Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis (BWV 21): two choruses

A divine duality: our bad thoughts and God's comfort, our imperfections and God's forgiveness, our guilt and God's love nevertheless. In this long cantata masterwork, Bach does the Psalms justice and expresses their vast emotions. He uses a set of spry and agile musical tools as varied as each phrase of the psalms he puts to music. 

This is the second of two episodes this month on BWV 21. Performance of this cantata by the Netherlands Bach Society (Shunske Sato, director):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGT0iPpU9is

Special thanks to listener Eliezer for a new perspective for us to talk about on this cantata.