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RAYMOND SQUITIERI's avatar

Fischer-Dieskau was Richter's bass soloist here (he's actually a lyric baritone) but doesn't appear in these excerpts. Even though no one thinks of him as a Bach specialist, to me he was the outstanding Bach bass of his time. In Richter's St. Matthew Passion from around 1961, the young F-D sings the greatest and most moving "Mache dich mein Herze rein" on record.

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herb roselle's avatar

The extra-musical content. Often sad, often bloody. Perhaps to listen to a Bach cantata, it would help to "walk in the footsteps" of a devout Christian, even while not following that faith. Certainly, it helps to be "Jewish" (thanks, Santos) to enjoy Fiddler on the Roof fully. Or any other religion or ethnicity. Not to be one but to be "as one" in experiencing the music.

Getting back to the cantatas, I have the Suzuki performances and they are astonishing.

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