Karl Ristenpart
Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works
General Discussions

Karl Ristenpart and Reinhard Goebel are back

Pete Blue wrote (August 15, 2002):
I just finished visiting the Crotchet website (www.crotchet.co.uk).
On the link "New box sets by composer" there is announced the release on July 22, 2002 of a 6-CD set, on the French label Accord, of Karl Ristenpart's Bach recordings from the 60s. This is the set that Uri Golomb mentioned, and the originals of which Brad Lehman discussed extensively, in a short thread on this List about 6 weeks ago. Definitely on my Wish List.

Also announced for release on September 9 in DG's Collectors series is an 8-CD box of the Musica Antiqua Koln/Reinhard Goebel recordings of the B'burgs, Suites, and Sonatas for Violin/Harpsichord, Gamba and Flute. I don't know if the price is right, but new buyers IMO are in for a treat (and often a shock!). Unfortunately, not included in this box is MAK's version of the Musical Offering -- provocative, exhilarating, and fully the equal if not the superior of Savall's. To me the MAK seems as fresh, and as radical, today as it did when I first started collecting their records in the LP era. What do you think?

Aryeh Oron wrote (August 15, 2002):
Pete Blue wrote:
< I just finished visiting the Crotchet website (www.crotchet.co.uk).
On the link "New box sets by composer" there is announced the release on July 22, 2002 of a 6-CD set, on the French label Accord, of Karl Ristenpart's Bach recordings from the 60s. This is the set that Uri Golomb mentioned, and the originals of which Brad Lehman discussed extensively, in a short thread on this List about 6 weeks ago. Definitely on my Wish List. >
A took a look at the content of the box. Alas, no vocal works. Do you know if those guys have any intention of issuing the vocal works too? Ristenpart recorded some cantatas, as you can see in the following page: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Ristenpart.htm
The few recordings that I have enjoy from the trasparancy of his ensemble, his sensitivity to the soloists, and his understanding of the Bach idiom.

Ristenpart cantata cycle ?

Aryeh Oron wrote (March 15, 2004):
Thomas Braatz wrote:
< Agnus Dei of BMM
[snip]
Karl Ristenpart: (again with Hans Christoph Worbs)
>>In 1946 he [Karl Ristenpart] established the RIAS Chamber Orchestra withwhich he made many studio recordings, including the complete sacred and secular cantatas of Bach. In 1953 he moved to Saarbrücken where he directed the Saar Radio Chamber Orchestra which quickly gained a wide reputation. The stylistic authority, clarity of texture and rhythmic energy of his interpretations, which were mainly devoted to German Baroque music, won admiration in Europe and further afield. Among his recordings are suites and concertos by Telemann, Bach's Brandenburg Concertos and Orchestral Suites.<<
[Where are these studio recordings of the complete Bach cantatas? Do these recordings still exist? What is holding them up from being recorded?]
[snip] >
I doubt if Karl Ristenpart has ever recorded a complete Bach cantata cycle. Indeed, during the 1950's and early 1960's he recorded couple of cantatas, as can be seen at the page: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Ristenpart.htm
Alas, most of them are OUP and/or have never been issued in CD form. If the archives of some record labels have a complete cantata cycle by him in their vaults, it would be a real find. The recordings by him are characterised by transparency and clarity, which were quite untypical to the general approach to Bach's vocal works in those days. Last year all his recordings of Bach's orchestral works were re-issued in a 6-CD box set. May I hope for a similar box with all his recordings of Bach's vocal works? I would not object to including of some unissued recordings in this wished set...

Audite - "The RIAS Bach Cantatas Project" – Ristenpart [rec.music.classical.recordings]

Randy Lane wrote (January 15, 2012):
Found this today at JPC.DE : http://tinyurl.com/8x7u37d
Nine CDs recorder between 1949 and 1952
Cantatas : 4, 19, 21, 22, 31, 32, 37-39, 42, 47, 52, 56, 58, 73,76, 79, 88, 106, 108, 127, 140, 160, 164, 176, 178, 180, 199, 202
Artists : Johanna Behrend, Edith Berger-Krebs, Agnes Giebel, Gerda Lammers, Gunthild Weber, Annelies Westen, Helmut Krebs, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Walter Hauck, Gerhard Niese RIAS-Kammerchor, RIAS-Knabenchor, RIAS-Kammerorchester, Karl Ristenpart
Available in Eurpoe 03/02/2012 for 37 Euros.
Audite does generally excellent CD transfers of radio broadcasts.
Anyone here familiar with these performances? Is this set a "must buy" for bach cantata lovers/collectors/completists (all 3 adjectives apply to myself)?

John Thomas wrote (January 15, 2012):
[To Randy Lane] These were the first Bach recordings I ever heard, and I recall them as bright, energetic, beautifully sung and recorded. I've always remembered them with fondness and I'm delighted to know they're coming back into circulation. I will definitely buy them and you should too.

