Артист: J.S.Bach Альбом: Bach / Suzuki series, BIS, 1997 Жанр: classical music

Bach - Sacred Cantatas Volumes 1-5

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


... "umatched excellence ... soloists who blend beautifully with each other...
a remarkable cycle. Recommended without reservation."


... These performances are satisfying on a number of levels. The instrumental playing, by and large, is polished, the soloists communicative and the importance attached to the literary texts greater than is found on most rival versions. .... unmatched excellence. Masaaki Suzuki’s direction never falters and his solo vocalists seem to go from strength to strength as the series progresses. Midori Suzuki makes a richly rewarding contribution with beautifully poised singing, a crystal-clear voice and an upper range that only very occasionally sounds at all threatened. ... Conductor Masaaki Suzuki has done well, not only with his top-notch choir and period-instrument orchestra, but also with soloists who blend beautifully with each other... he complements his soloists’ superb renderings with unfaltering focus and attention to instrumental detail, which happily proves to be the norm for this remarkable cycle. Recommended without reservation. ... BIS’s sound continues to be first rate, with everything superbly integrated in a dry, believably proportionate acoustic space. Likewise, the thorough notes by Tadashi Isoyama and Suzuki remain as erudite and informative as they were in previous volumes. Performances of these Weimar cantatas simply don’t get any better.
(John Greene, Classictoday.com and Nicholas Anderson, Gramophone)

Soloists vols. 1-5
Midori Suzuki, Yumiko Kurisu, Aki Yanagisawa and Ingrid Schmithьsen, sopranos
Yoshikazu Mera and Akira Tachikawa, counter-tenors
Gerd Tьrk, Makoto Sakurada and Koki Katano, tenors
Peter Kooij and Stephan Schreckenberger, basses

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Ryo Terakado, leader





Disc 1
Cantata No. 4, "Christ lag in Todesbanden", BWV 4 [18:52]
Cantata No. 150, "Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich", BWV 150 [14:45]
Cantata No. 196, "Der Herr denket an uns", BWV 196 [11:32]
Bonus tracks:
Excerpts from Cantatas BWV 71, 12, 163, 143, 21, Georg Friedrich Hдndel’s Messiah,
Johann Rudolf Ahle’s Missa а 10 and Heinrich Schьtz’s Geistliche Chormusik

Disc 2
Cantata No. 71, "Gott ist mein Kцnig", BWV 71 [19:42]
Cantata No. 131, "Aus der Tiefe rufe ich, Herr, zu dir", BWV 131 [21:45]
Cantata No. 106, "Gottes Zeit is die allerbeste Zeit (Actus Tragicus), BWV 106 [21:08]





Disc 3
Cantata No. 12, "Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen", BWV 12 [23:49]
Cantata No. 54, "Widerstehe doch der Sьnde", BWV 54 [10:46]
Cantata No. 162, "Ach, ich gehe, itzt, da ich zur Hochzeit gehe", BWV 162 [15:55]
Cantata No. 182, "Himmelskцnig, sei willkommen", BWV 182 [28:39]

Disc 4
Cantata No. 199, "Mein Herze schwimmt in Blut", BWV 199 [23:49]
Cantata No. 165, "O heiliges Geist- und Wasserbad", BWV 165 [10:46]
Cantata No. 185, "Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe", BWV 185 [15:55]
Cantata No. 163, "Nur jedem das Seine", BWV 163 [28:39]

Disc 5
Cantata No. 18, "Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee", BWV 18 [14:17]
Cantata No. 152, "Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn", BWV 152 [17:47]
Cantata No. 155, "Mein Gott, wie lang, ach lange", BWV 155[ [13:15]
Cantata No. 161, "Komm, du sьЯe Todesstunde", BWV 161 [19:27]
Cantata No. 143, "Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele", BWV 143 [13:31]

Recordings made from June 1995 to July 1997 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Enginereed by Ingo Petry, Hans Kipfer, Marion Schwebel (and Jens Braun
Produced by Robert von Bahr © 1995 / 1997 BIS CD 751 - 781 - 791 - 801 – 841



.. In the fourth volume of the Bach Collegium Japan’s Bach cantata series we encounter one of the composer’s most esteemed and frequently recorded works: Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199. Of course, this begs the question, "How does it compare with so many other great previous recordings of the piece?" The answer is: very well. Soprano Midori Suzuki possesses a fine voice with a clear, light top that easily manages the wide range of expression Bach requires. While smaller-scaled than most, her rendering of the difficult fourth-movement aria "Tief gebьckt und voller Reue" is as fluid as any, with every lengthy phrase beautifully sustained. Likewise in the joyous final aria "Wie freudig ist mein Herz" her voice romps with wonderful zeal and vigor. ... Repeated listening to these performances not only substantiates Masaaki Suzukiмs brilliance as a Bach conductor and confirms the expertise of his team of instrumentalists and vocalists, but also demonstrates the virtues of the Shoin Women’s University Chapel as a recording venue, advantageously exploited by BIS’s superior engineering team. A set that no serious Bach enthusiast should miss.

Complete three languages-booklets in .pdf format included,
with extensive notes on works, performers and Cantatas’ text in German and English.
Details on the ongoing Complete Bach Cantatas by BCJapan and Masaaki Suzuki on the BIS label are here.

а весит сколько? :fear2:

издеваются....

Johann Sebastian Bach - Matthaus- und Johannespassion

[Suzuki, BIS, 5 CDs][EAC/FLAC+CUE/COVERS/BOOKLETS]


One could trace the roots of Bach’s passions all the way back to Greece, especially in relation to the role of the chorus as both actor and commentator. But the specific liturgical antecedents date from the medieval plainsong passions, in which three priests intoned the crucifixion accounts on the days of Holy Week in music that made no claim to "drama" as that term is customarily applied to later music. This liturgical monophony carried each of the four accounts which were assigned to specific days of the week before Easter. The first German passion settings were by Johann Walther in 1530, using Luther’s translations of Matthew and John. By the late 16th century the typical German plainsong passions augmented the Gospel texts with devotional choruses at the beginning and end, usually of a simple syllabic type and with few if any repetitions of text. In the late Renaissance, a new choral type emerged, the so-called motet passion, in which there was no solo singing at all, although the choral texture was sometimes varied in an attempt to represent the character being portrayed. Later a composite evolved in which accounts from all four Gospels were incorporated: The Seven Last Words of Christ from the Cross. The motet style offered composers opportunities for increased expression, but it limited dramatic realism in not making use of soloists in the character portrayals.
In the early Baroque, several different traditions came into contention as composers began to expand the parameters. Recitative replaced plainsong, instrumental accompaniment was introduced, choral writing was freed from earlier constraints. Germany became a center for these innovations, and by the middle of the 17th century non-biblical texts began to be included, drawn from the enormous Lutheran chorale repertoire, but also and significantly from freshly composed poetry intended for arias and choruses. A new musical form was created, the oratorio passion, which shortly evolved in north Germany into the Hamburg opera passion. Notable among its innovators was Barthold Heinrich Brockes, whose passion text, largely a paraphrase of scripture, was set by Handel, Telemann, Keiser, and others. The Hamburg style of biblical paraphrase was widely copied during Bach’s years. Bach’s obituary, written by his son C. P. E. Bach with the help of his father’s pupil Agricola, mentions five passion settings by the elder Bach. Some doubt exists as to the accuracy of that statement. The John and Matthew accounts are the only ones that survive complete. A setting of Mark has been partially recreated. As to others, most scholars believe it unlikely that complete passion settings of the scale of John and Matthew would have disappeared without a trace.



