Luogo e data di registrazione		Amsterdam (Holland) - Dicembre 1974 / Gennaio 1975
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer		Wolf Erichson
	Prima Edizione LP		Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" | SKW 12/1-2 | 2 LPs - durata 38' 15" - 36' 01" | (p) 1975 | ANA
	Edizione CD		Teldec Classics | LC 6706 | 8.35283 ZL | 2 CDs - durata 38' 15" - 36' 01" | (c) 1987 | ADD
	Cover		Johann Sebastian Nach, einige Jahre vor seiner Ernennung zum Kantor in Leipzig. Gemälde con JJ. Ihle (1720) Bach Museum Eisenach.
	Note		In questo volume sono presenti anche La Cantate BWV 43 e BWV 44 a cura del Concentus Musicus Wien diretto da Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

INTRODUCTION by Alfred Dürr “Es ist dir gesagt, Mensch, was gut ist” (BWV 45) belongs to the mature cantatas of the 3rd Leipzig annual set of 1726 and furthermore is also composed to a text of the “Meiningen” poet already referred to in connection with Cantata No. 43. But in this instance the work is the non-festive cantata form, which contains no strophic hymn and which we have had an opportunity of getting to know as regards Cantatas Nos. 17 and 39. The first movement is a typical representative of the introductory choruses of this annual set: the old motet principle, according to which the text is structured in individual sections, seems here to have been, so to speak, “cancelled out” by insertion of the two text parts (“Es ist dir gesagt . . .”; “nämlich . . .”) into a concertante orchestral movement, exposed in an extended instrumental introduction: motet and concerto principles alternately interweave with each other. Also in the New Testament biblical passage movement (movement 4), which textually forms the conclusion of the Sunday gospel reading, the instrumental movement which carries the vocal part plays an essential role. However, here it is no longer the chorus, but the solo bass - the conventional “vox Christi” - who bears the vocal part. If the two arias are included in this perusal, the change from the general to the personal becomes even clearer. The instrumental ensemble shifts from tutti (movement 1) via the string movement (movements 3, 4) to the solo flute, since the text of the last aria (movement 5) demands acceptance “aus wahren Herzensgrund” (from the true depths of the heart). “Schauet doch und sehet, ob irgendein Schmerz sei” (BWV 46), a cantata of the 1st Leipzig annual set, composed for 1st August, 1723, is, like the previously examined work, conspicuous for the large-scale arrangement of its introductory chorus. Nevertheless here too the rest of the movements, more so than in many other works, indicate the intention of illustrating the vocally rendered text to the congregation with all the means at the musicians’ disposal. In its two-part structure the entrance movement is comparable with the instrumental form of the “prelude and fugue”, although admittedly the “prelude”, just as in Bach’s later organ works, takes on a strongly uniform character due to the retained thematic elements of the instrumental introduction. The introductory theme of the vocal movement is incomparable for its power of expression. Anyone who has fully assimilated this plasticity of the text interpretation will consider it all the more astounding that transplantation of the movement into the B minor Mass nowhere violates the new text “Qui tollis peccata mundi”. The two arias are at extreme variance with each other. Movement 3 paints God with trumpet and string music as the elevated avenger of sins, movement 5 on the other hand depicts Jesus with the familiar picture of the good shepherd (recorder!), as the protector of the faithful whose sins are forgiven; the continuo as the symbol of innocence is omitted here (compare “Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben” of the St. Matthew Passion), its place being taken in this case by a so-called “little bassett”, formed by the two oboi da caccia. The concertante treatment of the final chorale is also unconventional: the two recorders, double scored here, each receive an obbligato part, the figurations of which recall the introductory chorus and intensify the impression of the work’s compactness.