Volume 11 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 46, 95, 136 & 138

[Suzuki, BIS][EAC/FLAC+CUE/COVERS/BOOKLETS]


Midori Suzuki, soprano
Kai Wessel, counter-tenor
Makoto Sakurada, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki[/size]
Ryo Terakado, leader

Tracklist
1-6: Cantata No. 136 " Erforsche mich, Gott", BWV 136 [15:09]
7-12: Cantata No. 138 "Warum betrьbst du dich, mein Herz", BWV 138 [16:15]
13-19: Cantata No. 95 "Christus, der ist mein Leben", BWV 95 [18:11]
20-25: Cantata No. 46 "Schauet doch und sehet", BWV 46 [18:22]

Recorded September 1998 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Enginereed by Dirk Lьdemann, produced by Jens Braun
© 1998 BIS CD 991



Bach Collegium Japan adds an 11th volume to its excellent series of Bach’s sacred cantatas. The musical strengths of the four early Leipzig cantatas on this disc are Herculean and, in most respects, this talented ensemble of singers and players measures up to them. Taken together, the pieces offer a conspectus of the prodigiously varied expressive range of which Bach was capable, a range which is further enhanced by instances of strikingly vivid word and image painting. The group of Trinity cantatas begins with No. 136, whose opening A major choral fugue, an invigorating dance in 12/8 rhythm, is given additional brilliance by a prominent horn part. Deeply penitential, on the other hand, is the D minor chorus which introduces No. 46. Bach valued both pieces highly, reworking the first into his Lutheran A major Mass (BWV 234), and the first part of the second into the ‘Qui tollis’ on the B minor Mass. The masterly and complex construction of the choruses which begin Nos. 95 and 138 is different yet again. The former is full of inner tensions, a conflict between faith and doubt, and is an unusual dovetailing of recitative, arioso and chorus declaimed against frequently contrasting instrumental textures. The other also incorporates recitative, but further makes use of two different hymns and their melodies in an experimental, highly original manner. Choir and instruments acquit themselves with real distinction in each of these substantial movements. Rival versions of No. 95 and 136 may have the edge on these in matters of refinement, but they lack the instrumental brilliance and declamatory fervour of Suzuki’s musicians.
The soloists, by and large, make up a strong team. Midori Suzuki’s voice is one that holds a great appeal, even though on previous occasions her technique has been overstretched. Not so here, as can be heard in her beautifully controlled and measured solo singing of the chorale Valet will ich dir geben with its playful unison oboes d’amore (No. 95). But Bach’s demands upon her are as nothing compared with those which he imposes on the tenor in the relentlessly high-register aria of the same work. Makoto Sakurada manages it pretty well, with only a fleeting hint of strain in his lyrical, beatifully articulated performance. Peter Kooij is assured and expressive as ever, and Kai Wessel gives a fine account of his extended arias in Nos. 46 and 136. In short, a first-rate issue all round. / Nicholas Anderson, Gramophone, February 2000



The four cantatas on this release aren’t well known, even among Bach lovers. But fans probably will recognize some of the music: for example, Bach subsequently adapted the rollicking opening chorus of No. 136, Erforsche mich, Gott, for the finale of his "Lutheran" Mass in A; the melancholy title chorus of No. 46, Schauet doch und sehet, became "Qui tollis peccata mundi" in the Mass in B Minor. Surprises of recognition like these are always enjoyable, of course, but there are plenty of unfamiliar delights on this disc, too. For instance, there’s an unusual format: two works, No. 138 and No. 95, lack the elaborate chorus that typically begins a Bach cantata; they consist mostly of passages of recitative (arioso, really) intercut with lines of a chorale melody in a sort of dialogue. A number of other nice surprises involve Bach’s ingenious use of instruments. For example, that jolly chorus in No. 136 features a bravura part for corno da tirarsi (slide horn), an instrument that Bach Collegium Japan brass expert Toshio Shimada reconstructed himself for this recording. The arioso-chorale "dialogue" in No.138 has a pair of oboes twisting their notes around the singers’ parts like decorative vines; in No. 95 those oboes join the tenor in a graceful aria as pizzicato strings flutter softly around them. No.46 has two recorders swirling through the disconsolate opening chorus; later on, there’s an alto aria without strings or continuo – it calls for only those two recorders, with the oboes playing a ‘walking’ bass line in unison.
Matthew Westphal, Amazon.com editorial review

Three languages-, 32 pages-booklet in .pdf format included,
with extensive notes on works, performers and Cantatas’ text in German and English.

A big thanks to the original uploader for his kind permission to upload this series!!!

Большое спасибо первоначального аплоадера за его любезное разрешение залить этой серии и использовать его материалы!!!

Качать ЗДЕСЬ.

This post has been edited by vpenev on 21-08-2007, 04:01

Volume 12 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 21* & 147
(* Fragment)

[Suzuki, BIS][EAC/FLAC+CUE/COVERS/BOOKLETS]


Yukari Nonoshita, soprano
Robin Blaze, counter-tenor
Gerd Tьrk, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass
Concerto Palatino, brass ensemble (No. 21)

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Ryo Terakado, leader

Tracklist
1-10: Cantata No. 147 "Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben", BWV 147 [30:23]
11-21: Cantata No. 21 "Ich hatte viel Bekьmmernis", BWV 21 [38:56]
C minor version 1723, Leipzig

Recorded June 1999 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Enginereed by Dirk Lьdemann, produced by Jens Braun
© 1998 BIS CD 1031



To undertake a superlative Bach Cantatas integrale is not enough for Masaaki Suzuki, who enjoys now the luxury of giving us some different versions of works already put on tape. So the famous no. 21 Ich hatte viel Bekьmmernis, already appeared in the Sixth volume of the series in its Hamburg version of 1720, is offered here according the arrangements made three years later in Leipzig, while in volume 6 the Japanese conductor had included (as an appendix) three alternative numbers in their Weimar form. In the Leipzig version the Cantata is performed in C minor instead of D minor, numbers 4. 5. 10. are written for tenor and not for soprano as well as a trombone quartet is added to the instrumental parts of the ‘Sei nun wieder zufrieden’ chorus; this is the ‘canonic’ version when it comes to recording Bach Cantatas. Suzuki is spot on target: you just have to listen to the opening Sinfonia of No. 21 to be persuaded. Sure, there’s the majestic, nostalgic solo oboe provide by Marcel Ponseele; there’s a flawless choir able to reproduce the internal sorrows of the soul (No. 21) and the elation of the prophetic meeting of Mary and Elizabeth (No. 147) at the same time; there’s also an orchestra who once and for all has left behind some of the baroque mannerisms still lingering in certain european ensemble, to face a musical authenticity of poetic pureness. Flexible tempi, sharpness of articulation, lively imagination in the musical argument, what to say which hasn’t already been written here? Masaaki Suzuki is clearly the Cantor of modern times. Both musical and vocal contents in these two cantatas are totally fulfilled, even though from soprano Yukari Nonoshita one could expect more self-assurance in some passages, the other soloists are beyond praise.
Sylvain Gasser, Rйpertoire, Octobre 2000



