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Volume 22 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 7, 20 & 94


Yukari Nonoshita, soprano
Robin Blaze, counter-tenor
Jan Kobow, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-11: Cantata No. 20 "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort", BWV 20 [24:17]
12-18: Cantata No. 7 "Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam", BWV 7 [21:13]
19- 26: Cantata No. 94 "Was frag ich nach der Welt", BWV 94 [27:46]

Recorded April 2002 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Balance engineer: Ingo Petry. Producer: Hans Kipfer
© 2003 BIS CD 1321



Suzuki’s admirable progress though the sacred cantatas shows no sign of flagging
This volume heralds the beginning of the most substantial and ambitious compositional exercise in Bach’s career: an annual series of cantatas in which the composer planned that every Sunday in the church calendar would be identified, textually and musically, by the appropriate chorale for the season. Bach’s second annual cycle – or Jahrgang 2 – was never completed but it contains around 40 chorale cantatas in which, most notably, the first stanza of the chorale is presented variously as an intricate fantasia on the chosen hymn, proclaimed with stirring fervour, usually by the sopranos. While Bach sought new compositional challenges here, he also knew that his boys at St Thomas’s would cope better with familiar chorale-based material than the highly complex choruses which characterise the earlier cycle.

Suzuki’s approach to these cantatas is not strictly chronological as has often been the case. He starts with the first piece in the cycle, the splendid No. 20 O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, which Bach performed on the first Sunday of Trinity (June 11, 1724) but jumps a week by missing out No. 2 (with its strikingly austere stilo antico opening movement) and goes for No. 7, and then chooses No. 94 from a few weeks later. None of this has much bearing on the performances except that this formula seems to juxtapose deftly the wide range of forms used by Bach. The extended and graphic description of Christ’s baptism in Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam, articulated by two concertante violin parts, is contrasted with the dazzling French overture of No. 20. If the playing in the former is somewhat prosaic, Suzuki gives the majestic opening movement of O Ewigkeit such apt propulsion in the bass line that one only intermittently yearns for the more secularised elegance of Herreweghe.

It seems curious that two performances of No 20, released so closely, should employ the same tenor and bass soloists in Jan Kobow and Peter Kooij. Suzuki’s approach with both singers is rather more rhetorical than Herreweghe, who tends to irradiate the music for its own sake, enhanced by the cultivated strings of Collegium Vocale. Both have something interesting to say but Suzuki connects language and music with greater depth of sentiment. As exemplary a work is Was frag ich nach der Welt (No. 94), a substantial cantata whose librettist clearly worked in close collaboration with Bach, ensuring that each stanza of the chorale could be presented with disarming invention. The work is as eager to provide telling dramatic imagery as it is to ruminate on the transience of life and Mammon’s vanity. Bach makes instant demands on his virtuoso flute player who, judging by the number of obbligato parts from this period, was no slouch. It is a marvellous, fresh and abiding testament to Bach’s increasing obsession with unified and economical means. Suzuki realises its quizzical turns and relishes the enriching set-pieces. Other readings are full of character and ruddy energy, but neither can boast Robin Blaze’s commentary on our deluded world, Betцrte Welt. All told, another success chalked up for this continually impressive Bach series.
Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone, May 2004



Masaaki Suzuki

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 07-10-2007, 00:45

Volume 23 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 10, 93, 107 & 178


Yukari Nonoshita, soprano
Matthew White, counter-tenor
Makoto Sakurada, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass[/size]

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-7: Cantata No. 10 "Meine Seel erhebt den Herren", BWV 10 [18:57]
8-14: Cantata No. 93 "Wer nur den lieben Gott lдЯt walten", BWV 93 [19:47]
15-21: Cantata No. 178 "Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hдlt", BWV 178 [19:05]
22-28: Cantata No. 107 "Was willst du dich betrьben", BWV 107 [17:55]

Recorded May und June 2002 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Balance engineer: Dirk Lьdemann. Producer: Thore Brinkmann
© 2003 BIS CD 1331



Far from escaping to the country in the blazing heat of July 1724, Bach was committed to performing four cantatas (he probably composed at least three of them during the same month), one for each of the Trinity Sundays between the 2nd and 30th. As collectors of this distinguished series will recall that we have now reached the heart of Bach’s chorale-cantata cycle, where seasonal hymns represent the starting-point for Bach’s topical and compositional inspiration. A concise approach is common to the examples here: each offers an insight into Bach’s extraordinarily mature handling of counterpoint to project a clear conceit. Meine Seel erhebt (No 10) is a striking setting of the Magnificat – a psalm whose opening strophes allow Bach to construct a merry-go-round of purposeful belief, both in the chorus and in the brilliant soprano aria which follows it – but perhaps uniformity of design inhibits some of the free-spirited invention of the earlier works?

Masaaki Suzuki rises to the intent of all the splendid choruses with energy and conviction. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he finds musical solace more readily in the brooding intensity and doctrinal concentration of No 93 than in, say, No 10. The soprano, Yukari Nonoshita, is altogether more alive to the rhetoric of the music. Matthew White is a worthy replacement for Robin Blaze but I hope the latter’s absence is only temporary. While, as in the opening chorale fantasia of No 178, both chorus and orchestra produce a gloriously luminous and focused texture, the arias feel as if produced in isolation from the whole – not helped by the inexplicably long breaks between movements. In No 178, Peter Kooij traverses the choleric passaggi of ‘Gleichwie die wilden Meereswellen’ (‘just as the raging waves of the sea’) with disappointingly professional objectivity, though as soon as the chorus enters in the remarkable imagery of the subsequent chorale and recitative the fire is re-ignited. The best is left to the end: an outstanding reading of Was willst du dich betrьben (No 107). This is a beautifully poised and balanced work in which Bach uses an antiquated technique of four back-to-back arias. Suzuki relishes the lightness of Bach’s instrumental palette, especially in Sakurada’s touching ‘Darum ich mich ihm ergebe’, where a feathery flute sits irresistibly within the string filigree. Not most consistent volume overall, perhaps, but this last performance is exceptional.
Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone, September 2004



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 07-10-2007, 02:57

Volume 24 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 8, 33 & 113


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

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-6: Cantata No. 8 "Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben", BWV 8 [17:28]
7-12: Cantata No. 33 "Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ", BWV 33 [19:29]
13-20: Cantata No. 113 "Herr Jesu Christ, du hцchstes Gut", BWV 113 [24:37]
21: Appendix: 1746 version of Cantata No. 8’s opening chorus [6:03]

Recorded September 2002 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Balance engineer: Jens Braun. Producer: Thore Brinkmann
© 2004 BIS CD 1351



As Masaaki Suzuki’s deeply considered journey through Bach’s cantatas moves towards the core of his celebrated chorale cantata cycle (or second Jahrgang), the themes of these three works are drawn from the wide-ranging Trinity gospels, concerning man’s quest for salvation through repentance and preparation for death. Bach explores the conceit of each piece by using his material far more economically that he had done to date in Leipzig or Weimar. Still, not every work in the cycle rises to the heights of Liebster Gott (No. 8) in its touching coloration or in the structural strength of the chorale which can truly liberate the imagination beyond technical mastery. Suzuki’s approach to Liebster Gott is surprisingly short on contemplative resonance given its atmospheric texture of oboi d’amore, a colla parte horn with the chorale, strings and the imagery of a funereal ticking clock – ‘When shall I die, my time ever runs on’ – effected by a compelling flute line of delicate repeated notes. Where Bach is radiant but sombre, Suzuki is little more than efficient; he does, however, provide a later version of the opening movement as an appendix, re-scored less glowingly by Bach and trasposed down a tone to cater for a less proficient ensemble in the 1740s.

