Bach (Barnaby Smith)

JS Bach
Cantatas: Ich habe genug, BWV 82; Vergnügte Ruh, BWV 170; plus arias from Mass in B minor, St Matthew Passion, St John Passion etc
Barnaby Smith (countertenor), Katie Jeffries-Harris (mezzo-soprano); Illyria Consort
Voces8 Records VCM152   72:16 mins

Following his all-Handel debut solo album, the artistic director of Voces8 turns his attention to JS Bach, and to a trajectory spanning Christ’s presentation in the Temple, through the anguish of Passiontide, to Easter. It could seem like a ploy to camouflage what amounts to a project cherry-picking some of Bach’s choicest alto arias, but Smith sidesteps the charge by including two complete cantatas: Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, BWV 170, and Ich habe genüg, BWV 82 – the latter in its less familiar alto incarnation dating from the 1730s. From the B minor Mass comes an artfully floated Agnus Dei, plus one of the album’s highlights, an intimate, enchanting account of the Credo’s ‘Et in unum Dominum’ for which he’s joined by mezzo Katie Jeffries-Harris. It’s beautifully done, the voices entwining and soaring, the echo effects ricocheting joyously.

Smith studied with Andreas Scholl and like his mentor he’s cultivated an approach that sometimes prizes beauty of line and colour above all else, so that the exquisite ‘finish’ communicates only a part of the story. And while the opening of Cantata 170 exudes a beguiling easefulness, and Ich habe genüg’s ‘Schlummert ein’ gently caresses, the wretchedness enshrined in the ‘Erbarme dich’ from the St Matthew Passion is somewhat circumscribed.

Particularly rewarding is the attentive support of the Illyria Consort which fields especially eloquent obligato contributions from oboist Leo Duarte and organist Steven Devine. For all the seductive swaddling the album nonetheless ends on a cheerfully upbeat note as the Easter Oratorio’s ‘Saget, saget mir Geschwinde’ injects an invigorating counterbalance.

Paul Riley