Many people will be interested in this title just for Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, cantata No. 147, the source of the much-loved chorale arrangement "Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring." The Bach Collegium Japan performs the chorale very nicely indeed, as well as the cantata’s four arias and jubilant opening chorus. The other work on this disc is the great cantata No. 21, Ich hatte viel Bekьmmernis, which progresses from anguished repentance to serene happiness and triumphant joy. The BCJ recorded Bach’s first version of this cantata (from 1714) on volume 6 of this series; volume 12 presents the revision Bach made in 1723. Some differences aren’t great (reassignment of a couple of arias and a lower pitch), while others are striking, such as the explicit division of portions of some choruses between soloists and choir, and the addition of trombones (considered quite old-fashioned by 1723) to one chorus. Was it worth recording the work a second time? With Masaaki Suzuki’s superb chorus, orchestra, and four soloists in top form – absolutely.
Matthew Westphal, Amazon.com editorial review

Three languages-, 28 pages-booklet in .pdf format included,
with extensive notes on works, performers and Cantatas’ text in German and English.

A big thanks to the original uploader for his kind permission to upload this series!!!

Большое спасибо первоначального аплоадера за его любезное разрешение залить этой серии и использовать его материалы!!!

Качать ЗДЕСЬ.

This post has been edited by vpenev on 26-08-2007, 17:17

Volume 13 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 25, 50*, 64, 69a & 77
(* Fragment)

[Suzuki, BIS][EAC/FLAC+CUE/COVERS/BOOKLETS]


Yukari Nonoshita, soprano (nos. 25, 64)
Yoshie Hida, soprano (nos. 69a, 77)
Robin Blaze, counter-tenor (no. 64)
Kirsten Sollek-Avella, alto (nos. 69a, 77)
Gerd Tьrk, tenor (no. 25)
Makoto Sakurada, tenor (nos. 69a, 77)
Peter Kooij, bass
Concerto Palatino, brass ensemble (Nos. 25, 64)

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader (nos. 50, 69a, 77)
Azumi Takada, leader (nos. 25, 64)

Tracklist
1-8: Cantata No. 64 "Sehet, welch eine Liebe", BWV 64 [17:46]
9-14: Cantata No. 25 "Es ist nichts Gesundes an meinem Liebe", BWV 25 [15:43]
15-20: Cantata No. 69a "Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele", BWV 69a [18:12]
21-26: Cantata No. 77 "Du sollt Gott, deine Herren, lieben", BWV 77 [15:13]
27: Cantata No. 50 (Fragment) "Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft", BWV 50 [4:04]

Recorded June and October 1999 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Enginereed by Dirk Lьdemann and Marion Schwebel, produced by Jens Braun and Ingo Petry
© 2000 BIS CD 1041



One of the most illuminating aspects of Bach Collegium Japan’s cantata series is the stress on chronology during a period of extraordinarily high yield and invention. Here we are in the summer of 1723, the calm before Bach’s infamous wrangles with the authorities. For August 15, Bach composed a setting of Lobe den Herrn (No. 69a), which for the 12th Sunday after Trinity appropriately exudes the gospel message of thanksgiving and praise for the miraculous power of Christ’s healing by purloining a verse from Psalm 103 for the opening chorus. Such festive, full-throttle exuberance is one of Bach’s unabashed trademarks, especially when he uses the complete orchestral palette with such virile abandon. Still keen to impress his new employers, the ensuing double fugue would have ambitiously set out his stall. Masaaki Suzuki’s forces give a thrilling, beautifully gauged performance in every respect. While employing Gerd Tьrk for the majority of works requiring demanding tenor passaggi, Suzuki also employs the home-grown Makoto Sakurada, a sensitive singer if occasionally rather robotic and under-nuanced in delivery. The second aria in this relatively short cantata is an altogether finer creation than the first, with its concentrated motivic tension (decidedly proto-passion music) conveyed with great panache by the bass, Peter Kooij. For the next two Sundays, Bach was in irresistible form; it almost defies belief that both No. 77 and 25 were conceived at such close proximity and such apparent speed. The opening movemente of Du sollst Gott (No. 77) is a mesmerisingly taut chorale-fantasia. Luther’s darkly austere chorale is presented in the bass while a trumpet foreshadows it as a quasi-messenger (‘you shall love the Lord with all your heart’). All around, a contrapuntal web of related material encircles these musical ‘pillars’ with dazzling resourcefulness. Both here and in the yet more sophisticated Es ist nichts Gesundes (No. 25), which boasts an impressive-sounding brass ensemble and recorders, Suzuki provides an immaculate sense of pacing and balance, the textures luminous and the phrasing predestined to within an inch of its life; there is no question that Bach’s stature is nurtured here with as much care as anywhere before.



Yet for all my continued and profound admiration for this series, I find Suzuki’s conception often quite some distance from Bach’s cultural and spiritual identity. And undeniably impressive knowledge (and parody) of style, language, rhetoric and understanding is one thing, but for all the assiduous attention to such detail, these musicians sometimes appear curiously remote from Bach’s indigenous musical landscape. So much characterisation and awareness needs to grow from the roots up, touching us with its sinewy counterpoint and a second-nature response to its inner vitality. This is hard to come by in Bach’s choral music these days, especially in an age where the style-aware and technically processed ‘product’ is internationally the order of the day. This is not to say that Robin Blaze is not wonderfully musical in the slightly po-faced Christmas cantata No. 64 or that the ensemble is not inspiringly alert to the graphically unsettling roller-coaster of spiritual sickness which underpins the superb opening chorus on No. 25. It is simply that even with these thoughful, refreshing and unself-regarding performances, the parameters for expressing these great works still seem surprisingly narrow. For all the dated solicisms of the many distinguished reissues from the 1950s and 60s, there are some timeless ingredients there to remind us of what we might be missing. But all the same, this is a very fine disc.
Jonathan Freeman-Atwood, Gramophone, March 2001

Three languages-, 32 pages-booklet in .pdf format included,
with extensive notes on works, performers and Cantatas’ text in German and English.[/color]

A big thanks to the original uploader for his kind permission to upload this series!!!