If this performance fails to live up to high expectations, the energy, subtlety and balance found in Suzuki’s account of Allein zu dir (No. 33) is compelling enough: Bach Collegium Japan relish the buzzing ripieno concerto which frenetically and hopefully circumnavigates the chorale in this splendid fantasia. Here, too, is one of Bach’s most memorable arias, ‘Wie furchtsam’, where muted violins depict the trepidation of man moving gingerly towards the Day of Judgement. Robin Blaze’s countertenor is regularly a joy in Bach and he sings here with an affectionate, soft-grained lyricism. So, too, does Gerd Tьrk in ‘Jesus nimmt’ from No. 113 (pitch has deserted him in his aria in No. 8) where the vital flute playing of Liliko Maeda again impresses. Despite the disappointment of No. 8, Suzuki makes his mark with a consistently high yield elsewhere. As we are about half-way through the series, it will be interesting to see if Suzuki’s luminous and reverential approach can bring enough differentiated personality to the maturing cantatas. (Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone, August 2004)

Another review of volume 24 can be found here.



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 08-10-2007, 02:21

Volume 25 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 78, 99 & 114


Yukari Nonoshita, soprano
Daniel Taylor, counter-tenor
Makoto Sakurada, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-7: Cantata No. 78 "Jesu, der du meine Seele", BWV 78 [21:56]
8-13: Cantata No. 99 "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan", BWV 99 [17:35]
14-20: Cantata No. 114 "Ach, lieben Christen, seid getrost", BWV 114 [23:27]

Recorded February 2003 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Balance engineer: Andreas Ruge. Producer: Ingo Petry
© 2004 BIS CD 1361



The silver jubilee volume of this dignified procession through Bach’s sacred cantatas is marked by one of the composer’s greatest choral works, Jesu, der du meine Seele. Accompanied by two other fine cantatas from early autumn 1724, this is one of the piиces de resistances of the outstanding chorale-based cycle of 1724-25. As ever with Bach, the setting of text, per se, was unfulfilling; here he is arrested with inventing something entirely new – the text merely an excuse to stage a solemn vision of bitter death, the devil’s dark pit, the soul’s heavy grief and eventual rescue. Masaaki Suzuki relishes the varied emotional landscape of No 78’s opening passacaglia with its falling chromatic bass, conjuring up such bitter-sweet textures in the winds and soft-grained and imploring phrasing in the strings. One might quibble with the slightly recessed choral presence: for a more intense and deliberate account, Felix Prohaska’s legendary reading from 1954 Vienna is no less durable – and rather more so in the brilliant canonic duet which follows. Suzuki might have dealt with this exquisite metaphor of discipleship with a touch more relaxed breeziness, in the spirit of the work’s unusually direct reference to secular Italian models.

In both Nos 99 and 114, Suzuki projects the unity of each work with carefully sculpted opening choruses, well-leavened recitatives and urgent, radiant orchestral playing (notably the delicacy of the flute obbligato from Liliko Maeda). If the absence of Robin Blaze is an inevitable loss, Daniel Taylor is an expressive replacement in ‘Wenn des Kreuzes Bitterkeiten’, the duet from No 99, which also reveals the natural musicianship and tonal refinement of soprano Yukari Nonoshita. Makoto Sakurada sings the perilous and lengthy ‘Wo wird in diesem jammertale’ from No 114 with measured accomplishment, but the last word goes to Suzuki and a recording series, reaching near its mid-point, of outstanding consistency.
(Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone, December 2004)

Another review of volume 25 can be found here.



Masaaki Suzuki

The crowning achievement here is ‘Jesu, der du meine Seele’, which is wonderfully sustained throughout. Profoundly satisfying. Bravo! (BBC Music Magazine), November 2004 ... Tout en volutes vocales d’une fluiditй soyeuse, l’allиgre cantate Jesu, der du meine Seele s’envole en guirlandes de doubles-croches, en rondes de pur bonheur... Masaaki Suzuki concilie hйritage baroque et rituel oriental, mйtamorphosant chaque aria en cйrйmonie calligraphiйe et chorйgraphique. (Tйlйrama), october 2004 ... La splendeur instrumentale, la ductilitй du choeur et l’йquilibre du quatuor vocal inscrivent ce vingt-cinquiиme enregistrement dans la lignйe des prйcйdents, c’est-а-dire au sommet. (Le Monde de la musique, November 2004).

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 08-10-2007, 04:14

Volume 26 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 96, 122 & 180


Yukari Nonoshita, soprano
Timothy Kenworthy-Brown, counter-tenor
Makoto Sakurada, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-7: Cantata No. 180 "Schmьcke dich, o liebe Seele", BWV 180 [21:35]
8-13: Cantata No. 122 "Das neugeborne Kindelein", BWV 122 [13:36]
14-19: Cantata No. 96 "Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn", BWV 96 [17:45]

Recorded June 2003 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Balance engineer: Marion Schwebel. Producer: Rita Hermeyer
© 2004 BIS CD 1401



The 26th Volume of Bach Cantatas with Masaaki Suzuki and Bach Collegium Japan consists of three works composed for performances during the last three months of 1742. They are part of the composer’s projected (but discontinued) Chorale Cantata Year, in which every cantata for a whole year was to be based on a well-known chorale rather than on the traditional gospel reading for the Sunday in question. The text of the chosen hymn was thus reworked by the librettist into poems suitable for setting into recitatives, arias, duets etc. Of the three works in question, BWV 180 (Schmьcke dich, o liebe Seele) is the most famous. Based on a communion hymn by Johannes Crьger, its opening chorus has long been regarded by Bach connoisseurs as one of the most beautiful in any of the cantatas. (‘One can tell from the composition that the master was working on one of his favourite melodies’, wrote Albert Schweitzer.) BWV 122 (Das neugeborne Kindelein) was intended for the Sunday after Christmas, which in 1742 was also New Year’s Eve, and is a meditation on the future, seen in the light of the recent birth of the Saviour.

Although Bach never completed the second Jahrgдng (cycle) of cantatas, he left us with an extraordinary range of solutions for how the chorale can inspire fantasy and invention. Some pieces are magnificent, others darned good and a few (dare one say) a touch severe. Such an example of ‘magnificent’ is the highly wrought Schmьcke dich from October 1724, the ne plus ultra cantata for many, where the invitation to the feast provided Bach with radiant images of the hospitality of God’s kingdom. Masaaki Suzuki brings an especially balletic prospect to the opening chorus with strong, driving bass-lines and a dazzling sense of expectancy. One has never felt so sure of Bach’s delight in an exceptional melody. This is counterbalanced by a soft-grained and lucid reading of the tenor aria ‘Ermuntre dich’ by Makoto Sakurada and then, fleetingly, an accompanied recitative introducing yet another countertenor to the series in the attractive and polished warmth of Timothy Kenworthy-Brown.

