Some Problems in the Performance of Bach's Church Cantatas

Extract

There are three fruitful sources of error with regard to these problems. One is that many conductors proceed from a work like the B minor Mass to the church cantatas instead of in the reverse direction, and so get a wrong angle of vision. The second is that it is customary to try to adapt Bach to our modern conditions instead of trying to adapt our modern conditions to Bach. The third is that there has been a tendency to regard Bach as a crude and erring orchestrator and to think that his works are only palatable when modernised. Fortunately, these ideas, like many others concerning the composer, are passing away, though much too slowly.