Nicholas McGegan, thank goodness, has not left conducting in the Bay Area behind. His appearances as music director laureate of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra may be limited to just one program in the forthcoming season, but he continues to work with some of the ensemble’s core members who founded San Francisco’s Cantata Collective in 2017.
The group’s latest recording, Bach: Easter Oratorio; Magnificat, its fourth since 2022, is a reunion with McGegan. The instrumentalists play wonderfully, with standout contributions from timpanist Allen Biggs and trumpeters Kathryn Adduci, Dominic Favia, and Melissa Rodgers. The interplay of recorder players David Dickey and Lars Johannesson provides a further taste of bliss.
The small chorus (five sopranos, four altos, and three each of tenors and basses) sometimes sounds light on the bottom end. In the Magnificat in D Major, BWV 243.2, the beginning of the chorus “Sicut locutus est” is disappointing as a summation of the power and word of the Lord, and the lack of strong singing at the start of the doxology, “Gloria Patri,” doesn’t manage to bring the movement to a satisfyingly rousing finish. At times, the choristers seem so focused on precision that they don’t let themselves go and convey the joy of Bach’s glorious melodies.
With McGegan at the helm, every tempo makes sense. Rhythms and attacks are consistently tight and precise, and the vitality of Bach’s writing is everywhere affirmed. Comparing the Magnificat’s opening chorus here to John Eliot Gardiner’s 2016 recorded performance with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists leaves one wondering if the latter had a train to catch afterward.
Recording clarity, too, is a major asset. David v.R. Bowles of Swineshead Productions does opt for clarity and focus over reverberance — there are airier recordings — but he avoids the over-reverberant acoustic that reduces Jordi Savall’s 2013 recording with La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nations to a muddy mess. As captured here, the Cantata Collective performances are enviably smooth on top, maximally colorful, and a delight to listen to.
The orchestra sounds marvelous in the Easter Oratorio’s opening Sinfonia and maintains that exalted level throughout the recording. Of the four soloists, countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen consistently impresses with his vocal strength and commitment. Tenor Thomas Cooley sings beautifully and achieves a wonderful blend with Nussbaum Cohen in the Magnificat duet “Et misericordia.” Baritone Harrison Hintzsche also sings quite well, with fetching lightness higher in his range but without the profundity that some basses bring to Bach. Some of his runs sound a bit pedestrian, as though he’s more concerned with sounding notes clearly than with emotional expression. Soprano Nola Richardson sounds best at the top of her range, where she sings with greatest fluidity.
