Volume 1 of the Complete Bach 2000 set contains 15 cds covering the cantatas BWV 1 through 47 as recorded by Nicholaus Harnoncourt and Concentus Musicus from 1971-1975. I was a little skeptical as to the quality of the recordings considering that Teldec is not a premier label, but I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the recordings, as well as the interpretations. I felt some of the canatas were rushed in their recordings as there are some obvious intonation problems on a few tracks, but not having any other recordings of the cantatas to compare them against, I feel that this is a wise purchase. This boxed set has exposed me to some of Bach's music that I would otherwise not have the ability to appeciate as trying to piece together a collection of the canatas from various artists would be an ardous task. It is worth noting that the recordings of the cantatas by Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque orchestra and choir have also recieved favorable reviews if you are in the market for a collection of the cantatas. It is also worth noting that the CD's themselves are organized in carboard binders, which may be good to conserve space, but makes it a little more difficult to handle.
