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The Entwurff Project 1
Johann Sebastian Bach

The Entwurff Project 1

Julian Wachner | Concerto München | Tölzer Knabenchor

Label: Perfect Noise
Format: CD
Barcode: 0719279934229
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Catalog number: PN 2506
Releasedate: 17-10-25

-    For the first time, a recording featuring the instrumentation outlined by Bach in his Entwurff (draft).
-    Recorded with the boys' choir that had already performed the complete recording with Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
-    Recorded in natural acoustics and with minimal technical intervention to ensure the most authentic sound experience possible.

Over the past six decades, Bach performance practice has evolved through major shifts. In the 1960s, Nicholas Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt pioneered historically informed performances with smaller choirs and period instruments, reshaping the sound and aesthetics of Bach’s music. Later, Joshua Rifkin argued for a more radical approach—one singer per part—sparking debate and new interpretations that influenced conductors like Gardiner, Herreweghe, Suzuki, and Koopman.

The Bach Entwurff Project now proposes a new phase: performing Bach’s cantatas exactly as outlined in his 1730 memorandum Entwurff einer wohlbestallten Kirchen Music. This means choirs of boys and men with three to four voices per part, soloists drawn from the chorus, and period instruments in ensembles of 18–22 players. Unlike H-L or Rifkin, this approach fully honors Bach’s own specifications, producing performances that are both historically rigorous and sonically powerful.

Early reactions, such as Udo Watter’s praise in Süddeutsche Zeitung, hail the results as uniquely transparent yet grand in scale. The project also embraces the raw emotional force of Bach’s cantata texts, leaning into a sacred opera seria sensibility that conductor Julian Wachner emphasizes. In this sense, the Bach Entwurff Project can be seen as Harnoncourt-Leonhardt 2.0—but with stricter fidelity to Bach’s vision, offering what may indeed be the next big step in Bach interpretation.