Kevin Sutton writes: >I have noticed that the Gardiner cantata set on the whole has been a >dud in the sales dept. I have heard a couple of them, and I must say, >that my old enthusiasm for JEG is waning. I find that Rilling, Herreweghe, >and Suzuki are producing much more interesting Bach. I might just have a soft spot for Gardiner, but I think that his on-going series holds up pretty well to the other period instrument sets and recordings. None of them is perfect or outstanding; this is definitely a case where "mix and match" is in order. Gardiner has had problems with vocal soloists and lack of drama and depth, Herreweghe can be wayward in tempo and not very festive, and Suzuki is sometimes not animated enough and his vocal soloists not the best. As for others, Koopman can be too smooth and Parrott undernourished. I find that Rifkin, overall, pleases me the most, but he has recorded only a very small percentage of the cantatas. The way I look at it, I get them all and enjoy the best that each has to offer. I don't have any Rilling cantata discs, but what I've heard leads me to stay distant from these modern instrument accounts. Concerning sales turn-over, what I've seen in the stores is that none of them sell quickly. There's a large "glut" of the cantatas in recent years with all the single discs and cylces being issued. At one local store, there must be at least 40 different Bach cantata recordings, and over half of them are from Rilling. Every week, they just sit on the shelves looking lonely. Don Satz [log in to unmask]