Robert Shaw Conducts Bach Cantatas

The young conductor Robert Shaw started recording the music of J.S. Bach soon after he began his association with the Victor company. His first effort was a set of arias with Marian Anderson in June 1946; soon thereafter he turned to Bach's Cantata BWV 140 Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Awake, a voice calls us, generally called Sleepers, awake! in English), one of the composer's best-known choral works.

Today's transfer comes from an early LP that coupled BWV 140 with Shaw's 1949 recording of the equally compelling but less recognized Cantata BWV 131 Aus der Tiefe (Out of the depths). 

Both these compositions are church cantatas, setting sacred texts. Aus der Tiefe is a very early example of Bach's work in the form, written in 1707 when he was resident in Mühlhausen. Wachet auf comes from 1731, when he was in Leipzig.

Robert Shaw

Bach structured the works to intersperse variations on a hymn tune with contrasting passages. In Wachet auf, the chorale is based on a Lutheran hymn published by Philipp Nicolai in 1599. The fourth movement is a chorale prelude that was later published as one of the Schübler Chorales for organ, achieving independent renown. (I've appended two of these to the post as a bonus - see below.)

In BWV 140 the chorales are separated by recitatives and arias from an unknown source or sources that depict a wedding of the soul and Jesus. In the fourth movement, the bass sings, "Ich habe mich mit dir / Von Ewigkeit vertraut" ("I have betrothed myself to you from eternity to eternity").

BWV 131 does not include recitatives. The text is based on Psalm 130 and also incorporates the words of a chorale, derived from "Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut" by Bartholomäus Ringwaldt.

Shaw's recordings are among the earliest of these works; BWV 131 was a first recording. The more popular BWV 140 had two earlier issues. As you might expect, stylistically Shaw's readings have been surpassed. Even so, his use of relatively small forces pointed to the future.

Paul Matthen

The vocal soloists are variable. Bass Paul Matthen is excellent in both works, as is tenor William Hess in Aus der Tiefe. Soprano Suzanne Freil is good in Wachet auf, but tenor Roy Russell is shaky in his brief recitative.

Shaw employed some of the best instrumentalists for these works. Oboist Robert Bloom and violinist Joseph Fuchs can be heard in both cantatas. The continuo in BWV 131 was provided by harpsichordist Sylvia Marlowe and cellist Bernard Greenhouse.

Joseph Fuchs and Robert Bloom

The sound in BWV 131, from 1949 and the Manhattan Center, was better than BWV 140, from three years earlier and Town Hall, but both are more than acceptable. 

Unlike the LP, the download is tracked and includes texts and translations, along with several reviews. The recordings were remastered from Internet Archive. 

LINK to Bach cantatas

Two Chorale Preludes

As a bonus I've added the organ chorale prelude Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme BWV 645 along with the brief prelude BWV 646 Wo soll ich fliehen hin, in 1944 performances by Carl Weinrich, who recorded with Shaw. You can hear him in the recent post of favorite hymns from the Shaw Chorale.

LINK to chorale preludes