More heartening than anything is to hear soprano Yukari Nonoshita developing into a Bach singer of real stature. Both in Schmьcke dich and the startlingly original inner movements of Das neugeborne Kindelein – a cantata straddling the joint feasts of Christmas and New Year – she conveys the gentle, compassionate honesty of Agnes Giebel. Cantata No 96 is a less integrated piece but boasts some dazzling sopranino recorder playing in the opening chorus (Bach curiously altered the instrumentation to solo violin in the 1734 performance) which Suzuki imbues with indulgent delight in Bach’s glorious orchestration. Peter Kooij’s ‘Bald zur Rechten’ deftly imparts the timid and halting steps of the Christian’s human vulnerability. Another success chalked up in this riveting series. (Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone, July 2005)



Masaaki Suzuki

Another review of volume 26 can be found here.

"Throughout this ongoing series I have come to consider the magnificent direction of Masaaki Suzuki to be one of the greatest recording achievements of my lifetime. The interpretations of three of the Leipzig cantatas from 1724 on this volume 26 have given me no reason to alter my view and several more reasons in which to find reinforcement for my stance. Maestro Suzuki’s undoubted affection for these scores is incredibly infectious. There are few conductors who direct with such refinement, reverence and colour; in such a way that one senses that Bach’s intentions are being appropriately fulfilled. In these three, predominantly woodwind-weighted, scores the Bach Collegium Chorus and Orchestra under the controlled direction of Maestro Suzuki faithfully convey the liturgical narrative with considerable reverence and lyrical expression."

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 14-10-2007, 01:33

Volume 27 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 5, 80 & 115


Susanne Rydйn, soprano
Pascal Bertin, counter-tenor
Gerd Tьrk, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Azumi Takada, leader

Tracklist
1-8: Cantata No. 80 "Ein feste Burg is unser Gott", BWV 80 [23:56]
9-15: Cantata No. 5 "Wo soll ich fliehen hin", BWV 5 [21:08]
16-21: Cantata No. 115 "Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit", BWV 115 [23:13]

Recorded September 2003 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Balance engineer: Jens Braun. Producer: Dirk Lьdemann
© 2005 BIS CD 1421



Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott BWV 80, one of the best-loved of all Bach Cantatas, opens volume 27 of Masaaki Suzuki’s and Bach Collegium Japan’s journey through the world of Johann Sebastian Bach. Even though the year of its composition is uncertain, it has been included on this disc, since its structure makes it part of the Chorale Cantata Year, the great church music project that Bach began in 1724. Each cantata belonging to the project was based on the text of one specific chorale, using it (or versions of it) not only for the choral movements but also for recitatives and arias. Intending BWV 80 for Reformation Day (celebrated each year on 31st October), Bach’s choice of chorale was obvious: the most famous hymn by Martin Luther, the father of the Reformation. Less dramatic and forceful, the accompanying two cantatas Wo soll ich fliehen hin BWV 5 and Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit BWV 115 are equally full of arresting instances of Bach’s great genius, and as always the informative liner notes by Klaus Hofmann serve as a useful guide through the works. The work of Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki is by now self-recommending, but this disc also offers the opportunity to hear two new soloists, Susanne Rydйn (soprano) and Pascal Bertin (counter-tenor), both making their dйbuts on this series.

These outstanding cantatas represent a triptych of Bach’s finest from his second cycle, the so-called ‘chorale cantatas’. Each pays homage to its hymn in a fully worked-out opening chorale fantasia, though Ein feste Burg carries the technique to new levels of contrapuntal invention (as well as employing the chorale in subsequent movements). Masaaki Suzuki allows us a privileged view of the work’s inner sinews through a logically unfurling display of genuine quality. There is none of the overblown literalness of the ‘mighty fortress’; instead, it is viewed as an elegant Schloss, though one somewhat compromised by an underpowered choral presence: throughout the disc it is the instrumental contributions which stand out as exceptional.

In both remaining cantatas the theme of satanic protection becomes a conceit of critical importance to Bach. If the opening of no. 5 lacks the frenetic uncertainty suggested by its chromatic inflections and questioning text, no. 115 is afforded a kind of busy spring-cleaning operation, as the obbligato winds rearm for the devil’s inevitable entreaties with the human soul. Collegium Bach Japan deliver a beautifully sculpted reading, though without the the peerless coloration of Christophe Coin – the best version by a mile though his Auvidis disc is no longer available. Pascal Bertin, for all his fine expressive instincts, does not have the vocal presence of Andreas Scholl (Coin’s soloist) for such a luscious slumber aria as ‘Ach schlдfrige Seele’. It is indeed the solo vocal contributions which slightly underwhelm. Susanne Rydйn is a seasoned soprano but her idea of purity in ‘Bete aber auch’ in no. 115 reveals little of the prayerful patience evoked in the music. Gerd Tьrk is better in that most image-laden of arias from No 5, ‘ErgeiЯe dich reichlich’, in which you can almost taste the sweet water, and most successful is Peter Kooij in the later aria ‘Verstumme, Hцllenheer’: an astonishingly original and meticulous creation is given a supreme rendering. Apart from anything, you would be pushed in a Bach cantata disc to find nearly 70 minutes of music of such unadulterated quality.
Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone, August 2005




Masaaki Suzuki

Another review of volume 27 can be found here.

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 14-10-2007, 06:11

Volume 28 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 26, 62, 116 & 139


Yukari Nonoshita, soprano
Robin Blaze, counter-tenor
Makoto Sakurada, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-6: Cantata No. 62 "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland", BWV 62 [17:58]
7-12: Cantata No. 139 "Wohl dem, der sich auf seinen Gott", BWV 139 [17:59]
13-18: Cantata No. 26 "Ach wie flьchtig, ach wie nichtig", BWV 26 [15:04]
19-24: Cantata No. 116 "Du Friedefьrst, Herr Jesu Christ", BWV 116 [17:41]

Recorded March 2004 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel, Japan
Sound engineer: Hans Kipfer. Recording producer: Thore Brinkmann
© 2005 BIS SACD 1451