Disc I - III
Matthaus-Passion, BWV 244
Passion unseres Herrn Jesu Christi nach dem Evangelisten Matthдus
St. Matthew Passion - La Passion selon Saint Matthieu

Nancy Argenta, soprano
Robin Blaze, counter-tenor
Gerd Tьrk, tenor (Evangelist)
Makoto Sakurada, tenor arias, Testis II
Peter Kooij, bass (Jesus)
Chiyuki Urano, bass arias, Judas, Petrus, Pilatus, Pontifex

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki

Tracklist
Disc I - Part I [69:35]
Disc II - Part II, beginning [53:50]
Disc III - Part II, ending [42.12]

Recorded March 1999 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel, Japan
Sound engineer: Marion Schwebel. Recording producer: Hans Kipfer
© 1999 Grammofon AB BIS CD 1000-02

After a wonderfully vital reading of the St. John Passion comes the greatest challenge of all. It may come as a surprise that the ultimate interpretative exploration has been taken up so early in the complete cycle of sacred music planned by BIS. Few, though, would doubt Suzuki’s instincts for the right thing: he is an extraordinarily informed Bachian who has established himself as gauging the spiritual essence of music too often sacrificed for surface vanity. This often gives Suzuki a distinctive quality, as this new recording demonstrates in its floating spaciousness, beautifully weighted textures and a reverence, even worderment. It is plain in the incandescent opening chorus, as glowingly beautiful as you will hear, and also in the arched pathos of ‘O Mensch bewein’; there is a rooted sincerity to the narrative which seeks only to serve, not to impose or impress. Much of this comes down to Gerd Tьrk’s intensely alert Evangelist. He makes discreet poetry out of his role (...) and this suits Suzuki’s evolving and patient, almost purposely undistracted pacing of events. Suzuki lets the tide pull him into the post-Crucifixion drama and meditation, rather than directing the tension-filled last hour of what is, unarguably, one of the most tantalisingly emotional experiences in music. Some may find also that he is too reticent to fling himself into a type of oratorian theatricality, though, on its own, that is not the true source of my discomfort. For all the attractions of Suzuki’s journey of contemplation, the St Matthe is a rather different prospect from most of the cantata њuvre. Plainly, I miss the stark physicality of the passion drama, the palpable human pain, the singers as protagonists prepared to take risks in a believable way. This recording followed a period of intense preparation as well as performances around Easter 1999. With every articulation duly noted and rehearsed, there comes a moment when repeated patterns of phrasing appear as quasi-mannerisms, often involving a wafting legato, and thus limiting characterisation and blocking spontaneity. This does not detract, however, from the voloptuous dialogue of Robin Blaze and the flutes in ‘BuЯ und Reu’ (‘Kцnnen Trдnen’ is also very special), the impeccably delivered, if slightly shrill-sounding Nancy Argenta, and generally the lovingly formed set-pieces in which Peter Kooij’s Christus is a notable achievement. There are indeed many impressive and affecting moments in this St Matthew; the sheer beauty of Suzuki’s conception may be enough for many listeners – as well as the outstandingly fine and consistent playing and singing – as has been the case in the majority of his cantata releases. For me, however, there isn’t enough truly penetrating artistry where the music-making resonates beyond its own set terms. It’s an elusive mix, which is rarely discovered these days, and one perhaps which requires a broader vision of the St Matthew Passion’s cultural significance than Suzuki can give it.
Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone, March 2000[/color]





Disc IV - V
Johannespassion, BWV 245
Passion unseres Herrn Jesu Christi nach dem Evangelisten Johannes
St. John Passion - La Passion selon Saint Jean
Fassung / Version IV, 1749

Ingrid Schmithьsen, soprano
Yoshikazu Mera, counter-tenor
Gerd Tьrk, tenor (Evangelist; tenor arias in Appendices)
Makoto Sakurada, tenor arias, Diener
Chiyuki Urano, bass (Jesus)
Peter Kooij, bass arias, Petrus, Pilatus

Tracklist
Disc IV, tracks 1-14 - Part I [34:14]
Disc IV, tracks 15-24 & Disc II, tracks 1-16 - Part II [76:50]
Disc V, tracks 17-19 - Appendices from Version II, 1725 [15:07]

Recorded April 1998 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel, Japan
Sound engineer: Ingo Petry. Recording producer: Jens Braun
© 1999 Grammofon AB BIS CD 921-22

Bach seems to have performed his St. John Passion on four Good Fridays during his tenure as Thomaskantor at Leipzig. Unlike his grander scale St. Matthew Passion, however, he continued to make significant revisions to the St John right up the last performance under his direction, on April 4th, 1749. Of the four versions, the second, dating from 1725, contains the most distinctive revisions, the first version (1724) and the last bearing close affinity with one another. Masaaki Suzuki and his talented Bach Collegium Japan have chosen Bach’s latest version as their source for the present recording. (...) What is refreshing about their approach is the importance afforded to the relationship between text and music, to the theological source of Bach’s inspiration, and the emotional impact of the story and the music on its audience. The role of the Evangelist, crucial to the lyrical unfolding of the story, and traditionally a tenor role, is sung with clarity and lightness of inflexion by Gerd Tьrk. His performance is eloquently measured, his phrasing well shaped and his articulation engagingly varied. All of which makes of him a riveting story-teller. The role of Jesus is taken by Chiyuki Urano, an artist with a warm-toned and resonant voice. From among the remaining soloists, Ingrid Schmidthьsen and Yoshikazu Mera make strongly appealing contributions in their respective arias and Peter Kooij (as Pontius Pilate and Peter) is, as ever, satisfying and affecting. Excellent, too, are the contributions of the Collegium’s choir of women’s and men’s voices. There is great textural clarity here, well balanced, furthermore, with the comparably lucid instrumental textures. Choral and instrumental articulation is incisive, propelling the rhythms with energy and urgency; the ‘Lasset uns den nicht zerteilen’ from Part II of the Passion is a lively example of the disciplined expression of which these artists are capable. Too disciplined for some, perhaps, but I certainly found my own emotions responding to it.

