Cantatas BWV 56 e 140, Motet BWV Anh.159
The music of Johann Sebastian Bach on this recording was composed over a period of some twenty years. It is representative of three major genres in Bach's creative output: a motet, written during his earliest period of composition, a solo cantata, dating from his first years at Leipzig, and a chorale cantata, written somewhat later. In all, it is a rich fare of some fourteen different movements, ranging from simple recitatives and four-part chorales to beautiful arias and complex choral counterpoint. - Robin A. Leaver