The four cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach on this disc take us into the second year of Bach’s service as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, to November and December 1724. They were written for four consecutive Sundays in the context of the so-called ‘Chorale Cantata Year’. According to the plan for this great music project (which Bach did not quite succeed in completing), every Sunday and feast day of the year was to be provided with a cantata based not on the gospel reading for the day, as would have been expected, but on a popular hymn. Part of the project – an element that must have been agreed with the Leipzig clergy – was a concept for the text and music according to which, in Bach’s setting, the first and last strophes of the hymn were to remain textually unchanged and with their usual melody, but the inner strophes were freely adapted to form recitatives and arias. A specialist – in both poetry and theology – was on hand to rework the text, but his name does not appear anywhere and so we are forced to rely upon speculation concerning his identity. There is much to suggest that Andreas Stьbel (1653-1725), the former deputy headmaster of the Thomasschule, was the man responsible. The choice of hymns was generally made in such a manner that they suited the Bible readings for the day in question, in particular the gospel readings that formed the basis of the sermon. We must presume that the priest also discussed the hymn text, and it is likely that the hymn was also sung by the congregation.
(Klaus Hoffmann, from the booklet notes)

... The four cantatas on the disc were composed during November and December 1724, Bach’s second year in Leipzig, the year of chorale cantatas. The historical chronology has been gently altered by moving the Advent cantata, BWV 62, to the top, ahead of the three late Trinity cantatas. The resulting sequence alternates the more vigorous works (62 and 26) with the more reflective ones (139 and 116). All of these cantatas have six movements – a characteristic choral fantasia, paired arias and recitatives, and a concluding four-part setting of the chorale – but, as always, each cantata is unique. Cantata 62 confidently anticipates the impending Nativity with a joyful, dance-like tenor aria and a strikingly militant bass aria. The arias of BWV 139 are also for tenor and bass, the first a coloratura exercise, and the second, unusually for Bach, marked by several abrupt tempo and meter changes. The tenor aria of Cantata 26 is an example of Bach’s tone painting at its most ingenious. Likening the fleeting days of our mortal lives to rushing water, the solo line bubbles downstream, accompanied by a flute and violin in a curious anticipation of the opening of Smetana’s Vltava. The bass aria, accompanied by a trio of oboes, is another virtuoso showpiece. The pattern of tenor and bass arias is broken in Cantata 116. Its second movement is an anguished aria for alto and oboe d’amore; the fourth is a terzetto for soprano, tenor, and bass, rare for Bach. Suzuki and his musicians continue to maintain an admirable standard of excellence, and this disc can be confidently recommended.
Georg Chien, Fanfare




Johann Sebastian Bach

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 19-10-2007, 05:31

Volume 29 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 2, 3, 38 & 135


Dorothee Mields, soprano
Pascal Bertin, counter-tenor
Gerd Tьrk, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass
Concerto Palatino, brass ensemble

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-6: Cantata No. 135 "Ach Herr, mich armen Sьnder", BWV 135 [14:22]
7-12: Cantata No. 2 "Ach Gott, wom Himmel sieh darein", BWV 2 [17:20]
13-18: Cantata No. 3 "Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid", BWV 3 [22:30]
19-24: Cantata No. 38 "Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir", BWV 38 [17:27]

Recorded June 2004 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel, Japan
Sound engineer: Andreas Ruge. Recording producer: Uli Schneider
© 2005 BIS SACD 1461



The four cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach on this disc come from his second year of service as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, 1724/25. A central part of his work that year was a major church music project: the chorale cantata year. Bach’s plan envisaged a cycle of cantatas for every Sunday and feast day of the church year, in which each individual cantata would be based on a specific hymn on a subject suitable for the day in question. The undertaking would certainly have been agreed upon with the Leipzig clergy; indeed, they may even have suggested it. The starting point was a reflection upon traditions and the intention to reinvigorate an earlier Leipzig church service practice: in 1690 the pastor of St. Thomas’s, Johann Benedikt Carpzov, had openly announced that, as in the previous year, he would henceforth discuss a ‘good, beautiful, old, evangelical and Lutheran hymn’ in each service. His director of music Johann Schelle – Bach’s predecessor but one as Thomaskantor – offered ‘to form these hymns as graceful music and to present them... before the sermon’. The impulse per se for Bach’s chorale cantata project, however, was an anniversary: exactly 200 years earlier, in 1524, the first hymn books of the new evangelical church had appeared. In the orthodox Lutheran city of Leipzig, with its important theological faculty and its lively church (and church music) activities, this date did not pass unnoticed.
(© 2005 Klaus Hoffmann, from the booklet notes)

... The four works on this CD form part of the chorale cantata cycle that Bach wrote in his second year of service at Leipzig, dating from 1724 and 1725. This gave a common structure to the cycle, whereby the first and last strophes of the hymns were used unchanged in the chorales that open and close the works and the inner strophes revised for the arias and recitatives. These four are unusual in that they call for augmentation of the orchestra by cornett and / or trombone (a quartet of trombones in BWV2 and BWV38). The colours that these instruments add give the four works an archaic feel and a more sombre atmosphere than some of the better-known cantatas such as BWV80 and BWV147. Suzuki has employed a range of soloists across his recordings, and the soprano in this volume, Dorothee Mields makes her debut in the series. Her solo duties are limited to a duet aria in BWV3, and a recitative and terzetto aria in BWV38. Her clear and light voice is well suited to this music. The counter-tenor, Pascal Bertin, has appeared once before in the series, and is a name to watch out for. His voice is rich and sweet, and has nothing of the "strangled" tone that some counter tenors seem to have. Gerd Tьrk (tenor) and Peter Kooij (bass) are long-standing members of the performing team and do their usual sterling work. This release further enhances the reputation of the series as one of the glories of the CD era.
David J Barker, MusicWeb International



Masaaki Suzuki

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 19-10-2007, 05:47

Volume 30 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantata No. 51 & Aria BWV 1127


Carolyn Sampson, soprano
Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-5: Cantata No. 51 "Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!", BWV 51 [17:13]
6-17: Aria for Soprano Solo "Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn’ ihn", BWV 1127 [48:56]
18: (Bonus track) Excerpt from Cantata "O older Tag, erwьnschte Zeit", BWV 210 [7:37]

Recorded September 2005 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel, Japan
(bonus track recorded July 2003 and previously released on BIS CD 1411)
Sound engineer: Uli Schneider. Recording producer: Jens Braun
© 2005 BIS SACD 1471



Maestro Suzuki’s traversal of Bach’s chorale cantata cycle of 1724 is interrupted by this release, which features the first recording of the strophic aria "Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn’ ihn," which was only discovered in 2005 in Weimar. Such discoveries are rare enough these days: this one was doubly fortunate in that much of the Weimar music archive was destroyed in a fire in 2004, but this document was stored separately with other non-musical manuscripts connected with tributes to, or celebrations of the Weimar rulers of the early 18th century. Michael Maul, a researcher for the Bach Archive in Leipzig, pored over more than 1,000 documents before turning over a page to find music in the hand of JSB! He describes the thrill of discovery in the sleeve notes: "O God, this looks like Bach". Before you get too excited at the prospect of almost fifty minutes of new Bach, let me explain what a strophic aria is. It uses the same music for a number of verses of text, with a ritornello from the low strings and basso continuo to connect them. Therefore, the discovery is only four new minutes of new Bach music, repeated eleven times. In twelve verses, the librettist, Johann Anthon Mylius, pays homage to Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Weimar by including the letters of his name across the verses. The first line of each verse is the same – the title of the piece – while the second line only varies by one word: that word begins with the appropriate letter of the Duke’s name. The music itself reminds me of the Coffee cantata – a delicious flowing melody – but when it comes back more often than a Philip Glass theme, the attraction fades. The soprano on this recording, Carolyn Sampson, has appeared before for Maasaki Suzuki on the recent secular cantata recording and has featured on a number of highly regarded Hyperion recordings with the King’s Consort. She has a beautiful rich tone, honeyed and silky smooth.