What more can I say, other than I found myself drawn into the drama from the start, at the same time finding much that struck me as fresh in matters of interpretation, and tonally of great beauty. Mera’s ‘Es ist vollbracht!’ is superbly sung, with an effectively judged contrast between its molto adagio and vivace sections. Following on from that, there is a complementary serenity in Kooij’s ‘Mein teurer Heiland’, and a chilling sense of theatre in Tьrk’s arioso, ‘Mein Herz in dem die ganze Welt’. It is in passages such as these that the excellence of the Collegium’s instrumentalists is underlined. I should have liked a shade more limpidity in the articulation of the aria ‘ZeflieЯe, mein Herze’, but Schmidthьsen’s singing of it is admirable. In short, I have found myself entranced by the performance. (...) I have a feeling, albeit on slender acquaintance, that the present version will satisfy me more than any of its rivals. It seems to me a subtly poised balance between scholarship and communicative interpretation. And, very sensibly, the second disc contains, in addition, the three arias from the 1725 version that cannot be found elsewhere. For me, at least, this is a major recording event, and an eminently satisfying one.
Nicholas Anderson, Gramophone, April 1999



Johann Sebastian Bach

Three languages-, 68- and 44- pages-booklets in .pdf format included,
with extensive notes on works, performers and Cantatas’ text in German and English.[/size][/font]

Bach - Sacred Cantatas Volumes 6

Cantatas Nos. 21 & 31

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


Monika Frimmer, soprano
Gerd Tьrk, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Ryo Terakado, leader

Tracklist
1-9: Cantata No. 31 "Der Himmel lacht, die Erde jubilieret", BWV 31 [20:10]
10-20: Cantata No. 21 "Ich hatte viel Bekьmmernis", BWV 21 [37:32]
21-23: Alternative Movements, BWV 21 [10:17]

Recorded June 1997 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Enginereed by Jens Braun, produced by Robert von Bahr
© 1997 BIS CD 851



Volume 6 in Masaaki Suzuki's Bach cantata cycle features only two works – however, given how frequently they were performed and how often they were revised by the composer for different venues and personnel, these cantatas must have been highly esteemed by Bach. By this time (1714/15) Bach had hit his stride at Weimar, continuing to experiment with instrumentation and cantata form, drawing collaborative inspiration from librettist Salomo Franck and, most importantly, furthering his status and reputation on his way to an eventual post in Leipzig. – Cantata Ich hatte viel Bekьmmernis, BWV 21 certainly is one of Bach’s grandest, an 11-movement, two-part masterpiece far longer (and longer still if programmed with the alternative movements Suzuki offers as an option) and broader in scope than any to date. The work begins with a dramatically slow sinfonia in D minor, a stately march of oboe, bassoon, and violin gradually augmented with strings and an organ continuo that combine to impress the listener with the cantata's scale and stature. Throughout Part 1, tenor Gerd Tьrk and soprano Monika Frimmer wrestle with their doubts, applying plenty of charisma and expressive virtuosity to their search for and ultimate discovery of spiritual consolation (Frimmer’s frequent runs and sustained breath control in the taxing fifth-movement aria – incorrectly marked "tenor" in the booklet – is often astounding). In Part 2 Bach returns to a dialogue first heard in the final duet of Cantata BWV 152 (Vol. 5) where Jesus and the Soul corroborate their mission. Now all becomes lighter, the exchanges between Frimmer and Tьrk, who no longer are mortal subjects, often approach Italian opera buffa, and a final rousing triumphant chorus studded with trumpets and timpani provides a perfect conclusion to this ambitious undertaking. Until now BWV 21 has received many fine recorded performances, though Suzuki provides us with our first truly great one.

This is not the case however with BWV 31, where Fritz Werner’s benchmark 1964 Erato recording has provided much pleasure over the years. While Suzuki’s performance certainly is stirring (and in most instances his tempos are faster), he fails to elicit as much urgency and sense of spontaneous rapture, particularly with the chorus and brass, that makes Werner’s rendering so memorable and thrilling. Also, while Tьrk and Kooij more than adequately match their Erato competitors – bass Erich Wenk and tenor Helmut Krebs – Frimmer never equals soprano Agnes Giebel’s uncanny versatility of range, flights of expression, and subtle timbre. After Werner (which incidentally is long-deleted on CD), Suzuki’s performance rates with the very best; and strictly in terms of sonic clarity, it is the finest-sounding recording currently available.
(John Greene, ClassicToday.com)





Bach Collegium Japan’s hitherto excellent series of Bach’s sacred cantatas continues with performances of Ich hatte viel Bekьmmernis, and Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret. Both are Weimar compositions, dating from c1713 and 1715, respectively, and both were later sung at Leipzig. Where no. 21 is concerned, the performance history is complex since Bach, who clearly and understandably set great store by this extended and profoundly expressive piece, made no fewer than four versions of it. Following what was probably its second Weimar performance, in 1714, Bach produced a new version which he used as a test-piece in Hamburg’s Jacobkirche, when applying for an organist’s post there in 1720. It is this version, for soprano and bass soloists only, in which the parts are transposed from C minor to D minor that forms the basis of the present recording. The differences between the various versions of no. 21 are considerable, affecting both the solo vocal ranges and, to a lesser extent, instrumentation. Masaaki Suzuki offers listeners an opportunity, by way of an appendix, of hearing Bach’s alternative thoughts on certains sections of the cantata, and also promises us the Leipzig version, much the most satisfying of them, later on in the series (vol. 12). - As before, I found myself much taken with these meticolously prepared and affectingly declaimed performances. Listen, for instance, to the beautifully articulated and delicately placed bassoon quavers in the poignant opening Sinfonia of no. 21. This is most sensitively done and an auspicious beginning to the work. String playing and instrumental expertise are impressive. The solo line-up is strong, with Monika Frimmer sustaining several demanding soprano arias with eloquence and tonal warmth. Her ‘Letzte Stunde, brich herein’ (no. 31) is lyrically sung, if a shade on the brisk side, but in the virtuoso ‘Erfreue dich, Seele’ (no. 21) she cannot conceal moments of unease. Gerd Tьrk and Peter Kooij are secure and expressive and, by and large, I like the singing of the 18-voice choir of women’s and men’s voices. As matters stand at present, this would be my preferred choice of an early version of no. 21.
Nicholas Anderson, Gramophone, June 1998


Three languages-, 32 pages-booklet in .pdf format included,
with extensive notes on works, performers and Cantatas’ text in German and English.
Details on the ongoing Complete Bach Cantatas by the Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki on BIS.

vpenev,
таки ты меня ввел в искушение. буду брать. Понемногу. Спасибо.

Volume 7 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 61, 63, 132 & 172

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


Ingrid Schmithьsen, soprano
Yoshikazu Mera, counter-tenor
Makoto Sakurada, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-7: Cantata No. 63 "Christen, дtzet diesen Tag", BWV 63 [29:14]
8-13: Cantata No. 61 "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland", BWV 61 [13:46]
14-19: Cantata No. 132 "Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn", BWV 132 [18:16]
20-25: Cantata No. 172 "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland", BWV 172 [16:13]

Recorded July 1997 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Enginereed by Hhans Kipfer, produced by Marion Schwebel
© 1997 BIS CD 881