Большое спасибо первоначального аплоадера за его любезное разрешение залить этой серии и использовать его материалы!!!

Качать ЗДЕСЬ.

This post has been edited by vpenev on 26-08-2007, 17:26

Violin & Brandenburg Concertos

[Suzuki, BIS][EAC/FLAC+CUE/COVERS/BOOKLETS]


Bach’s violin concertos differ in concept from the violin concertos that came later in many ways.

Their main characteristic is that of chamber music. These pieces do not fit the image of the concerto as a work for solo violin with orchestral backing, as a vehicle for demonstration of brilliant technique. While the skill demanded of the violin here is in itself a relatively high level, it is by no means flashy ... the objective is to join with the orchestra into one entity, creating a single finished work. Of course, the concertos are based on the traditions of Vivaldi’s solo concertos and Corelli’s concerti grossi, but the writing is plainly more complicated and intricate, and there are few other examples of the elaborate character of the orchestral part and the fullness of the inner voices.
Ryo Terakado, from the booklet notes.

Disc I
Concertos for Violin and Strings

Ryo Terakado, baroque violin I
Natsumi Wakamatsu, baroque violin II (BWV 1043)
Marcel Ponseele, oboe (BWV 1060)
Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki

Tracklist
1-3: Concerto for Two Violins and Strings in D minor, BWV 1043 [15:07]
4-6: Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041 [14:05]
7-9: Violin Concerto in E major, BWV 1042 [16:39]
10-12: Concerto for Oboe, Violin and Strings in C minor [13:29]
Reconstruction after Concerto for Two Harpsichords in C minor, BWV 1060 by Wilfried Fischer

Recorded July and September 1999 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel, Japan
Sound engineer and recording producer: Dirk Lьdemann
© 1999 & 2000, Grammofon AB BIS-CD-961



The name of Bach Collegium Japan has become synonymous with excellent recordings of baroque vocal music, most of it by Bach; with this disc they signal their claim to equal recognition for their instrumental line-up. Pigeon-hole these as ‘autentic’ performances on original or reproduction instruments and at period pitch, then consider the purely musical virtues of the products. There is happy animation in the flanking movements – bows are lifted from or stopped on strings to ensure the cleanest of textures – and a warmth of expression in the slow ones which comes from a deeper source than mere academic study. The admirable soloist in the A minor and E major concertos, Ryo Terakado, and his partner in the Double Concerto, Natsumi Wakamatsu, both studied with Sigiswald Kuijken in The Hague and served with various baroque ensembles in Europe before returning to Japan. It shows in the beautifully ‘vocalised’ shaping of their lines, the product of emotional osmosis in their bloodstreams. Not once do they or their ripieno colleagues jar the ear with acidic sounds, and in the Andante of the A minor Concerto Terakado achieves a pianissimo that is near-miracolous in its quality. Marcel Ponseele, the only European on parade, has a comparably distinguished pedigree. In the reconstructed Concerto BWV 1060 his fluency, rounded tone and clean articulation are second to none, and he makes the Adagio one of the serenely lovely high spots of the entire programme. As for the ripieno, one could not ask for better, and they are recorded in excellent balance with the soloists. Suzuki directs the whole with sure hands. A recording I am most likely to return.
John Duarte, Gramophone, February 2001, pag. 46



Ryo Terakado
Bach Collegium Japan led by Masaaki Suzuki

... In his concerto-style works Bach shows a predilection for a Vivaldian ritornello type containing three clearly differentiated segments, a type which modern students of Vivaldi’s music have labelled the ‘Fortspinnung-type’.
Its first segment grounds the tonality by focusing on the chords built upon the first and fifth degrees of the scale (tonic and dominant). The second segment follows with short bits of thematic material repeated at different pitch levels, called ‘sequencing’; the changes in underlying harmony are marked mostly by successions of chords with fundamental pitches that are five positions apart in the scale. And the third segment bring the ritornello to a satisfying end by way of a closing gesture in the tonic. Many writers refer to those three segments of ritornello with the German terms Vordersatz, Fortspinnung and Epilog. This ‘Fortspinnung-type’ of ritornello is featured to varying degrees in all six Brandenburg Concertos.
Michael Marissen, from the booklet notes.

Discs II & III
Six Brandenburg Concertos
Sechs Brandenburg Konzerte, BWV 1046-1051
Which Bach dedicated to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg, on 24th March 1721

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki

Disc II
1-4: Concerto no. 1 in F major, BWV 1046 [19:58]
5-7: Concerto no. 2 in F major, BWV 1047 [11:47]
8-10: Concerto no. 3 in G major, BWV 1048 [12:07]

Disc III
1-3: Concerto no. 4 in Gmajor, BWV 1049 [15:34]
4-6: Concerto no. 5 in D major, BWV 1050 [20:23]
7-9: Concerto no. 6 in B flat major, BWV 1051 [17:21]
10: Early version of Concerto no. 5 (first movement), BWV 1050a [8:06]

Recorded May and June 2000 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel, Japan
Sound engineer: Dirk Lьdemann. Recording producer: Ingo Petry
© 2000 & 2001, Grammofon AB BIS-CD-1151/1152



