ENGLISH
When, now nearly thirty years ago, we released our first recording of Bach’s motets, the Collegium Vocale Gent belonged to a small group of pioneering ensembles that were opening the doors to a new sound world. For the first time these motets were being heard with a small number of singers – no more than two or three per part – at a time when the motets were customarily performed by lavish formations or amateur choirs. In addition, the vocal parts were doubled colla parte by strings and winds, and on early instruments! Finally, and especially, the overall approach was determined by a new investigation of rhetorical expression, founded on research and encompassing articulation, phrasing, rhythms and dynamics. Ever since this recording was released, the Collegium Vocale Gent has been involved in a host of projects that have featured all Bach’s great works. A goodly number of cantatas has thus been recorded, and the motets were, here and there, taken up again in concerts. Why, then, present a new recording today? It is true that we have, throughout these years, deepened our appreciation of the subject through reading and through many conversations with eminent musicologists; but we have arrived at the conclusion that, in respect of both the forces involved and the general approach, a revolutionary, groundbreaking rereading was not necessary. A lot has been done in recent years in connection with the cantatas and their performance, supposedly from a historical viewpoint, to impose the idea of one singer per part; it is a point of view that we do not share. As far as Bach’s motets are concerned, we are still of the opinion that several approaches are possible and even necessary if this wonderful music is to sound at its best, especially for a recording – an objective event that Bach himself would undoubtedly approached in a pragmatic manner. With regard to the number of singers we believe, for example, that a small grouping is able to do justice to the expressive eloquence of motets such as Jesu, meine Freude and Komm, Jesu, komm. Similarly, Lobet den Herrn, a motet of questioned authenticity and that probably dates from an earlier period, sounds for this reason all the more convincing with one singer per part. By contrast, Singet dem Herrn takes full advantage of a large configuration, depending of course on the venue, which in this case is the Church of Christ Jesus in Berlin.
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