Suzuki’s graudal but assured journey through the complete Bach cantatas continues with the microseries of works composed in Weimar between 1708 and 1717, the majority of which were written for performances at the castle chapel. That we have so many fine cantatas from this period is indeed thanks to the reigning duke’s diktat that upon Bach’s promotion to Kapellmeister in March 1714 he perform new works each month in the so-called ‘Himmelsburg’ chapel. Three of the cantatas here are works written for Advent and Christmas for 1714 and 1715 whilst Erschallet (No. 172) is a Pentecost cantata also from late on in Bach’s tenure at Weimar. Christen, дtzet diesen Tag is both a resplendent and tender work, which juxtaposes grand, balletic framing choruses with closely-knit, reflective and limpid arias. It has received several fine performances on record over the years... but surely none so delectably paced and naturally argued as this. If one could quibble with very occasional slips in wind intonation, the choruses here succumb delightfully, in the first of Bach’s Christmas Day cantatas, to a placed gravitas in the articulation, simultaneously elevated by a focused choral sound; the words joyfully spin and leap out of this articulate ensemble, both here and in the equally thrilling opening movement of No. 172. As observed in earlier reviews of the series, the soloists seem to go from strength to strength, and nome more so than Yoshikazu Mera, whose countertenor voice displays a remarkable, shimmering beauty in the accompanied recitative of No. 63 and whose impressive control in ‘Christi Glieder’, from No. 132, is little like anything we have heard from him so far. If Peter Kooij is a known quantity and acts as something of an eminence grise, he lightly and gracefully paves the way for the poised Ingrid Schmithьsen (she negotiates the high-pitched ‘Bereitet die Wege’ from No. 132 with unequivocal vitality) in the first of her two duets: the second in No. 172, ‘Komm, lass mich’ is a chorale-aria on Veni Creator which reveals the level of commitment and attention to detail which Suzuki derives from his singers. The Japanese chief is never less than unself-regarding in his approach, one where absence of mannerism and a freshness of enquiry (which belies deep understanding of each work) presents the listener with new ‘texts’ of rare thoughtfulness, serenity and sureness of touch. This is another hugely rewarding disc from the Bach Collegium Japan which can only be described as a triumph.
Jonathan Freeman-Atwood, Gramophone, August 1998



... From the outset (of Cantata BWV 63) it’s clear that Bach draws immense inspiration from his subject, with a jubilant opening movement featuring four trumpets, timpani, full woodwinds and strings, and one of his most lively chorales that thoroughly evokes if not proclaims the joy of Jesus’ birth. Masaaki Suzuki and his forces rise to the occasion, delivering a powerfully charged performance that outclasses all others – highlighted by the musicians’ remarkable ability to negotiate the wide range of expression required throughout the work. Soprano Ingrid Schmithьsen and bass Peter Kooij’s pensive third-movement aria (duet), with its haunting complementary oboe obbligato, couldn’t be more lovely and passionately convincing. Likewise countertenor Yoshikazu Mera and tenor Makato Sakurada’s sprightly fifth-movement duet set against a highly rhythmic momentum of strings and organ continuo vividly extols the text’s message of thankfulness and grace. Add three highly dramatic, near-Italianate recitatives and a glorious spirited choral finale and you’ve got one extraordinarily auspicious first entry among Bach’s numerous Christmas cantata settings. -- The remaining three cantatas also feature many inspired moments. For instance, BWV 61 includes a brief though very suspenseful fourth-movent recitative – "Siehe, ich stehe vor der Tьr und Klopfe an" (Behold, I stand before the door and knock) – where Bach imaginatively sets bass Kooij against a sharply delineated, austere "knocking" pulse of plucked pizzicato strings and organ. As well in the opening aria of BWV 132 "Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn" (Prepare the ways, prepare the road) Bach affords soprano Schmithьsen numerous opportunities to display her prodigious talents; her deft ability to trill and sustain notes while remaining integral to the continuo line is simply a joy. In the final cantata BWV 172 back are the trumpets, timpani, and overall full orchestration heard earlier in BWV 63. While the rousing full-tilt opening and grand choral finale certainly impress, Kooij’s bracing third-movement aria set against a heroic backdrop of brass, and the ravishing fifth-movement aria (duet) with Schmithьsen and Mera are equally inspiring. This is an impressive installment in a cycle that so far has done nearly everything right. Brilliant.
John Greene, ClassicToday.com

Three languages-, 32 pages-booklet in .pdf format included,
with extensive notes on works, performers and Cantatas’ text in German and English.
Details on the ongoing Complete Bach Cantatas by Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki on BIS.

Volume 8 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 22, 23 & 75

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


Midori Suzuki, soprano
Yoshikazu Mera, counter-tenor
Gerd Tьrk, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-5: Cantata No. 22 "Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwцlfe", BWV 22 [16:38]
6-9: Cantata No. 23 "Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn", BWV 23 [16:14]
10-23: Cantata No. 75 "Die Elenden sollen essen", BWV 75 [31:12]

Recorded May 1998 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Enginereed by Jens Braun, produced by Ingo Petry
© 1998 BIS CD 901



The eight volume of Bach Collegium Japan’s Bach cantata series bridges the period between Bach’s departure from Cцthen and his arrival at Leipzing, early in 1723. Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn was mainly written at Cцthen, while Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwцlfe must have been composed almost immediately on Bach’s reaching Leipzig. Both cantatas, at any rate, were performed before a selected gathering at Leipzig on the February 7th when Bach presented them as contrasting examples of his varied compositional skill. They were, in fact, his Probestьcke or test pieces for the post in Leipzig Thomaskantor. The remaining cantata on this disc, Die Elenden sollen essen is on an altogether grander scale, in two parts, each of seven movements. This was Bach’s first official Leipzig cantata, sung in the Nicolaikirche on the First Sunday after Trinity, 1723, when it ‘received much applause’. I would reiterate those words in respect of the present performances which maintain the high standard of singing, playing and scholarship set by the previous issues in this series. There are, to be sure, little insecurities here and there – the oboes, which play a prominent role in each of the three pieces, are not always perfectly in agreement over tuning – but the careful thought given to words, their significance and declamation, and the skill with which they are enlivened by the realization of Bach’s expressive musical vocabulary, remain the most satisfying features of this series so far. The opening duet of No. 23 is handled with all the lyricism immaginable, while the disciplined, perceptively phrased and beautifully sustained singing of the two choral numbers of the same work illuminate the words at every turn, savouring the seemingly infinite expressive nuances of the music.
As for No. 75, we can only imagine the astonishment with which Leipzig ears must have attuned to its music. In this absolutely superb piece Bach entertains us with a breathtaking stylistic diversity: poliphony, fugue, chorale fantasia, da capo aria, instrumental sinfonia, varied recitative, wonderful oboe writing and a rhythmic richesse all contribute to the special distinction both of this cantata and that with which Bach followed it (No. 76) on the Second Sunday after Trinity. We have that to look forward to in the next volume but, meanwhile, lose no time in becoming acquainted with this one. It reaches, one might say, those parts which other performances do not. Fine recorded sound.
Nicholas Anderson, Gramophone, January 1999