The other complete work on the disc is the well-known cantata for solo soprano and trumpet, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV51. Initial research indicated that it was part of the usual Sunday Leipzig church service around 1730, but recent studies have suggested that its use in a church service was unlikely and that a more likely performance venue would have been the court of Sachsen-WeiЯenfels. It was for celebrations of Duke Christian’s birthday that Bach composed the Hunt BWV208 and Shepherd BWV249a cantatas, and in 1729 Bach returned from the court with a new title: Hofkapellmeister of Sachsen-WeiЯenfels. The other reason that Jauchzet Gott is unlikely to have been a regular church service work is the demand that it places on the solo vocalist, which would have been too much for a boy soprano from the Thomaskirche. Carolyn Sampson deals effortlessly with the demands.
(David J. Barker, Musicweb-International.com)



Masaaki Suzuki with Carolyn Sampson

Volume 30 of Masaaki Suzuki’s highly regarded Bach cantata cycle is devoted mainly to Bach’s ‘newest’work, the strophic aria "Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn’ ihn," discovered in May 2005, and quickly authenticated and assigned the BWV number 1127 (thus, it’s separated from the cantatas, which occupy the first 200-plus spots in the catalog). Suzuki’s is the work’s first complete recording; abridged versions came first from Gardiner (12 minutes) and then from Koopman (17 minutes) Frankly, despite the beauty of Carolyn Sampson’s performance with Suzuki’s expert ensemble, Gardiner’s is the version of choice, simply because we don’t need to hear the same (...) thing performed 12 times in a row over the course of 48 and a half minutes. That’s what happens in a complete performance. In 1713, to celebrate the 53rd birthday of Bach’s early employer, Duke Wilhelm Ernst, a local town superintendent named Johann Anthon Mylius wrote 12 stanzas, each verse beginning with the German translation of the duke’s motto, "Omnia deo et nihil sine eo" ("Everything with God and nothing without him"). The second line of each stanza and the following B section would change, but that second line would evolve in an odd way: only the third word would be replaced, and if you align the first letters of each of those third words you spell out the duke’s name. This is the sort of acrostic game that Bach loved, but it’s strange that he was assigned the task of setting the words to music. He was merely the Weimar court organist, and wouldn’t have any responsibility for writing cantatas until his promotion the following year. Perhaps more senior composers, including several in the Mylius family, had turned down the potentially tedious job. Perhaps the ambitious Bach lobbied for the assignment, hoping it would gain him the sort of attention that would result in the promotion he indeed received within a few months. At any rate, Bach merely wrote out the music for the first verse, intending it to be repeated as the text changed. To understand the acrostic, you need to see the entire text, but hearing the whole thing is hardly necessary. To their credit, Suzuki and his elegant players do vary the instrumental bridges somewhat, and Sampson handles the melody with lovely grace, but it’s not enough to sustain interest for more than three quarters of an hour. All are heard to better effect in Cantata No. 51, a performance that floats and twirls, without losing its center of gravity in the weightier sections. For some reason, the aria "Spielet, ihr beseelten Lieder" from BWV 210 is appended as a bonus track.
James Reel, Fanfare



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 19-10-2007, 19:05

Volume 31 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 91, 101, 121 & 133


Yukari Nonoshita, soprano
Robin Blaze, counter-tenor
Gerd Tьrk, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass
Concerto Palatino, brass ensemble

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-6: Cantata No. 91 "Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ", BWV 91 [15:50]
7-12: Cantata No. 101 "Nimm von uns Herr, du treuer Gott", BWV 101 [26:32]
13-18: Cantata No. 121 "Christum will sollen loben schon", BWV 121 [16:58]
19-24: Cantata No. 133 "Ich freue mich in dir", BWV 133 [18:05]

Recorded September 2004 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel, Japan
Sound engineer: Thore Brinkmann. Recording producer: Marion Schwebel
© 2005 BIS SACD 1481



The four cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach on this disc come from his second year of service as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, 1724/25. A central part of his work that year was a major church music project: the chorale cantata year. Bach’s plan envisaged a cycle of cantatas for every Sunday and feast day of the church year, in which each individual cantata would be based on a specific hymn on a subject suitable for the day in question. The undertaking would certainly have been agreed upon with the Leipzig clergy; indeed, they may even have suggested it. The starting point was a reflection upon traditions and the intention to reinvigorate an earlier Leipzig church service practice: in 1690 the pastor of St. Thomas’s, Johann Benedikt Carpzov, had openly announced that, as in the previous year, he would henceforth discuss a ‘good, beautiful, old, evangelical and Lutheran hymn’ in each service. His director of music Johann Schelle – Bach’s predecessor but one as Thomaskantor – offered ‘to form these hymns as graceful music and to present them... before the sermon’. The impulse per se for Bach’s chorale cantata project, however, was an anniversary: exactly 200 years earlier, in 1524, the first hymn books of the new evangelical church had appeared. In the orthodox Lutheran city of Leipzig, with its important theological faculty and its lively church (and church music) activities, this date did not pass unnoticed.
(© 2005 Klaus Hoffmann)

The common thread linking the collection is that they were all composed in 1724, during Bach’s second year at Leipzig. Three of these cantatas have Christmas associations, whereas No. 101, Nimm von uns Herr, was composed for the tenth Sunday after Trinity. They are all four based upon hymn texts, incorporating the associated melodies from the Lutheran church. Bach had worked out his artistic priorities for the task of providing the music for Sundays, and this was one of the methods he chose: his working week was invariably busy and he had deadlines to meet. Each of these cantatas is characterised by an imaginative and even exhilarating opening chorus. It would seem appropriate to describe these opening movements as the jewel in the crown of all four pieces. Not that they sound the same, however. One of Bach’s most extraordinary achievements lies in the way he can continually develop the possibilities offered by similar procedures, and with so many different results.
The title of Cantata 91 translates as ‘Praise be to Thee, Jesus Christ’, and Bach’s music could hardly be more joyful. Nor could the performance, since Suzuki sets a sprightly tempo and the choral-orchestral balance perfectly capture the music’s spirit. The recitatives of this cantata characterise the approach throughout, with clearly defined vocal lines captured in a warm and sympathetic acoustic. There is also a sensible and imaginative choice of continuo instrument, including Suzuki on harpsichord. Nimm von uns Herr, du treuer Gott, No. 101, is more austere in its splendour, and makes a telling contrast after the Christmas festivities. The development of the chorale theme in the complex texture offers a wonderful example of Bach’s contrapuntal mastery, particularly since the lines of the winds and strings are so atmospherically caught by the recording. The extended chorus of No. 133 is perhaps the most striking and uplifting music to be heard among this collection. Moreover Suzuki’s buoyant tempo ensures that this is so. Perhaps the choral singing could have been even more joyous - with the addition of a few more voices? - but as it is the results remain impressive, aided by the splendid BIS super audio sound. The soloists make a splendid contribution to this particular cantata. Robin Blaze, for example, sings most beautifully, both in his solo aria and in then in duet with the soprano Yukari Nonoshita. Gerd Tьrk and Peter Kooij are regular artists with Bach Collegium Japan, and to call them dependable is not intended to damn them with faint praise for they are excellent and thoroughly idiomatic.
Terry Barfoot, MusicWeb International



