-language version of Psalm 51. It's somewhat unusual among Bach's experiments with Italian music -- in transferring Vivaldi to the organ you encounter some of Bach's architectural thinking in the ways he makes the transition, but here you encounter Bach's fascination with Italian melody in something like pure form.
Labadie's conducting, in addition to the superbly coordinated articulation he coaxes from his players, differentiates attractively between the two works. In the Pergolesi adaptation he holds the orchestra well in check -- almost too much in check, you think, until the singers start and you realize that he is giving them room to work. The contrast between
Taylor's wire-like pitch control and the lush voice of soprano
Karina Gauvin offers many chilling moments. In "Ich habe genug,"
Labadie gives the orchestra a more assertive if still quiet role, lingering on the dark pools of resolving dissonances with which Bach symbolizes the depth of the faithful soul's contentment.
Gauvin emerges as a soloist on par with any of the European singers specializing in this music, and the Super Audio sound (auditioned on a good conventional stereo) catches impressive detail in a performance that resides at low dynamic levels throughout.