What did Bach mean by the phrase ‘avec plusieurs instruments’ in the title of this collected edition dedicated to Christian Ludwig‚ Margrave of Brandenburg? Answer it as you will; either several instruments (multiple forces‚ as on most recordings)‚ or simply instruments of diverse kinds – and by implication one player to a part. Suzuki picks this option‚ as Bach himself might have done when he performed early versions of these concertos in Anhalt-Cцthen. The gains are worth considering. Certainly the scale is smaller but there is‚ instead‚ an intimacy that enhances periodinstrumental colours and sharpens individual lines. BIS is as much responsible for this as is Suzuki. The recording‚ apparently made with only two microphones (if a photograph in the booklet is a guide)‚ is ambient and truthful. Nothing stands between performer and listener. Take for granted the technical expertise of the musicians. And take for granted that Suzuki has given consideration to musicological matters‚ like the type of trumpet for No 2. He prefers a coiled unit‚ designed by soloist Toshio Shimada‚ which works on lip pressure only. Though the music is played at the required high pitch‚ the sound occasionally has a mildly hornlike quality that coincidentally‚ perhaps‚ gets close to obeying the stipulation ‘Tromba o vero Corno da Caccia’ in a manuscript that predated the final score. Suzuki also substitutes what’s called an ‘Improvisation inspired by Toccata in E minor BWV 914’ for the two spaced chords that separate the two movements of No 3. This is in keeping with a theory (probably first propounded by Thurston Dart nearly 50 years ago) that Bach expected performers to fill the gap. Suzuki’s solution‚ like that of others‚ sits uneasily‚ thus lending weight to the current belief among scholars that the composer’s design is best left undecorated. Suzuki’s solutions to the absence of tempo markings in four of the concertos’ first movements are‚ however‚ surely correct. Not only do his speeds fit the lie of the music‚ they also relate to what follows. So movements seem to evolve from one another to make each work a complete whole. But there is one misjudgement. The third movement of No 1 is too fast for the time signature of 6/8‚ and Suzuki stiffens the phrases as well. The resulting accentuation approaches 3/4‚ compromising the swing of the rhythm. He also tends to be overenthusiastic about harpsichord continuo support (discretionary‚ except in No 5); and when every note of a rapid bassline is insistently doubled‚ a spiky overlay to the bottom strings obscures their timbre. A few faults notwithstanding‚ this set shows that Suzuki has progressed to a better stage in his artistic development. But there is still a faint aura of impersonality‚ of him wanting to stand back and display these concertos rather than throw himself into the maelstrom of committed interpretation. Artists need to feel that they own the music they choose to play. Only then will they be able to communicate at the deepest level.
Nalen Anthoni,Gramophone, November 2001, pag. 46

Three languages-, 32- and 28- pages booklets in .pdf format included,
with extensive notes on works, performers and production choices.

A big thanks to the original uploader for his kind permission to upload this series!!!

Большое спасибо первоначального аплоадера за его любезное разрешение залить этой серии и использовать его материалы!!!

Качать ЗДЕСЬ.

This post has been edited by vpenev on 27-08-2007, 00:03

Volume 14 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 48, 89, 109 & 148


Midori Suzuki, soprano (no. 89)
Robin Blaze, counter-tenor
Gerd Tьrk, tenor
Chiyuki Urano, bass (no. 89)

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-6: Cantata No. 148 "Bringet dem Herrn Ehre seines Namens", BWV 148 [15:01]
7-13: Cantata No. 48 "Ich elender Mensch, wer wird mich erlцsen", BWV 48 [14:49]
14-19: Cantata No. 89 "Was soll ich aus dir machen, Ephraim", BWV 89 [11:21]
20-25: Cantata No. 109 "Ich glaube, lieber Herr, hilf meinem Unglauben", BWV 109 [24:51]

Recorded February 2000 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Enginereed by Dirk Lьdemann, produced by Hans Kipfer
© 2001 BIS CD 1081



Bach Collegium Japan’s stately but assiduous progression through the cantatas continues with three succint works from Bach’s first year in Leipzig and fine large-scale penitential work, Ich glaube, lieber Herr (No. 109), all composed for late in the Trinity season of 1723. Masaaki Suzuki’s considered approach to this œuvre is what marks him out as a distinctive voice in current Bach performance. Now that the musical world has acclimatised to the reality that Japanese Baroque musicians are eminently capable, the matter becomes one of interpretative essence and validity. This latest volume reveals much of the best in the series so far: consistently good singing, a sustained familiarity with the music (not always to be taken for granted in the studio) beyond mere pristine executancy, and Suzuki’s guiding hand which is especially attentive to the textual motivation in Bach’s music. At times in the past, I have wished he would trade a little less distillation and precision for a rather more all-embracing ‘cultural’ allegiance, one which seeks to engage with the music at face value rather than representing the liturgical context as the prime, hallowed imperative.

A broader approach seems to win the day for much in this disc, as one can admire in the defining logic of the fine opening fugal chorus of Bringet dem Herrn, whose resplendent contrapuntal bravura takes thrilling flight in the ringing acoustic of the Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel. Here the paragraph connect in a way which ensures an inexorable momentum and sustained uplift – which was rarely achieved in performances of this work from the early days of Bach cantata recordings. The instrumental and obbligato playing throughout is of a high order, doubtless inspired by the alto and tenor of Robin Blaze and Gerd Türk respectively – who are the main soloists in all four works. Both sing with delectation and authority; Blaze ravishingly circumnavigates the emotional core of ‘Mund und Herze’ of No. 148 with its bucolic oboe d’amore and oboe da caccia accompaniment, and Türk responds to the Passion-like intensity of his outstanding aria in No. 109 (‘Ach, mein Sinn’ from the St John Passion is never far away) as if he has discovered long-lost treasure.

So many of these cantatas divulge a pattern of sin and reconciliation, although Bach seems rather more arrested by the possibilities of the former, than any doctrinal ‘repair’ to the horrors of Sodom. In No. 109, the mood is set in an opening chorus which conveys the paradox of planting disbelief in the believer’s ear. Bach plays up to this conceit with what Spitta observed as ‘vocal lines individually, insecurely, wandering around’. The movement is as enigmatic as any you’ll find. Perhaps that is enough for Suzuki who eschews over-characterisation but, instead, accentuates the instrumental profile as the means of gathering the disparate melodic ideas. There are many other highlights here. The plangent opening lament-chorus of No. 48 is a remarkably controlled, even and luminous creation. If not always emotionally exhaustive, Bach Collegium Japan explore the naked emptiness in this work and one feels properly wrung out. Another notable achievement.
Jonathan Freeman-Atwood, Gramophone, Awards 2001


Masaaki Suzuki

Three languages-, 32 pages-booklet in .pdf format included,
with extensive notes on works, performers and Cantatas’ text in German and English.

A big thanks to the original uploader for his kind permission to upload this series!!!

Большое спасибо первоначального аплоадера за его любезное разрешение залить этой серии и использовать его материалы!!!

Качать ЗДЕСЬ.

This post has been edited by vpenev on 23-09-2007, 06:47

Прошу извинить меня за большой перерыв в раздачи этой серии, но почти целый месяц имел сериозные проблемы с хардуер компа. Сейчась надеюсь уже все в порядке. Остались однако вечные проблемы с провайдера.