Louis wrote (January 15, 2012):
[To Randy Lane] Halleluia ! at last, at long last ! I thought I'd never see that during my lifetime.
Do not hesitate a wink. This is a must have for any music lover, Bach lover, cantatas lover, completist or not.

Many thanks indeed for letting us know !

John Thomas (pianomaven) wrote (January 15, 2012):
[To Louis] But WHY?

With all that has come onto the market since 1950, why should one buy old radio transcriptions of this music? Is it pure nostalgia for those who knew these performances way back when? Or, is there something which Ristenpart does with this music that nobody else has done since? (Incidentally, that's a LOT of nobodies, of course.)

David Gideon wrote (January 15, 2012):
John Thomas said:
< These were the first Bach recordings I ever heard, and I recall them as bright, energetic, beautifully sung and recorded. I've always remembered them with fondness and I'm delighted to know they're coming back into circulation. I will definitely buy them and you should too. >
What I gather from the website is that these are early mono radio broadcasts from 1941-1952. They are not the Bach Ristenpart recordings that appeared in the US on Nonesuch, Counterpoint/Esoteric, etc. The latter were recorded by the Club Francais mostly (maybe all) in the stereo era. Some of them have been reissued on CD by Accord.

Yesterday's recordings in today's sound, exclusively at http://rediscovery.us ReDiscovery internet radio at: http://rediscovery.us/Listen.html

Rene Gagnaux wrote (January 15, 2012):
David Gideon wrote:
<< These were the first Bach recordings I ever heard, and I recall them as bright, energetic, beautifully sung and recorded. I've always remembered them with fondness and I'm delighted to know they're coming back into circulation. I will definitely buy them and you should too. What I gather from the website is that these are early mono radio broadcasts from 1941-1952. >>
--------------------^ 1949, not 1941

Exactly. This is what makes these recordings extremely interesting. Mostly with young peoples: for example with the young Agnes Giebel early in her career, with the young Fischer-Dieskau, Karl Ristenpart was young too. From Wiki:
"[...] Following World War II, Ristenpart returned to devastated Berlin and put works by Gustav Mahler (his favorite composer) on the program of his first public concert in the Summer of 1945. With Berlin divided into several foreign sectors, his unblemished political record allowed him to be named conductor for the "Radio in the American Sector" of Berlin (RIAS).

In 1946 he thus started to record music, from Monteverdi to Stravinsky, with the forces of his former Karl Ristenpart Chamber Orchestra, supplemented by vocal soloists and top musicians from other Berlin orchestras, under the label "RChoir and Chamber Orchestra". This constituted the second of his important periods of orchestra development and the beginning of his breakthrough to international fame as a conductor, which was mostly built on his ambitious J.S. Bach concert cycle from March 1947 to December 1952.

From this period dates the legendary Archiv production featuring baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Hermann Töttcher playing oboe and oboe da caccia in Bach's Cantatas Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen, BWV 56 and Ich habe genug, BWV 82.

But the worsening of the post-war political situation in Germany in the early 1950s, particularly in Berlin where circulating between the various sectors became increasingly difficult, also created financial problems for radio broadcasting. When it became clear at the end of 1952 that the RIAS could not go on subsidizing all its orchestras, Ristenpart accepted an offer to create a new chamber orchestra for the Saar radio, with which he was also to produce LPs for Les Discophiles français (an unusual arrangement linked to the fact that the "autonomous" Saar region was still under French administration at the time).[...]"

John Thomas wrote (January 16, 2012):
David Gideon wrote to John Thomas:
< What I gather from the website is that these are early mono radio broadcasts from 1941-1952. They are not the Bach Ristenpart recordings that appeared in the US on Nonesuch, Counterpoint/Esoteric, etc. The latter were recorded by the Club Francais mostly (maybe all) in the stereo era. Some of them have been reissued on CD by Accord. >
Thanks for the clarification, David. I think I must have owned the ones on Counterpoint. This makes me even more interested in hearing the Audite set. Those who are long time rmcr survivors may recall the Ristenpart box of Bach orchestral and concerto recordings with the Chamber Orchestra of the Saar that was reissued on Accord about ten years ago. These are still among the most energetic versions of those pieces I've heard except for Savall's Brandenburgs. I'm hoping Audite will resurrect an equally vital set of cantatas.

Matthew B. Tepper wrote (January 16, 2012):
Rene Gagnaux wrote:
< From Wiki:
"[...] Following World War II, Ristenpart returned to devastated Berlin and put works by Gustav Mahler (his favorite composer) on the program of his first public concert in the Summer of 1945. >
Since I tend to associate his name with the considerable amount of Baroque and Classical repertoire he recorded for Nonesuch, I'm a bit surprised to learn that Mahler was his favorite composer, but it's interesting to know. \
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks! Read about "Proty" here: http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/proty.html To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of my employers

Gerard wrote (January 16, 2012):
[To John Thomas] I would not qualify Savall's Brandenburgs as the most energetic versions I've heard.
(Of course, it depends on what you've heard.)

