[swannodette]

I felt that way at first, but after getting around to listening to a few of them you start to realize he repurposed a lot his favorite material from these cantatas into his instrumental works. For example, one of Bach's innovations was the keyboard concerto - where the keyboard played the central solo role. The profound Harpsichord Concerto in D minor BWV 1052, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZX_XCYokQo, is actually reworked from the cantatas BWV 146 & 148.

While there's obviously plenty to enjoy w/o dipping into the cantatas, you might miss out on making these kinds of connections which I think really enriches our understanding of the instrumental works.