Masaaki Suzuki

In the latest of his Bach series, Masaaki Suzuki has assembled a program of cantatas that are each based on elements of a single hymn tune rather than taking their primary inspiration from the week’s gospel reading. Bach wrote all the cantatas at hand, except BWV 101, for use on the first, second, and third days of Christmas 1724. BWV 101 had already been performed on the 10th Sunday after Trinity earlier that year. These are not especially popular cantatas, but they hold many attractions; No. 91 opens and closes in festive splendor, No. 101 includes some challenging writing for tenor and flute (and an appealing aria for bass and three oboes) while No. 121 includes both motet-like choral writing and lively interplay between soloists and instrumentalists; No. 133 shows Bach trying to make up in instrumental color what is lacking in the rather unchallenging music for his by then overworked singers. As we’ve come to expect from Suzuki, these are performances of restraint and clarity, though nothing is underplayed. The opening chorus of BWV 91, for example, is festive, quick, and light, despite the participation of timpani and brass (the horns, by the way, have absolutely no trouble with their rapid figures). Throughout, the solo singers are smooth and agile; Peter Kooij is listed as a bass, and his voice does have a crepuscular character, but in other respects, he sounds more like a baritone, in keeping with the light, lyrical nature of this music. The immaculate instrumental playing makes it easy to sort out individual lines, even though everything is blended quite musically, which is a tribute to Suzuki’s direction as well as to the radiant clarity of BIS’s excellent sound.
James Reel, Fanfare

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 19-10-2007, 19:34

Volume 32 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 111, 123, 124 & 125


Yukari Nonoshita, soprano
Robin Blaze, counter-tenor
Andreas Weller, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-6: Cantata No. 111 "Was mein Gott will, das g’scheh allzeit", BWV 111 [16:56]
7-12: Cantata No. 123 "Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen", BWV 123 [20:21]
13-18: Cantata No. 124 "Meinen Jesum laЯ ich nicht", BWV 124 [13:20]
19-24: Cantata No. 125 "Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin", BWV 125 [23:51]

Recorded February 2005 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel, Japan
Sound engineer: Andreas Ruge. Recording producer: Jens Braun
© 2005 BIS SACD 1501



Four cantatas from 1725 are gathered in this latest issue in Masaaki Suzuki’s BIS collection of Bach cantatas. This was the composer’s second year at Leipzig, during which his creative approach in composing cantatas was to base the music around chorales which were stated in clear at the end. Generally the chorales were hymn tunes well known to the Lutheran congregation, but for Bach they represented a musical challenge which brought a different technical and creative response from one composition to the next. The opening chorus of No. 111 is among the most complex of Bach’s choral cantata movements, operating on several levels simultaneously. The orchestra of winds and strings plays what amounts to a concerto movement, with clearly articulated thematic material, while for the most part the vocal contribution is that of hymn tune, with extended lines for the sopranos while the remaining voices sing in close imitation. Since Bach’s greatest achievement lies in the field of counterpoint, this movement is a classic example of his genius operating at the highest standard. It is at once complex yet clear, and as such represents a challenge to the musical director and the recording engineer. In this first track Suzuki and his BIS engineer, Jens Braun, score a notable success, and the performance is hugely satisfying, tempo and texture perfectly articulated. In this cantata and its fellows Peter Kooij outlines the words of his recitatives and arias with admirable clarity, while the phrasing allows the reprise of the chorale theme to make its articulating point. Bach was rather fond of combining voices in duet, and this requirement of teamwork is confidently met by these singers. There is no better example than Robin Blaze and Andreas Weller in the uplifting fourth movement, ‘So geh ich mit beherzten Schritten’, in which the resonant strings add another dimension besides.

The other three cantatas match the standard of No. 111, but even so it seems perfectly reasonable to suggest that No. 125, Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, is the jewel in the crown. Certainly Bach composed few choruses to match the beauty of the opening movement, with voices and instruments combining in contrapuntal texture of great beauty and refinement. Suzuki explores the details of texture that add to the general experience, for example giving just the right point to the additional lines woven by the oboes and the transverse flute, the latter making a special impression from the very beginning. Robin Blaze sings with the utmost sensitivity in the contemplative aria that follows, when the woodwinds make their mark once again. This is an extended number of nearly ten minutes’ duration, but the artistry is such that it justifies this length. The excellent recorded sound makes a special contribution in this regard: the violins of Bach Collegium Japan have seldom been heard to better effect. With the highest presentation standards and an informative and well organised booklet, this is another top quality issue in Suzuki’s cantata series for BIS.
Terry Barfoot, Musicweb.co.uk



Masaaki Suzuki

This latest volume, No. 32, in the Suzuki series contains four cantatas from January and February 1725, Bach’s second annual cycle for Leipzig, his year of chorale cantatas. The first two, Nos. 123 and 124, were actually composed for consecutive days – Epiphany, which fell on a Saturday that year, and the first Sunday after Epiphany. Cantata 111 followed two weeks later, and No. 125 on February 2, for the Feast of the Purification of Mary. ... As always, the uniformity of structure is no indication of the breadth of Bach’s imagination. The four opening choruses, all written over a span of four weeks, underscore the point. Cantata No. 123 begins with a movement of pastoral tenderness, No. 124 with a dance-like movement; No. 111 with a vigorous bi-level movement in which the motet-like choral element is superimposed on a concerto-like orchestral component. No. 125 opens with a spirit of utmost serenity, one of Bach’s more memorable inspirations. In cantatas 111 and 125, one of the arias is, in fact, a duet. As is so often the case in Bach’s cantatas, the duets are among the most compelling numbers in their respective settings. Suzuki’s performances match his accustomed standards, which is to say that they are thoughtfully conceived and exactingly executed. To the best of my knowledge, tenor Andreas Weller is new to the Suzuki team: he acquits himself faultlessly, as do his more familiar counterparts. BIS’s recording is, as always, clean and clear. For collectors of the series, this disc is self-recommending.
George Chien, Fanfare

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 21-10-2007, 00:47

Volume 33 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 41, 92 & 130


Yukari Nonoshita, soprano
Robin Blaze, counter-tenor
Jan Kobow, tenor
Dominik Wцrner, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-6: Cantata No. 41 "Jesu, nun sei gepreiset", BWV 41 [28:00]
7-15: Cantata No. 92 "Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn", BWV 92 [30:32]
16-21: Cantata No. 130 "Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir", BWV 130 [15:40]

Recorded April 2005 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel, Japan
Sound engineer: Jens Braun. Recording producer: Ingo Petry
© 2005 BIS SACD 1541



On the present, 33rd instalment Masaaki Suzuki has chosen to open with a jubilant New Year cantata, Jesu, nun sei gepreiset, first performed on 1 January 1725. Only a few weeks later BWV 92 was performed, exhorting the congregation of Bach’s Thomaskirche in Leipzig to surrender to God’s will and God’s hand. In this unusually long cantata Bach pays special attention to creating variety, and illustrates the text with powerful musical images. The closing cantata is BWV130, composed for Michaelmas - a feast day in celebration of the Archangel Michael and all the angels. Again a festive work, in which trumpets and timpani play an important part, notably in the bass aria ‘Der alte Drache brennt’, a display piece in which the trumpets play as if in combat with the ‘old dragon’. Here we also hear German bass singer Dominik Wцrner, who with this disc makes a fortuitous dйbut with the Bach Collegium Japan.