This post has been edited by vpenev on 23-09-2007, 07:31

Volume 15 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 40, 60, 70 & 90


Yukari Nonoshita, soprano (no. 70)
Robin Blaze, counter-tenor
Gerd Tьrk, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Azumi Takada, leader

Tracklist
1-8: Cantata No. 40 "Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes", BWV 40 [15:48]
9-13: Cantata No. 60 "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort", BWV 60 [15:18]
14-24: Cantata No. 70 "Wachet! betet! betet! wachet!", BWV 70 [23:11]
25-29: Cantata No. 90 "Es reiЯet euch ein schrecklich Ende", BWV 90 [13:17]

Recorded September 2000 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Enginereed by Dirk Lьdemann, produced by Uli Schneider
© 2001 BIS CD 1111



Still relishing the rich fruits of Bach’s prolific first year in Leipzig (1723), Masaaki Suzuki brings us four more fine cantatas, of which Wachet! betet! betet! wachet! (No. 70) stands apart as one of Bach’s most graphically dramatic and cohesive choral achievements. Most of the music was drawn from an earlier Weimar cantata (now lost) and expanded to from a significant bipartite work. The first movement is justly celebrated, its concise motivic tautness, forbidding fanfares and diminished chords representing the coming of Christ and the Last Judgement. The apocalyptic backdrop fascinated early interpreters of Bach in the 1950s and ‘60s, notably Felix Prohaska in 1957 with its menacing pacing and sepia-like textures offset against a Viennese elegance, and a few years later Fritz Werner, who introduced a redemptive undercurrent to the fearful vortex effect.
Suzuki’s direction is more pressing and urgent in style; his less theatrical, more meticulous approach allows the filigree in the instrumental writing to emerge in a way too rarely heard. Ton Koopman in his Erato survey has the edge in conveying a broader, more harrowing perspective to the first movement, but the remainder of the cantata is beautifully crafted by Suzuki, demonstrating the artistic conviction and sheer vocal bravura of Robin Blaze in ‘Wenn kommt’ (though his soaring tones are heard to even better effect in No. 60). The pivotal aria in No. 70 is the radiant ‘Hebt euer Haupt empor’, a succint piece whose openheartedness requires something more than Gerd Tьrk and Suzuki can give: this is where Georg Jelden for Werner sets the gold standard for conveying this gem’s utter simplicity of expression.



The most compelling performances on this disc are in the busy counterpoint, such as the opening chorus of No. 40, ‘Dazu ist erschienen’ (a piece which was to become the concluding movement in the ‘Lutheran’ Mass in F major), the vibrant tenor aria ‘Christenkinder’, which shows off both BCJ’s exemplary wind section and Gerd Tьrk in good voice, and (to return to the horror of Judgement) the peerlessly executed bass aria of No. 90, where Peter Kooij and the obbligato trumpet of Toshio Shimada find the perfect synergy. But it is in the stirring and decidedly prescient Sturm und Drang quality of No. 60, O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, that Suzuki’s infectious grasp of pulse, biting accentuation and luminous textures take fulles flight: he entertains no half-measures in the opening chorus. Bach revealingly called this work a ‘dialogus’, doubtless to reflect his engagement with the juxtaposition of dramatic ideas or ‘characters’ (in this case the allegorical figures of fear and death). Suzuki finds this an especially arresting notion and responds with unerring intensity. This is where he’s at his best: projecting the given conceit, and putting pragmatism firmly in its place. All round, yet another prestigious addition to the series.
Jonathan Freeman-Atwood, Gramophone, March 2002

Three languages-, 32 pages-booklet in .pdf format included,
with extensive notes on works, performers and Cantatas’ text in German and English.

A big thanks to the original uploader for his kind permission to upload this series!!!

Большое спасибо первоначального аплоадера за его любезное разрешение залить этой серии и использовать его материалы!!!

Качать ЗДЕСЬ.

This post has been edited by vpenev on 23-09-2007, 07:14

Volume 16 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 119 & 194


Yukari Nonoshita, soprano (no. 194)
Yoshie Hida, soprano (no. 119)
Kirsten Sollek-Avella, alto (no. 119)
Makoto Sakurada, tenor
Jochen Kupfer, baritone (no. 194)
Peter Kooij, bass (no. 119)

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Ryo Terakado, leader (no. 194)
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader (no. 119)

Tracklist
1-12: Cantata No. 194 "Hцchsterwьnschtes Freudenfest", BWV 194 [38:54]
13-21: Cantata No. 119 "Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn", BWV 119 [23:54]

Recorded August 1999 (no. 119) and November 2000 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Enginereed by Marion Schwabel and Dirk Lьdemann
Produced by Ingo Petry and Jens Braun
© 2001 BIS CD 1131



DIAPASON D'OR Diapason

Releasing Bach cantatas one disc at a time necessarily results in a far-off completion date‚ but it has its advantages. Higher levels of preparation are more likely than in projects which steam through them (the hastiest being Brilliant Classics’ set in which 60 CDs were recorded in less than two years). Whether this form of familiar engagement is always preferable is another matter but‚ after 16 volumes‚ Bach Collegium Japan here consolidate their reputation for considered and polished interpretations. A stately chronological approach keeps us still in the calendar year of 1723‚ enabling us above all to appreciate just how fruitful was Bach’s first year in Leipzig. Of the two large-scale celebratory works‚ the first‚ Hцchsterwьnschtes Freudenfest‚ is a reworking from a congratulatory cantata‚ written in Cцthen a few years before‚ and contains all the hallmarks of ‘secular’ extrovert declamation and gracious‚ courtly manners. Bach’s new version is a major bipartite creation‚ composed for the dedication service on November 2 of the restored organ at Stцrmthal. Bach had acted as consultant on the organ itself and so felt obliged to produce a piece worthy of his advice and efforts. Masaaki Suzuki gives the work a fittingly airy charm‚ heard most infectiously in ‘Hilf‚ Gott’ where an underlying Gavotte (with resonances of the final movement of the Wedding Cantata‚ No 202) finds bright-eyed soprano‚ Yukari Nonoshita‚ in confident and beguiling voice. She is most accomplished throughout and delectably joins the gentle and receptive baritone‚ Jochen Kupfer‚ in ‘O wie wohl’ ist uns geschehn’‚ a bucolic minuet-style duet. This is‚ all told‚ the most persuasive reading on disc and supersedes both Rilling’s stiff reading and even Harnoncourt’s cultivated (if slightly hit-and-miss) performance‚ notable also for the presence of a young Thomas Hampson. Harnoncourt‚ however‚ comes out better in one of the grandest French-overture cantatas Bach was to write‚ ‘Preise Jerusalem’ (No 119). Composed to honour the new Leipzig town council‚ Bach really pushed the boat out. Suzuki never quite boasts either the grand sonic cohesion of Philippe Herreweghe’s urgent account or the thrilling characterisation of Harnoncourt. This is ostentatious municipal music (note the swaggering trumpets in the penultimate chorus – like a bunch of burgomasters) and Suzuki’s earnest perusal fails to stir. A game of two halves‚ as they say.
Johnathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone, May 2002



Three languages-, 36 pages-booklet in .pdf format included,
with extensive notes on works, performers and Cantatas’ text in German and English.