EM wrote (January 16, 2012):
Rene Gagnaux wrote:
< Exactly. This is what makes these recordings extremely interesting. Mostly with young peoples: for example with the young Agnes Giebel early in her career, with the young Fischer-Dieskau, Karl Ristenpart was young too. >
Talking about "the young Fischer-Dieskau" singing Bach:
http://www.vidoevo.com/yvideo.php?i=T1FYRFJ1cWuRpUmNVNmM&dietrich-fis
or: http://tinyurl.com/6oagqxz

Bob Harper wrote (January 16, 2012):
[To John Thomas] My imprint set of Brandenburgs--and perhaps for others here--was the Ristenpart on Nonesuch, and I still like them. He was a fine musician. Bob Harper

John Thomas wrote (January 16, 2012):
[To Bob Harper] They, along with the Orchestral Suites, the violin and keyboard concertos. and the Art of the Fugue are all in the Accord box I mentioned above.

New CD release - Audite - "The RIAS Bach Cantatas Project" – Ristenpart [BCML]

Randy Lane wrote (January 14, 2012):
Found this today at JPC.DE: http://tinyurl.com/8x7u37d
**
Nine CDs recorder between 1949 and 1952
**
Cantatas : 4, 19, 21, 22, 31, 32, 37-39, 42, 47, 52, 56, 58, 73,76, 79, 88, 106, 108, 127, 140, 160, 164, 176, 178, 180, 199, 202

Artists : Johanna Behrend, Edith Berger-Krebs, Agnes Giebel, Gerda Lammers, Gunthild Weber, Annelies Westen, Helmut Krebs, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Walter Hauck, Gerhard Niese

RIAS-Kammerchor, RIAS-Knabenchor, RIAS-Kammerorchester, Karl Ristenpart

Available in Eurpoe 03/02/2012 for 37 Euros.

Audite does generally excellent CD transfers of radio broadcasts.

Anyone here familiar with these performances? Is this set a "must buy" for bach cantata lovers/collectors/completists (all 3 adjectives apply to myself)?

Vicat205 wrote (January 17, 2012):
Randy Lane wrote:
< ...Anyone here familiar with these performances? Is this set a "must buy" for bach cantata overs/collectors/completists (all 3 adjectives apply to myself)? >
There are a couple informative discussions of them Jan 14-16 in rec.music.classical.recordings. The comments were favorable, and several pointed out that these aren't the performances once available on Nonsuch. I placed an order for the set and for the new Herreweghe B-Minor Mass as well.

Ed Myskowski wrote (January 17, 2012):
Randy Lane wrote:
< ... Anyone here familiar with these performances? Is this set a "must buy" for bach cantata lovers/collectors/completists (all 3 adjectives apply to myself)? >
Must buy and completist are self-explanatory, no?

Vivat205 wrote:
< There are a couple informative discussions of them Jan 14-16 in rec.music.classical.recordings. The comments were favorable, and several pointed out that these aren't the performances once available on Nonsuch. >

Thanks for saving me the trouble of poring through the LP archives! I will do it anyway, but without any time pressure to rewspond to Randy. Please keep BCW discography informed of details.

Aryeh Oron wrote (February 20, 2012):
[To Randy Lane & Ed Myskowski] The complete details of this important release are now presented on the BCW, including works, vocal soloists & recording dates:
See: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Ristenpart.htm [C-5]
The only details missing are TT of each cantata.
There are also links to 3 PDF files, in which you can read further details:
Producer Comment, Press Kit German, Press Kit English.
The bio pages of the singers as well as the 29 relevant cantata pages have been updated as well.

The box set is planned for release in mid March. Based on good past experience with Ristenpart and the impressive list of singers, including DFD in his first ever recording of Cantata BWV 56 (he recorded this solo cantata 5 times!), I believe this is a "must buy", at least for me.

Amazon download bargain: Ristenpart cantatas

Kirk McElhearn wrote (July 5, 2012):
Ristenpart’s Bach cantata recordings - 9 CDs worth - are available from Amazon for only $20: Amazon.com

This looks like a pricing error, as the contents are listed as though they are on 2 CDs. But I think a lot of people here would be interested in this set, especially at this price.

George Bromley wrote (July 5, 2012):
[To Kirk McElhearn] This looks like a pricing error, as the contents are listed as though they are on 2 CDs. But I think a lot of people here would be interested in this set, especially at this price.

Karl Ristenpart: Short Biography | Saar Chamber Orchestra | RIAS-Kammerchor | RIAS-Kammerorchester | Recordings of Vocal Works | Recordings of Instrumental Works | General Discussions