‘Music’s greatest treasure trove’ is an apt description of the Bach cantatas, since again and again the music-lover will discover riches of the highest quality and depth. So it proves here in this latest collection from the distinguished combination of Masaaki Suzuki and Bach Collegium Japan. Together they have achieved remarkable things in their Bach odyssey, and this latest collection must rank among their most successful to date. They perform three cantatas from 1725 in Leipzig. No. 41, Jesu, nun sei gepreiset, began the same year as the cantata performed on 1 January for the Feast of the Circumcision. Bach employed his favoured method of using an existing chorale melody – this time by Johannes Herman – as the basis for a complex chorus as the opening movement. This is also a substantial structure, and Suzuki articulates its complex textures with remarkable clarity, aided by the excellent BIS recording. There is also a more complex relationship of tempi than Bach generally employs, and this is itself a challenge to the performers, though here the balancing of faster and slower identities is handled with masterly transitions and control. Suzuki’s concern for articulation in his phrasing reaps the strongest of dividends, and the balancing of the three trumpets is particularly effective. The solo numbers that follow are no less fine, as are the various instrumental obbligati. The solo voices, save for the counter-tenor Robin Blaze, join with the twelve voices of the chorus, and to splendid effect.



Masaaki Suzuki

Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn, cantata No. 92, was first performed at the end of January 1725. It has a less grand manner than No. 41, but no less subtlety in its treatment of the opening chorus with interpolated chorale melody. The orchestra features a pair of oboes d’amore with strings and continuo, a particular and highly effective sound, which is again well captured by atmospheric recording. Altogether less dramatic in character, the music makes an effective foil to the other two featured pieces, the treatments of the chorale melody if anything more imaginative still. The rhythmic felicities of the opening chorus are beautifully shaped, although the tenor and bass arias might have been more strongly characterized in their phrasing and delivery. No such caveats with Yukari Nonoshita’s soprano solo, however, replete with beautifully played obbligato oboe d’amore above pizzicato strings at a perfectly judged tempo. With Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir, No. 130, the splendours of trumpet sound return, not only at the beginning and ending of the sequence of movements, but also in the magnificent bass aria ‘Der alte Drache brennt vor Neid’, with Dominik Wцrner at the peak of his form. More delicate is the tenor aria ‘LaЯ, o Furst der Cherubinen’, equally well sung by Jan Kobow yet quite different in approach. The trumpets are particularly well recorded and always add that extra dimension Bach surely intended they should.
Terry Barfoot, Musicweb.co.uk

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 21-10-2007, 01:17

Volume 34 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 1, 126 & 127


Carolyn Sampson, soprano
Robin Blaze, counter-tenor
Gerd Tьrk, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-6: Cantata No. 1 "Wie schцn leuchtet der Morgenstern", BWV 1 [22:40]
7-12: Cantata No. 126 "Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort", BWV 126 [17:18]
13-17: Cantata No. 127 "Herr Jesu Christ, wahr’ Mensch und Gott", BWV 127 [19:54]

Recorded June 2005 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel, Japan
Sound engineer: Jens Braun. Recording producer: Ingo Petry
© 2007 BIS SACD 1551



The label ‘a musical universe’ fits Bach’s church cantatas perfectly not only on account of their sheer numbers, but also because they – the restraints of the genre notwithstanding – contain an amazing variety of moods, timbres and styles. In 33 previous volumes comprising 114 cantatas Masaaki Suzuki and his Bach Collegium Japan have been guiding us through this universe, to the acclaim of both collectors and reviewers. As Classic FM Magazine wrote: ‘The sheer polish and technical accomplishment of the music-making immediately hold the ear, and are reinforced by subtle phrasing and a quality of listening among all concerned that allows Bach’s counterpoint to progress with lightness and jaw-dropping clarity. Suzuki’s ongoing cantata cycle gets better with each release.’

The three cantatas on Volume 34 were first performed in February and March 1725, in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, where Bach was employed. The first one, Wie schцn leuchtet der Morgenstern, was composed for the Feast of the Annunciation, and celebrates the joyous news brought to Mary of the coming birth of Christ in a suitably jubilant manner. A particular feature is the unusual scoring – as well as a string orchestra there are two horns, two oboi da caccia (i.e. alto oboes) and two solo violins. No. 126 Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort is in a rather more dramatic vein, with its exhortation to God to support mankind against the enemies of the faith. The recitative ‘Der Menschen Gunst und Macht’ for alto and tenor is particularly noteworthy: Bach has cast the entire movement in the form of a dialogue, creating a fusion of recitative, arioso and chorale that is without equal in its era. The disc ends on a more resigned note with No. 127, based on a hymn which is in fact a song of death, ending with a plea for the forgiveness of sins. The soprano aria ‘The soul will rest in Jesus’ hands’ combines a certainty of belief and a longing for death are combined in one of Bach’s most beautiful and individual cantata movements, and the simple four-part final chorale concludes with an exquisite sequence of harmonies that lends a dreamlike quality to the words ‘until we slumber blessedly’.
www.bis.se



Masaaki Suzuki

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 21-10-2007, 16:11

Volume 34 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 74, 87, 128 & 176


Yukari Nonoshita, soprano
Robin Blaze, counter-tenor
Makoto Sakurada, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-5: Cantata No. 128 "Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein", BWV 128 [17:05]
6-11: Cantata No. 176 "Es ist ein trotzig and verzagt Ding", BWV 176 [11:27]
12-18: Cantata No. 87 "Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten in meinem Namen", BWV 87 [20:34]
19-26: Cantata No. 74 "Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten", BWV 74 [21:41]

Recorded July 2006 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel, Japan
Sound engineer: Matthias Spitzbarth. Recording producer: Thore Brinkmann
© 2007 BIS SACD 1571



The label ‘a musical universe’ fits Bach’s church cantatas perfectly not only on account of their sheer numbers, but also because they – the restraints of the genre notwithstanding – contain an amazing variety of moods, timbres and styles. In 34 previous volumes comprising 117 cantatas Masaaki Suzuki and his Bach Collegium Japan have been guiding us through this universe, to the acclaim of both collectors and reviewers. As Classic FM Magazine wrote: ‘The sheer polish and technical accomplishment of the music-making immediately hold the ear, and are reinforced by subtle phrasing and a quality of listening among all concerned that allows Bach’s counterpoint to progress with lightness and jaw-dropping clarity. Suzuki’s ongoing cantata cycle gets better with each release.’