A big thanks to the original uploader for his kind permission to upload this series!!!

Большое спасибо первоначального аплоадера за его любезное разрешение залить этой серии и использовать его материалы!!!

Качать ЗДЕСЬ.

This post has been edited by vpenev on 24-09-2007, 22:54

Volume 17 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 73, 144, 153, 154 & 181


Yukari Nonoshita, soprano
Robin Blaze, counter-tenor
Gerd Tьrk, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Azumi Takada, leader

Tracklist
1-9: Cantata No. 153 "Schau, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind", BWV 153 [13:11]
10-17: Cantata No. 154 "Mein liebster Jesus ist verloren", BWV 154 [14:20]
18-22: Cantata No. 73 "Herr, wie du willt, so shick’s mit mir", BWV 73 [13:02]
23-28: Cantata No. 144 "Nimm, was dein ist, und gehe hin", BWV 144 [13:17]
29-33: Cantata No. 181 "Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister", BWV 181 [13:10]

Recorded March 2001 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Balance engineer: Ingo Petry. Producer: Marion Schwabel
© 2002 BIS CD 1221



Dare one admit, Bach struggled in the post-Christmas weeks of 1723 to maintain the high level he had already set in this, his first cycle of Leipzig cantatas. Prolific and riding on the crest of a supreme creative wave in the first months of his new job as Kantor, Bach composed several short works with modest forces from January 2 until late February 1724. This, in itself, hardly translates into wholesale mediocrity, but a little sifting and discernment is required, in these latest (chronologically presented) cantatas from Suzuki, to identify those arresting movements which truly caught Bach’s imagination. The best all-round work is Herr, wie du willt (No. 73) where economy of means and redoutable invention sees a chorale and recitative, in the form of a highly rhetorical dialogue, convey the stark juxtaposition of angst and reassurance. It is a highly individual movement which Suzuki judges impressively. This is where the fear of death and trust in God finds itself imbued in a swathe of imploring string writing, emerging mellifluously from its recitative. Elsewhere, Bach Collegium Japan approach each of these works with a simplicity of expression and luminosity of sound which ideally suits the short-breathed arias such as the succint and febrile tenor aria, ‘Stьrmt nur’, from No. 153 (a cantata clearly written in a hurry and perhaps understandable exhaustion). Given that Bach was skimping on work and expense in the metaphorical hangover of the New Year, no sopranos (ipso facto boys) were employed and musical material from earlier posts, especially from secular cantatas, appears to be a pragmatic means to an end in Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister (No. 181) where the imagery in the fine bass aria is fitted to suit his latest purpose. Bach continued to refine his extraordinary ability for matching new words to old music, as if old images (often poles apart from the new ones!) had never existed. Kooij is quite matchless in this golden aria, while Gerd Tьrk is admirable throughout and so too the countertenor, Robin Blaze. No. 154 is inspired by the touching gospel story of the 12-year-old Christ teaching the elders; Bach transforms the dual implication for the Believer and the Parent (the idea of ‘lost and found’) with the unremitting purity and reassurance of the aria, ‘Jesu, laЯ dich finden’. Blaze locks into the conceit with mesmering fluency. The fleeting appearance of soprano Yukari Nonoshita is worth the wait in No. 144, where her relaxed and unforced tone reinforce the enthusiasm I expressed in Volume 16. The chorus in this moralistic cantata, with its austere but urgent counterpoint, is brilliantly and finely wrought. So, not all great music here, but Suzuki barely drops his guard in another notable addition to this distinguished series.
Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone, August 2002




Bach Collegium Japan

Three languages-, 36 pages-booklet in .pdf format included,
with extensive notes on works, performers and Cantatas’ text in German and English.

A big thanks to the original uploader for his kind permission to upload this series!!!

Большое спасибо первоначального аплоадера за его любезное разрешение залить этой серии и использовать его материалы!!!

Качать ЗДЕСЬ.

This post has been edited by vpenev on 25-09-2007, 01:39

Меня в данной серии от Bis радует то, что последние 6-7 дисков они сделали в SACD, при этом довольно нелохо сделали, вот бы первые 30 дисков со временем тоже в многоканалку мастер-записи у BIS наверное остались для этого пригодные..
По поводу кантант Баха- уже кажется 4-й год записываются и выпускаются альбомы с кантантами под рук-вом Sir John Eliot Gardiner (Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Orchestre Révolutionaire et Romantique), на данный момент дисков 14 (точнее альбомов 14, большинство 2-х дисковых, т.е. дисков всего 25), и все таки отдаю предпочтение им, по качеству исполнения может и слегка уступают, но чувственности в записях SDG больше, да и оформление дисков в виде книжечек CD-формата с очень качественной полиграфией мне нравится больше, цена не многим дороже издания BIS. Еще нравится мне политика данной фирмы, пусть может и не 100%-я правдивость, но ход хорош, я на него повелся с первого диска

Это действительно очень впечатляющая политика!!! Будем надеяться что она также и правдива. И что и другие компании начнут придерживаться к такой политики.

timtima!!! Прошу прощения за выход вне тему данного топика, но хочу попросить тебя залить здесь 43-тий том Романтического пиано Гипериона (о выпуске которого недавно сообщил на другом месте ) эсли у тебя эсть такой возможности.