Volume 8 of the Bach Collegium Japan’s complete cycle of Bach’s cantatas begins a series devoted to works Bach composed throughout his tenure at Leipzig. In accordance with the series’ chronological format, this volume begins with Bach’s first Leipzig cantata (BWV 75), and follows with two works (BWV 22 & 23) he began earlier at Cцthen and completed after his arrival in Leipzig in 1723. While already remarkably adept at cantata form, Bach greatly matured due to the requirement of his new position that he produce at least one cantata every week. While not as rousing or compositionally adventurous compared to the four cantatas offered in Volume 7, it’s clear that in all of the works presented here Bach has advanced to a new level of craftsmanship. The orchestration is noticeably more lush, as Bach often doubles and at times triples parts where previously only a single instrument sufficed. This additional instrumentation allowed Bach more expressive potential to heighten the impact of his subject. In Gerd Tьrk’s fourth-movement aria ‘Mein alles in allem, mein ewiges Gut’ of No. 22, the joy of his declaration is completely convincing, set against the steady interplay of strings accented by bassoon and organ continuo. Likewise in the first-movement duet of No. 23 Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn Bach’s use of a predominant oboe d’amore juxtaposed with strings, harpsichord (the first time Bach scores the instrument), and organ continuo beautifully introduces the melody as well as profoundly casts a melancholic introspective mood worthy of his most mature work.
Cantata no. 75 Die Elenden sollen essen is a long work obviously intended to impress Bach’s new benefactors and congregation. Returning to the two-part theme he used so effectively in BWV 21, Bach creates a setting that’s two movements longer though (curiously) seven minutes shorter in performing time. Anyway, while in many ways more expertly crafted than BWV 21, no. 75 is significantly duller. In not one instance does Bach even remotely take a risk. There are attractive moments, but they are nevertheless predictably formulaic. The threshold of the few dramatic moments is painfully narrow. However, when your laurels were as fresh as Bach’s were at this time, you certainly can’t be faulted for resting on them. Masaaki Suzuki and his colleagues do as much as possible and deliver a superior performance that would be difficult to surpass. Ultimately, this is one that will mostly appeal to Bach completists.
John Greene, Classictoday.com

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

Volume 9 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 24, 76 & 167

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


Midori Suzuki, soprano
Robin Blaze, counter-tenor
Gerd Tьrk, tenor
Chiyuki Urano, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Ryo Terakado, leader

Tracklist
1-14: Cantata No. 76 "Die Himmel erzдhlen die Ehre Gottes", BWV 76 [34:00]
15-20: Cantata No. 24 "Ein ungefдrbt Gemьte", BWV 24 [15:14]
21-25: Cantata No. 167 "Ihr Menschen, rьhmet Gottes Liebe", BWV 167 [18:01]

Recorded June 1998 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Enginereed by Dirk Lьdemann, produced by Hans Kipfer
© 1998 BIS CD 931



Now firmly into the period of Bach’s Leipzig cantatas, Bach Collegium Japan tackles three pieces belonging to che composer’s first weeks in office as Thomaskantor. Grandest in design by far, is the superb Die Himmel erzдhlen die Ehre Gottes which Bach performed on the Second Sunday after Trinity in 1723. In its terms of reference, musical variety and emotional impact this work complements, perhaps even surpasses No. 75, a cantata on a similarly expansive scale which he had presented to his Leipzig congregation a week earlier (See volume 8 of this series). For the most part the music comes over well in the hands of the BCJ – like its companion, it opens with an imposing two-section chorus in the manner of a prelude and fugue – but I was a little disappointed by Chiyuki Urano. He doesn’t settle comfortably into his recitatives and his declamatory aria, ‘Fahr ihn’ lacks character and presence. But I should add that in lesser company his performance would stand up well enough. Midori Suzuki sings her gently inflected aria with tonal warmth, clarity and assurance. Hers is a voice which I have enjoyed in several previous volumes in the series. Technically, she is unpredictable but, at her strongest, as here, she is well worth taking a chance with. Gerd Tьrk, rapidly becoming one of the major pillars of the entreprise, articulates his music with stylistic fluency, communicating textual content with declamatory fervour. The original countertenor in this series, Yoshikazu Mera has made his last bow in these recordings, his ascendant star shining on other slopes of the music business. However, his successor, Robin Blaze, can be warmly welcomed. His voice, lightly coloured and unforced, is not so unlike that of Mera at times, and he should do well in the present company, as he ably demonstrates in the superb duet with Midori Suzuki.

The remaining cantatas on the disc are for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity (No. 24) and St. John’s Day, both in 1723. Blaze gives a fine account of the joyful opening aria of No. 24. His phrasing is graceful and his articulation incisive, features which have so far been prominently to the fore in the instrumental playing of this series. No better example of its excellence can be found in the trio sonata Sinfonia which introduces Part 2 of No. 76. Scored for oboe d’amore, viola da gamba and continuo, it may well be more familiar to readers in Bach’s reworking of it as the first movement of his Organ Sonata in E minor, BWV 528. All in all, another successful issue.
Nicholas Anderson, Gramophone, May 1999



One week after the Leipzig debut of Bach’s lengthy cantata BWV 75 he offered an even lengthier and far more interesting work, Die Himmel erzдhlen die Ehre Gottes BWV 76. The grander subject matter notwithstanding (No. 75 solemnly dealt with how mortal poverty in this life was essential to an immortal afterlife), Bach offers far more expressive opportunities for vocal soloists and instrumentalists alike. For example, in the fifth-movement aria "Fahr hin, abgцttische Zunft!" (Go away you guild of idolators!) newcomer bass Chiyuki Urano fares very well, his voice maneuvering easily through several varied and dramatic moments, including two abrupt pauses that are effectively heightened by trumpet, strings, bassoon, and organ. Also, unlike the brass-deficient BWV 75, Bach now generously scores numerous parts for trumpet and "clarino" (a bygone instrument, reconstructed for this recording, that likely had the characteristics of both a trumpet and a horn), which are expertly performed by Toshio Shimada. Even when Bach opts for leaner instrumentation, as he does in the 10th-movement aria "Hasse nur, hasse mich recht" (scored only for tenor, cello, and organ), he achieves an emotional level rarely heard previously. Tenor Gerd Tьrk aptly performs this dramatic aria with great vigor and conviction. - For the fourth Sunday after Trinity Bach composed Ein ungefдrbt Gemьte BWV 24, a shorter and more concise work, though it features many inspired moments. For example, the opening aria is a lively affair with sprightly orchestration and superb singing from countertenor Robin Blaze. In the choral sections we hear Bach extending himself famously: the third-movement "Alles nun, das ihr wollet..." features inordinately frenzied polyphony throughout and a stirring central section scored for soloists, all ravishingly propelled by orchestration that anticipates the famed Magnificat Bach would compose later that year. - Though less animated, Ihr Menschen, rьhmet Gottes Liebe BWV 167 also has much to offer, including a heart-rending third-movement duet "Gottes Wort, das truget nicht" where soprano Midori Suzuki and countertenor Blaze complement each other wonderfully, especially when Bach accelerates the tempo three minutes into the piece. Highly recommended.
John Greene, Classictoday.com

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

Volume 10 of The Complete Bach Cantatas Project

Cantatas Nos. 105, 179 & 186

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


Miah Persson, soprano
Robin Blaze, counter-tenor
Makoto Sakurada, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Tracklist
1-6: Cantata No. 105 "Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht", BWV 105 [21:40]
7-12: Cantata No. 179 "Siehe zu, daЯ deine Gottesfurcht", BWV 179 [14:57]
13-23: Cantata No. 186 "Дrgre dich, o Seele, nicht", BWV 186 [26:33]

Recorded February 1999 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan
Enginereed by Ingo Petry, produced by Jens Braun
© 1998 BIS CD 951