The four cantatas on Volume 35 date from May 1725, the end of Bach’s second year in Leipzig. The centrepiece of his work as a composer and performer during this year had been a cycle of chorale cantatas, but external factors had evidently caused Bach to break off work on this project and, before Easter 1725, to go back to writing cantatas of the conventional type, oriented around the gospel reading for the day in question. From this period a group of nine cantatas has survived – including the four recorded here – with texts by the Leipzig poetess Mariane von Ziegler (1695-1760), apparently written specially for Bach; she later published these poems separately. As the printed edition sometimes differs markedly from the text of Bach’s settings, it was long assumed that Bach himself had made changes to the poetess’s text. More recent research, however, has shown that the textual differences can be attributed to von Zieglier herself: Bach’s cantatas are thus based on earlier versions of the texts.
Klaus Hoffmann, from the booklet notes

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 21-10-2007, 16:44

Johann Sebastian Bach : Secular Cantatas

Cantatas Nos. 210 & 211


Carolyn Sampson, soprano
Makoto Sakurada, tenor
Stephan Schreckenberger, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-10: Cantata No. 210 "O holder Tag, erwьnschte Zeit", BWV 211 - Hochzeitskantate [35:59]
11-20: Cantata No. 126 "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht", BWV 210[/b] - Kaffeekantate [26:17]

Recorded July 2003 at the Saitama Arts Theatre Concert Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Sound engineer: Dirk Lьdemann. Recording producer: Uli Schneider
© 2004 BIS CD 1411



The secular cantatas aren’t among the most popular works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Most secular cantatas were commissioned by personalities in public life for performance at special occasions, like weddings, birthday celebrations and social and political events. As a consequence these works were usually performed once, and then put aside. This is the reason so many of works in this genre by Bach and others have been lost. That is also the case with Bach’s secular cantatas. More then twenty have been preserved, mainly due to the fact that Bach treated his compositions with utmost care. It is an established fact that about thirty cantatas have been lost. It is assumed Bach wrote many more.

The second way in which Bach made sure his music was preserved is through his use of the ‘parody’ technique: he regularly re-used material from his secular cantatas in other cantatas, either secular or – more often – sacred. Arias and choruses were given a new text and – if necessary – the music was adapted to fit. The best-known example of a composition which contains material from secular cantatas is the Christmas Oratorio. This practice was quite common in Bach’s time. It should be kept in mind that in those days no fundamental difference was made between sacred and secular music. In fact, secular cantatas could contain sacred elements, like the wedding cantata O holder Tag, where the opening recitative ends with the lines: "We are by God to this commanded: amidst the joyful to rejoice." And the closing aria puts the wedding in the perspective of eternity: "Make full now your dwelling, bring joy to your heart, until you the Lamb’s own high feast doth refresh". The ‘Lamb’, of course, refers to Jesus Christ. It is not known for sure, who the addressee of this cantata was. It is assumed that the bridegroom was university educated, and was a great lover of music, as these lines from the aria ‘GroЯer Gцnner, dein Vergnьgen’ suggest: "And among thy wisdom’s treasures can thee naught inspire such pleasure as sweet music’s charming art". The fact that there is a beautiful hand-written copy of this cantata, which contains only the parts for the soprano and the basso continuo, and which was apparently meant as a gift for the couple, has given rise to the assumption they belonged to the circle of Bach’s friends.

The Coffee Cantata is completely different. It wasn’t written for a specific occasion, but rather to be performed during one of the concerts which Bach and the Collegium Musicum gave in Zimmermann’s coffee house from 1729 onwards. Unlike most secular works from that time this cantata is neither about shepherds and shepherdesses, gods and goddesses, other mythological characters, nor about kings or aristocrats, but about middle class people and one of their habits: the drinking of coffee. The lively interaction between the protagonists points into the direction of a performance in which the singers weren’t just singing, but also acting their parts. The text was written by Picander, who also wrote the words of the St Matthew Passion. (...) From a purely musical point of view this is a very good recording. Carolyn Sampson has a beautiful, warm and yet clear voice, which is well suited to this kind of music. Her German pronunciation is quite good too. The other singers - in the Coffee Cantata - perform at the same level, and so does the instrumental ensemble, playing here with one instrument per part. The solo parts for transverse flute, oboe d’amore and violin are well played. But in both cantatas something essential is missing. In the wedding cantata it is joy. The first aria begins with the line: "Play on, o ye lively anthems", but there isn’t much liveliness and joyfulness in this performance, which rather drags on. There is a lack of contrast between the arias, and the interpretation is also marred by a too rhythmically strict approach to the recitatives. The Coffee Cantata should be recorded in an intimate atmosphere, not unlike the coffee house where the first performance took place. The concert hall in which this recording was made doesn’t seem the most appropriate venue. The pauses between the tracks are too long, which results in a lack of interaction between the protagonists. The main problem is that whereas this cantata is meant to be humorous, the performance here is dead serious. Carolyn Sampson doesn’t appear communicate as a cunning girl trying to play a trick on her father – she sings her part with a rather straight face. And Stephan Schreckenberger fails in his portrayal of the elderly father – his voice lacks strength and depth.
Johan van Veen, Musicweb.com



Masaaki Suzuki

Midway through the sacred cantatas, Mazaaki Suzuki and his seasoned Collegium are beginning what is, presumably, a mini-series of the secular works (there are only 20 or so surviving). The inaugural volume contains one of Bach’s most challenging solo soprano works, the wedding piece O holder Tag, and the Coffee Cantata, a perennial favourite ... The centrepiece is the elegant sicilienne aria, ‘Heute noch’. Suzuki has an ideal Liesgen (the daughter) in Carolyn Sampson. She caresses the music, quivers at the prospect of a good man, which is the deal for giving up the coffee and yet clearly has no intention of doing so. Suzuki’s aesthetic judgement is finely honed here. Stephan Schreckenberger as Liesgen’s father responds with blustery badinage, but Suzuki himself misses the character of this domestic scena; the instrumental contributions are underplayed, apart from some outstanding flute solos. ‘Ei! wie schmeckt’ could certainly be better in tune. The O holder Tag performance is in a different league. Bach explores a generic theme of music and love over the course of five brilliant and highly contrasted arias. Suzuki’s is a sensitive and considered reading, one less urgent and ecstatic than Dorothea Rцschmann’s, but the composed warmth in the arias, ‘Spielet’ and ‘Schweigt, ihr flцte’, accentuates Bach’s most disarmingly generous gestures. Sampson is set to become a Bach singer of real stature – and, goodness, we need them – especially if she can let the music do the work (easier said than done in Bach) and know when to sail on the breath.
Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone, February 2005

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 24-10-2007, 04:36