This post has been edited by vpenev on 29-09-2007, 16:51

Volume 18 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 66, 67 & 134


Robin Blaze, counter-tenor
Makoto Sakurada, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-6: Cantata No. 66 "Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen", BWV 66 [28:45]
7-12: Cantata No. 134 "Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiЯ", BWV 134 [26:47]
13-19: Cantata No. 67 "Halt im Gedдchtnis Jesum Christ", BWV 67 [14:09]

Recorded May 2001 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Balance engineer: Thore Brinkmann. Producer: Jens Braun
© 2002 BIS CD 1251



These three works were assembled by Bach days after the premiиre of the St. John Passion‚ to celebrate Easter 1724. Given the energies expended on his longest work to date‚ it is not surprising that shortage of time temporarily forced Bach to recast ‘congratulatory’ court cantatas from his Weimar and Cцthen days. The fascination with any such reconstitution is that Bach cannot resist but try and make the second version sound like an original conception. He uses the theatrical dialogues of allegorical figures to extraordinarily good effect in the sacred context‚ and yet‚ as in No 134‚ concerns himself less with representing a doctrinal text than imparting the generally uplifting affekt for Easter. This is indeed a marvellously unabashed affair for Easter Tuesday with the admirable tenor aria‚ ‘Auf‚ Glдubige’ with the sweet tone but limited vocal presence of Makoto Sakurada. He sings two duets with the more accomplished Robin Blaze‚ the other in No. 66‚ where the alto’s creative antennж can do little to offset an unrelentingly bland characterisation. Admittedly‚ this is a rare aria where Bach is close to outstaying his welcome. If the tenor contribution is crucial in these works (and Sakurada also struggles with the demands of No. 67)‚ Collegium Bach Japan recognise the challenges in No. 66 with a stately‚ unforced reading of the extensively written opening chorus. This work is a ‘twin’ to No. 134‚ both in its secular origins and its use on Easter Monday of the same year‚ and unforgivingly explores the technical limits of the orchestra; there’s much to be said for Suzuki’s more measured and elegant pacing. He is also the only one who delivers the trumpet’s little ritornello filigree with a devilish slur: a nice touch. Most beguiling here is the bass aria‚ ‘Lasset dem Hцchsten’‚ and the seasoned distinction of Peter Kooij who exudes a gentleness and evenness of line which he also delivers in Herreweghe’s rather more focused performance. But the great cantata here is Halt im Gedдchtnis Jesum Christ (No. 67) which Bach composed afresh‚ once he had recharged his batteries after his busy Passion and Easter – a week later! It contains a finely wrought opening movement of the kind which Bach was to refine further in his subsequent cycle of chorale cantatas. The central action is a dialogue of rare distinction which builds operatically towards the entrance of a Christus figure blessing the faithful flock. Such personal sentiments require both deft pacing and a sense of a discreet ‘scena’. Suzuki’s urgent contrasting of heavenly benediction with anxious disciples is dramatically marked but the characterisation is too fleeting‚ the coloration too under wraps and the impact simply too slight. Karl Richter’s 1958 version still resonates here as a lasting paradigm with bass Keith Engen reassuring every doubting Thomas. Altogether a worthy continuation in this excellent series‚ if not Collegium Japan’s most memorable volume to date.
Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone, November 2002


Masaaki Suzuki

Three languages-, 32 pages-booklet in .pdf format included,
with extensive notes on works, performers and Cantatas’ text in German and English.

A big thanks to the original uploader for his kind permission to upload this series!!!

Большое спасибо первоначального аплоадера за его любезное разрешение залить этой серии и использовать его материалы!!!

Качать ЗДЕСЬ.

This post has been edited by vpenev on 29-09-2007, 18:17

Volume 19 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 37, 86, 104 & 166


Yukari Nonoshita, sopran
Robin Blaze, counter-tenor
Makoto Sakurada, tenor
Stephan MacLeod, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-6: Cantata No. 86 "Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch", BWV 86 [13:08]
7-12: Cantata No. 37 "Wer da glдubet und getauft wird", BWV 37 [15:50]
13-18: Cantata No. 104 "Du Hirt Israel, hцre", BWV 104 [18:13]
19-24: Cantata No. 166 "Wo gehest du hin?", BWV 166 [16:40]

Recorded June and July 2001 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Balance engineer: Thore Brinkmann. Producer: Dirk Lьdemann
© 2002 BIS CD 1261



Another impressive addition to this gradually unfolding series, revealing Bach’s maturing cantata style.
The Japanese Bachians quietly go on producing highly polished and considered performances as they survey the post-Easter cantatas of Leipzig of 1724. The first work on the CD is a little-known gem, No 86, Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch. Succinct and imploring, the listener follows the doctrinal and attentive tone set so marvellously by a composer arrested by the intensity of Christ’s promise: ‘Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.’ Suzuki, as ever, chooses exceptionally well-judged tempi throughout, leaves no stone unturned in his confident preparedness and also introduces a fine new bass to the series, Stephan MacLeod, as the ‘vox Christi’. Of the other three works here, none is particularly long but each contains a central movement of special significance. In No. 37, it is the chorale duet of a stanza from ‘How brightly shines the morning star’, sung with disarming fluency by Yukari Nonoshita and Robin Blaze, and in No. 166, the tidy tenor Makoto Sakurada gives a sensitive, if somewhat under-nourished account of ‘Ich will an den Himmel denken’. This cantata also boasts a ravishing and peerless ‘Man nehme sich in Acht’ from Blaze, accompanied generously by the strings.
The only cantata here which appears constantly embedded in the given imagery of its text is No. 104 Du Hirte Israel. Psalm 80 inspires Bach’s alluring pastoral backdrop, initially realised in a rocking triple-time chorus to convey the shepherd ‘that leadest Joseph like a flock’. Suzuki does not quite explore the range of possibilities, and not just in terms of tempo or texture but in seeking expression through character of sound. The squeaky clean chorus of Bach Collegium Japan convey little of the sombre gravitas in this bucolic masterpiece. Ground is certainly made up in the great bass aria ‘Beglьckte Herde’, where MacLeod gives a gentle and soft-grained performance (very much in the spirit of Suzuki’s usual bass, Peter Kooij) as Christ’s sheep are offered the rewards of faith. Some will wish for a more involving performance of this highly original work, as Richter provides (from 1973) with a majestic Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Suzuki’s latest volume will, however, satisfy a good number of tastes. These are consistently impressive performances, beautifully recorded and Suzuki communicates Bach with unalloyed joy. Only in the heady luminosity of it all does one sometimes yearn for a broader range of expressive ambitions.
Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone, November 2002



Bach Collegium Japan

Three languages-, 32 pages-booklet in .pdf format included,
with extensive notes on works, performers and Cantatas’ text in German and English.

A big thanks to the original uploader for his kind permission to upload this series!!!

Большое спасибо первоначального аплоадера за его любезное разрешение залить этой серии и использовать его материалы!!!

Качать ЗДЕСЬ.