Bach Collegium Japan’s eloquent advance into the rich repository of cantatas composed during Bach’s first year at Leipzig is distinguished in Vol. 10 by Masaaki Suzuki’s remarkable instinct for the emotional core of each of these three works. Experiencing Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht... reveals a sense of open-hearted fervor and contemplation, never for a minute cloying or self-regarding at the expense of vibrant expression. (...) What Suzuki uniquely achieves, compelling in the opening chorus, is an intensity born of subtle contrast in vocal and instrumental articulation, underpinned by his uncanny ability to choose a tempo which provides for lyrical intimacy and organic gesture, as the respective texts demand. Several of my colleagues, reviewing Suzuki’s previous recordings, have commented on the way musical ideas glow within a profound theological empathy. This can or cannot be necessarily recognizable as quasi-indigenous to Bach’s own Lutheran world; but it is hardly the point when you hear how Suzuki grasps the magnificent nobility of the composer’s inspired musical commentary on the human soul in No. 105, at once insecure and fearful of judgement, and then gradually and divinely relieved by recitatives and arias of breathtaking spiritual uplift. This is where the soloists come to the fore, especially Miah Persson, a Swedish soprano ... who is capable of sustained control and delectable purity of tone, as exhibited in the continuo-less ‘Wie zittern und wanken’ and ‘Liebster Gott’ from no. 179. With Peter Kooij’s cathartic recitative singing and the beautifully balanced tenor aria and final choral, Herreweghe’s elegant 1990 account, a clear leader until now, is joined on the top rung. - The bipartite Trinity cantata, Дrgre dich, o Seele, nicht, revised from a Weimar version of 1716, conveys equally Suzuki’s assurance and vision. Perhaps the choruses which frame Part I are a touch short on gravitas but here, and in the formidable opening movement of No. 179, parodied in the first Kyrie of the Mass in G, rhythmic incision is the order of the day and the orchestral playing as fine as I can remember from Collegium Japan. In the latter work, Suzuki’s homogeneous textures compound the austerity of the sinister duality of hypocrisy as denounced in Luke 18 : 9-14; one can speculate on the symbolism behind Bach’s conflated subject and inversion in the double fugue. This is another first-rate achievement in what can be arguably deemed the most complete and mature offering in the series so far.
Jonathan Freeman-Atwood, Gramophone, Awards 1999



This 10th volume in Bach Collegium Japan’s ongoing Bach cantata series features three works Bach composed during his first summer in Leipzig. While BWV 179 certainly has been recorded more frequently, No. 186 (Дrgre dich, o Seele, nicht) is the most significant of the three because of its greater length and because it marks Bach’s return to two-part cantata form. Based on a revised lost cantata originally composed at Weimar, this is a remarkably assured work, grand in conception yet subtle in its underlying beauty. The opening chorus must be counted among Bach’s most stately, its impact augmented by multiple oboes, strings, and full continuo. Among the soloists, tenor Makato Sakurada delivers an introspective 4th-movement recitative that perfectly sets up his spirited 5th-movement aria. Equally distinguished is the 10th-movement duet, expertly harmonized by countertenor Robin Blaze and soprano Miah Persson – a dance that steps as high as any we’ve heard from Bach so far. - The popularity of No. 179 (Siehe zu, daЯ deine Gottesfurcht...) is understandable since it not only includes one of Bach’s most exciting opening choruses, but also gives unusual dramatic license to the soloists through the text’s many self-deprecating references. In respect to the latter, for its sheer declarative power, no recording surpasses Karl Richter’s awe-inspiring 1976 Archiv account featuring Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Peter Schreier, and Edith Mathis. While not quite up to Richter’s level, Suzuki and his forces offer their own interpretive details. For instance, in the 5th-movement aria Suzuki broadens the tempo, and the additional time (more than a minute longer than Richter’s version) heightens Persson’s characterization of wanton shame and pity. - No. 105 (Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht...) also features many inspired moments. The magnificent, brooding opening chorus is most engaging, and tenor Sakurada’s beautifully rendered espousal of determination in his 5th-movement aria is superb – as is the final chorale, where Bach’s clever, near-dissonant string writing effectively alludes to weariness if not weeping, the gradually slowing pulse eventually leading to resigned calm. As usual with this series Suzuki and his colleagues deliver performances that more often than not are without peer. Faithfully captured by BIS’s expert engineering team, their ongoing cycle promises to be the most consistently rewarding one currently or previously available.
John Greene, Classictoday.com

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

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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. :laugh:

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.

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.

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.

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 :w00t: 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 :)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Johann Sebastian Bach

The Four Ouvertures (Orchestral Suites)


Two genres dominated orchestral music in the time of Johann Sebastian Bach: the ouverture suite and the concerto. The ouverture suite represented the French tradition, the concerto the Italian. In Germany, however, these genres were mixed and remodelled in a new idiom, combining stylistic elements of both and also merging with the local tradition. Bach contributed directly to this development ... but whereas his surviving concertos are more than twenty in number, there are only four orchestral suites. This inequality reflects musical developments: for Bach and his generation, both the concerto and the orchestral suite were current genres, but they coexisted only for a relatively short time within the history of music. The concerto was still a young form with a promising future. The suite, however, was in decline; it would even fail to engage the interest of Bach’s sons’ generation. It was a victim of the spiritual and social revolutions of the time, long before the forces of change erupted in the French Revolution of 1789... French and aristocratic by its innermost nature, the suite lost ground in Germany as the nobility and bourgeoisie lost their fixation with France and the Versailles court, and instead developed their new, "enlightened’ lifestyle...
Klaus Hoffmann, from the booklet notes.

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki

Disc I
1-5: Ouverture III (Suite in D major), BWV 1068 [23:42]
6-12: Ouverture I (Suite in C major), BWV 1066 [26:56]
13-19: Ouverture II (Suite in B minor), BWV 1067 [24:40]

Disc II
1-5: Ouverture IV (Suite in D major), BWV 1069 [24:27]

Recorded October 2003 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel, Japan
Sound engineer: Thore Brinkmann. Recording producer: Jens Braun
© 2005 Bis Records AB BIS-SACD-1431



These performances are magnificent. There have been many fine recordings of these works, naturally, but few offer this much satisfaction on purely sonic terms – not just the engineering, which is state-of-the-art in both stereo and multi-channel formats, but the actual textures and colors that Masaaki Suzuki coaxes from his ensemble. In truth, it’s difficult to make this music sound well. On modern instruments, trumpets and drums tend to muddy the textures without penetrating as they should. Period instruments, on the other hand, offer a variety of problems, including a routinely clattery and overbearing harpsichord continuo, scruffy strings that make the famous Air sound positively anorexic, and iffy flute intonation in the B minor suite. Miraculously, Suzuki has solved all of these problems. His harpsichord is clear but pleasant-toned and discretely balanced. The strings have sufficient body and richness of tone to compete successfully with the oboes and cushion the trumpets and drums in the two works that require them. Textures are wonderfully transparent, and rhythms are ideally clear. The arrangement of the works, with the two big D major suites framing the other two, and the "flute suite" performed with solo strings, makes excellent sense and offers maximum contrast for continuous listening. In this latter work, Liliko Maeda is a terrific soloist, pure in timbre and gifted with the ability to really make the music dance – nowhere more so than in the famous concluding Badinerie, so often mercilessly breathy and rushed, but here the very embodiment of sly wit.