This post has been edited by vpenev on 29-09-2007, 20:11

Volume 20 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 44, 59, 173 & 184


Yukari Nonoshita, soprano
Mutsumi Hatano, alto
Gerd Tьrk, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-6: Cantata No. 184 "Erwьnschtes Freudenlicht", BWV 184 [20:52]
7-12: Cantata No. 173 "Erhцhtes Fleisch und Blut, BWV 173 [13:27]
13-17: Cantata No. 59 "Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten", (I) BWV 59 [10:21]
18-24: Cantata No. 44 "Sie werden euch in den Bann tun", BWV 44 [17:21]

Recorded September 2001 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Balance engineer: Thore Brinkmann. Producer: Jens Braun
© 2002 BIS CD 1271



After a busy Easter in Leipzig in 1724, Bach’s May was no less productive, even though his scoring was proportionally downsized from the great Paschal festivities. None of these cantatas perhaps rank as among Bach’s most highly wrought and unified masterpieces, but the composer fulfilled his obligations with some timely revisiting of previous creations from his time at Cцthen. This enabled him to rekindle the possibilities of duet writing as a central focus in the absence of large choral forces. Cantata No. 184 contains a particularly expansive example for soprano and alto (‘Gesegnete Christen’) where the ritornello’s dance character is lifted by intricate instrumental filigree, executed with considerable panache by Bach Collegium Japan. The two home-grown soloists make an agreeable and well-balanced team, and the soprano, Yukari Nonoshita joins the bass, Peter Kooij, in the gavotte-like final movement, but performed here with no more than a perfunctory efficiency. Cantata No. 173, written to be performed the day after the Pentecost celebration, is a sister-work to 184 as both a secular parody (here, as a birthday ‘serenada’ for Prince Leopold in Cцthen) and in its summary attention to words, as texts are freely interchanged. The duet here makes a perfect strophic fit, from ‘beneath the hem of his (Leopold’s) red robe’, in its original, to ‘God so loved the World’: this is a catchy, if undemanding movement. - If Masaaki Suzuki’s musicians present every respectable series of performances in these two paired works, it is not surprising that the commitment and sense of corporate response increases in the uplifting duet for soprano and bass which opens Cantata No. 59. This is a concentrated choral fugue which sees Bach return to a work which he may have kept up his sleeve from his first weeks in Leipzig in 1723. Accompanied by gloriously interleaving trumpets and strings, the skilful counterpoint is almost passed off as workaday by Bach. It is anything but, and Suzuki raises the profile with a fervour that is lacking in other versions. The same cannot be said for the concluding aria where, although Kooij deftly imparts a plausible view of paradise, a cloying violin obbligato and the otherwise luminous acoustic of the Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel seems to blur the message. With a decent reading of Cantata No 44 (although Nonoshita hardly rivals Barbara Schlick, under Philippe Herreweghe, in the great ‘Es ist und bleibt’ aria), this is a more than worthy addition to the series which it must be said – and it’s all relative – contains only intermittently front-rank Bach.
Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone, June 2003



Bach Collegium Japan

Three languages-, 32 pages-booklet in .pdf format included,
with extensive notes on works, performers and Cantatas’ text in German and English.

A big thanks to the original uploader for his kind permission to upload this series!!!

Большое спасибо первоначального аплоадера за его любезное разрешение залить этой серии и использовать его материалы!!!

Качать ЗДЕСЬ.

This post has been edited by vpenev on 29-09-2007, 20:35

Volume 21 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 65, 81, 83 & 190


Robin Blaze, counter-tenor
James Gilchrist, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-7: Cantata No. 65 "Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen", BWV 65 [16:07]
8-14: Cantata No. 81 "Jesus schlдft, was soll ich hoffen", BWV 81 [16:20]
15-19: Cantata No. 83 "Erfreute Zeit im neuen Bunde", BWV 83 [19:02]
20-26: Cantata No. 190 "Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied", BWV 190 [18:05]

Recorded February 2002 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Balance engineer: Rita Hermeyer. Producer: Uli Schneider
© 2002 & 2003 BIS CD 1311



Vibrant readings of outstanding cantatas from early Leipzig

Another meticulously prepared volume in this distinguished series comprises the late festivities of Christmas 1724 and two Epiphany works from a few weeks later. Taken from the first of Bach’s annual cantata cycles, these four works reveal the astonishing variety and textual (and textural) coloration which the composer exercised in this period of free-wheeling creativity from his early months of employment in Leipzig. That is not to say that subsequent cycles, with their increasing manipulation of the chorale melody for formal unity, present any less imaginative a vista. It’s just that cantatas such as Nos 65 and 81 provide an especially telling and unabashed representative streak: in the former case, an opening chorus where Old and New Testament texts are conflated to form a graphic illumination of the congregating Gentiles – notably Wise Men – setting off for Bethlehem (‘All they from Sheba shall come’). While the instrumentation of horns, recorders, oboes da caccia and strings captures the spiciness of eastern promise, Suzuki imbues the whole with a relaxed and soft-grained pastoral regality. This is further exemplified in the easy delivery of the aria ‘Nimm mich dir zu eigen’ in which James Gilchrist performs with supreme awareness, beckoning the listener to inhabit his world: this is exceptionally characterised singing by any standards and Suzuki shouldn’t look back. No less successful is the way Bach Collegium Japan embraces the Christmas message in the incomplete Cantata No 190. Lost is the first section of the autograph – and most of the performing materials – where Bach, under pressure, probably removed the parts for performance in a new ‘secular’ guise, as was his wont. Imaginative reconstruction can bring this work to life and Masato Suzuki has found a majestic solution to the opening chorus, which his namesake realises with the kind of abandon one hears too rarely from him.
Both Epiphany works dispense with a large choral involvement. Cantata No 81 is a mesmerisingly compact piece in which St Matthew’s account of Jesus calming the storm provides the arresting imagery for three fine arias. The middle movement is the set-piece par excellence, truly operatic in its posturing bravura and burning focus of conceit (conveyed primarily in the restless accompaniment). Gilchrist again brings tremendous commitment and open-heartedness with the kind of cultivated vocal йlan of great Bach tenors in the Helmut Krebs and Anton Dermota mould. Both Robin Blaze and Peter Kooij perform their arias with customary distinction. Blaze’s big moment occurs in the opening movement of Cantata No 83, a large da capo aria constructed around a First Brandenburg-style orchestral ritornello, in which Blaze’s ear and mind for discovering musical sense behind the notes is palpable. Altogether, this volume can claim to be among the front rank so far.
Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone, July 2003



Masaaki Suzuki

Three languages-, 40 pages-booklet in .pdf format included,
with extensive notes on works, performers and Cantatas’ text in German and English.

A big thanks to the original uploader for his kind permission to upload this series!!!

Большое спасибо первоначального аплоадера за его любезное разрешение залить этой серии и использовать его материалы!!!

Качать ЗДЕСЬ.

This post has been edited by vpenev on 05-10-2007, 18:49