Suzuki’s handling of all four initial overtures deserves special mention. He catches the regal, aristocratic quality of the music as have few others, evoking the spirit of Hдndel (as in the Royal Fireworks Music) as much as Bach. That doesn’t mean his tempos are slow or lethargic – far from it. But the music has gravitas and a bigness of conception that’s so often missing from period-instrument performances, particularly from the ‘less is more’ school (for the record, Suzuki has six violins, and two each of violas and cellos). Nothing sounds rushed, not even the lively central episodes, which are always gracefully phrased as well as full of energy. In the D major suites, the trumpets and timpani cut through the texture as they should, but Suzuki makes their parts fit logically into their surroundings rather than encouraging the usual, overbearing ‘screech, blast, and bang’ that so often passes for period style. The various dances are also extremely well characterized, with tempos excellently chosen to emphasize the rhythmic qualities of each. The famous Air from the Third suite is serene but never static. The bourrйes have a nicely physical quality to the rhythm, while the Second suite’s Sarabande is wonderfully supple and elegant. The program concludes with a smashing Rйjouissance from the Fourth suite, a telling reminder of the fact that Bach conceived these pieces as courtly entertainment. In other words, Suzuki does more than just play the music very well: he evokes its purpose, social milieu, and lavishness of content in such a way that brings the listener as close as possible to Bach himself, and to the circles in which he worked. In this oft-recorded repertoire, that is a tremendous achievement. David Hurwitz, Classictoday.com



‘Well done, guys!’



... as Versailles lost its prominence, the importance of the dance as a social phenomenon also waned; today is almost impossibile to imagine the widespread position of eminence it enjoyed. The ‘Sun King’ (Louis XVI of France, who was a talented and enthusiastic dancer) had shared his passion with all of Europe, and until well the 18th century French dance, with its multitude of types, characters and forms, was a required cultural accomplishments for nobility and bourgeoisie. French dance also underpinned the suites for ensemble, keyboard or lute than not only enjoyed widespread popularity but also earned the genuine appreciation of the connoisseur. This is the cultural background of Bach’s orchestral suites. Fortunately, there is nothing in them to indicate that the genre is in terminal decline.
Klaus Hoffmann, from the booklet notes.

Note on the layout of the discs: the BIS entry differs from other competing SACD versions of the Four Suites by spreading them out over two discs, whereas the others fit on single SACDs. The 99-minute length indicates that all the repeats has been played, and Ouverture IV (Suite in D Major, BWV 1069) is relegated to the second disc by itself. As usual, the three languages-, 36- pages booklet in .pdf format is included, with extensive notes on works and performers.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Christmas Oratorio (Weihnachts-Oratorium in sechs Teilen), BWV 248


Monika Frimmer, soprano
Yoshikazu Mera, counter-tenor
Gerd Tьrk, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Ryo Terakado, leader

Disc One
1-9: I. Teil, am 1. Weihnachtstag "Jauchzet, frohlocket, auf, preiset die Tage" [25:11]
10-23: II. Teil, am 2. Weihnachtstag "Und es waren Hirten in derselben Gegend" [28:42]
24-36: III. Teil, am 3. Weihnachtstag "Herrscher des Himmels, erhцre das Lallen" [22:45]

Disc Two
1-7: IV. Teil, am Fest der Beschneidung Christi "Fallt mit Danken, fallt mit Loben" [21:47]
8-18: V. Teil, am Sonntag nach Neujahr "Ehre sei dir, Gott, gesungen" [23:03]
19-29: VI. Teil, am Epiphaniasfest "Herr, wenn die stolzen Feinde schnauben" [23:22]

Recorded January 1998 at the Saitama Arts Theatre Concert Hall, Japan
Balance engineer: Jens Braun. Producer: Ingo Petry
© 1998 BIS CD 941/2



The six cantatas that make up Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, though each possessing its own musical and expressive identity, are nevertheless part of a unified work celebrating not just Christmas itself but also the New Year and Epiphany. A further unifying feature of the Oratorio – Bach himself used the word in connection with this work – is the use of a narrator to relate a linked sequence of events ranging over all six sections and, to some extent, interlinked. (...) This newcomer faces plentiful if not invariably stiff competition. In fact, it outstrips most of its rivals, in respect both of vocal and instrumental consideration. A quality in Masaaki Suzuki’s direction which I have always liked, and which is abundantly present here, is his feeling for naturally expressive contours, allowing the music to breathe freely. There is no cant, no vacuous showmanship, no undue reliance upon ephemeral orthodoxy, but instead an effortless exploration of the music’s expressive potential. Best of all, perhaps, is Suzuki’s refusal to pay even lip service to the upheld beliefs concerning Bach’s supposed predilection for fast tempos. Everything here seems to me to be exceptionally well judged, which is not to say that the pace of individual movements is necessarily slower than those in some competing versions, but rather that it is more interrelated with a concept of each section as a whole, and perhaps more textually conscious than some. In these respects the Oratorio’s underlying strength and unity of purpose is wonderfully well served. Part 2 of the work, with its 12/8 Sinfonia and tenderly intimate alto aria ‘Schlafe, mein Liebster’, provides a fine example of this thinking-through of tempo and Affekt. ... The soloists are generally very good indeed. Yoshikazu Mera makes a characteristically distinctive contribution and, though lacking the tonal warmth and projection of Andreas Scholl in the recent Renй Jacobs set, nevertheless touches my heart more readily in this work. Gerd Tьrk is a communicative singer whose light articulation well suits his partly narrative role. Peter Kooij never puts a foot wrong, while Monika Frimmer – though not always quite such a dependable singer as the others – makes a favourable impression in her duet with Kooij, ‘Herr, dein Mitleid, dein Erbarmen (Part 3). Elsewhere, her freshly complexioned, somewhat boyish voice is seldom other than pleasing. A small, well-balanced choir of technical agility and an accomplished quorum of instrumentalists, several of whom make strong obbligato contributions set the seal on an oustanding achievement. While in no way unseating other recordings in my affections, this new versions supplants them as my recommendation for the fines all-round performance on disc.
Nicholas Anderson, Gramophone, February 1999



Including the 50 pages-booklet in .pdf format with commentary for each track in English, German and French, with full Oratorio libretto in both original German and English translation.

Since the beginnings of Christianity the birth, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus have been central philosophical concepts in mankind’s imagination and have inspired artistic creations. In the Middle Ages in particular, dramatic representations of the biblical events blossomed; in Bach’s time, too, this tradition was still very much alive, and even today remnants of it have survived in folk art. Music had always played a prominent part and, especially in Passions, developed its own manifestations and genre traditions, in which Bach’s Passions and Christmas Oratorio are rooted. In a particular way, however, the Easter Oratorio is linked to older, folk traditions. The text is ultimately based on the resurrection story of the four Gospels (...) but the unknown librettist apparently used a literary model derived from the tradition of the mediжval Easter plays about the ‘Visitatio Sepulchris’ – the visit to the grave. This is evident from various textual allusions and also mirrored in the typical sequence of events. (...) For the oratorio, the number of characters was limited to just four: Mary the mother of Jesus (soprano voice), Mary Magdalene (alto), Peter (tenor) and John (bass). A surprising feature, indeed a unique one in Bach’s oratorios, is the omission of an ‘evangelist’ and this of the biblical story, knowledge of which is taken for granted.

The ‘parody’, and its inherent possibility of reworking secular occasional pieces as sacred compositions by adapting their texts, seems to have held increasing appeal for Bach during his Leipzig period. In this way he could give enduring life to works that had been written for a specific occasion and would otherwise have had no relevance. As with the Christmas and Easter Oratorios, the Ascension Oratorio can trace a substantial number of its roots back to secular predecessors. The work was assembled for Ascension Day in 1735 (19th May): the textual basis is the New Testament story of Jesus’ ascension according to Mark 16, Luke 24 and Acts 1, and the biblical story is related by an Evangelist who is performed by a tenor in secco recitatives accompanied only by continuo.





Цsteroratorium, BWV 249
Oratorium Festo Paschali - Easter Oratorium
"Kommt, Eilet und Laufet", BWV 249 [42:03]


Himmelfahrtoratorium, BWV 11
Oratorium Festo Ascensionis Christi - Ascension Oratorio
"Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen", BWV 11 [28:23]


Yukari Nonoshita, soprano
Patrick von Goethem, counter-tenor
Jan Kobow, tenor
Chiyuki Urano, bass

Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Natsumi Wakamatsu, leader

Recorded May 2004 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel, Japan
Sound engineer: Jens Braun. Recording producer: Marion Schwebel
© 2005 BIS SACD 1561

... Genre-wise the present two works balance between oratorios and cantatas. Though their format is not far removed from that of the longer cantatas, some differences are obvious: for instance, in its earliest version the soloists in the Easter Oratorio were assigned roles (such as Mary Magdalene and Peter), while the Ascension Oratorio features an Evangelist, filling the same function as in the more monumental Passions. Both works - like the Christmas Oratorio - are, at least in part, so-called parodies: reworkings of secular occasional pieces as sacred compositions by adapting their texts. Such origins may to some extent explain the festive note of these two celebrations of the resurrection of Christ, and his ascension to heaven. The opening instrumental movement of the Easter Oratorio, which uses the theme from ‘Erschallet, ihr Lieder’ of Cantata BWV 172, resounds with jubilant trumpets and timpani, and the Ascension Oratorio begins with a chorus in which choir and orchestra "praise God in His kingdoms" with the splendour worthy of a great prince. Bis.se

Bach’s Christmas Oratorio is the famous one, of course, but there are two others – for Easter and Ascension. If you’ve already come across Masaaki Suzuki and his Bach Collegium of Japan in their ongoing series of Bach Cantatas, then you’ll have an excellent idea of the qualities to expect here, and you won’t be disappointed by the brilliance of the orchestral introduction and the crisp articulation of the opening chorus of the Easter Oratorio. Suzuki uses Bach’s final version from April 1749 which gained a third trumpet part... the more the merrier, in the opening Overture. The soloists are fresh-voiced and sing with unaffected simplicity, especially soprano Yukari Nonoshita as Mary the mother of Jesus in the Easter Oratorio. This is such uplifting music ... literally so in the case of the Ascension Oratorio, but it’s here you’ll find the only potential fly-in-the-ointment. The alto solo is perhaps the most famous music on the disc, the piece that Bach later turned into the Agnus Dei of his B minor Mass, and counter-tenor Patrick van Goethem’s voice can’t match the effortless beauty of the others, which may not matter if you actively prefer male altos. The recording is first class: full, warm and detailed, in stereo from the CD layer or in surround as an SACD. Suzuki’s recordings are as good as anyone else out there at the moment, and better than most.
Bbc.co.uk



Bach Collegium Japan

This BWV 249 is as close to perfect a Bach recording as I’ve ever heard. The performance is full of life, full of Baroque spirit while being strict to the letter of authentic practice. The horns have just the right amount of grit, the strings just bouncy enough. Balances side to side and front to back are perfect. Balance between instruments, chorus and soloists is perfect. The soloists are exceptional, especially the counter-tenor Patrick van Goethem. Those who think Berlioz invented orchestration should ponder the amazing sound Bach gets with flutes and strings in the accompaniment to ‘Sanfte soll, Mein Todeskummer...’, clearly projecting the mood of a Spring day with the murmur of birdsong and a gentle zephyr rustling the tree leaves. The sound of the disc is outstanding. If you buy only one recording (...) buy the Suzuki.
Paul Shoemaker, Musicweb.uk.net

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

Johann Sebastian Bach

Clavier-Ubung I - Partitas for harpsichord


... The fact that published pieces represent only a minority of Bach’s entire creative output should be understood in the actual historical context: he was an extremely busy man in his office, and the financial burden of publishing music in his time was far greater than we, from our 20th century perspective, might assume that it was. This being the case, Bach’s decision to undertake the publication of a series of works for keyboard instrument under the general title of Clavier-Ubung (‘Keyboard practice’) speaks volumes of his pride and ambition to assess himself not only as a learned church musician, but also as a highly competetent teacher and keyboard virtuoso. The series began in the autumn of 1726 with the first of the Partitas, followed by other five pieces between 1727 and 1730, so to reduce the financial risk and to inject earnings from earlier sales into future productions. A year later, Bach assembled all six and republished the collection as Opus 1, denoting his satisfaction with the initial success of his project and his ambition to continue the series in the years to come. Bach published Part II (consisting of the Italian Concerto and French Ouverture) in 1735, which was followed four years later by Part III, the so-called German Organ Mass. Finally, after a shorter break of two years, in 1741 the most serious and ambitious composition ever written for harpsichord, the Goldberg Variations came to crown the Clavier-Ьbung series as Part IV. Which still remains the most complete studies exploring the art of keyboard instruments that was to be seen in the works of German Baroque composers; during this fifteen-year period concerned with the series, Bach published no other pieces.
Yo Tomita, from the booklet notes

Disc I
1-6: Partita no. 1 in B flat major, BWV 825 [21:54]
7-13: Partita no. 3 in A minor, BWV 827 [22:02]
14-20: Partita no. 4 in D major, BWV 828 [37:03]

Disc II
1-6: Partita no. 2 in C minor, BWV 826 [22:32]
7-13: Partita no. 5 in G major, BWV 829 [23:37]
14-20: Partita no. 6 in E minor, BWV 830 [34:05]

Masaaki Suzuki
2-manuals harpsichord by Willem Kroesbergen, Utrecht 1982
after enlarged Ruckers

Recorded October 2001 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel, Japan
Sound engineer and recording producer: Thore Brinkmann
© 2005 Bis Records AB BIS-CD-1313/1314



Masaaki Suzuki joins a well-trammelled path of harpsichordists who have attempted to elucidate Bach’s exhaustive imagination in these six Titans. One of his greatest strengths – as one hears in the distinguished cantata series with Collegium Bach Japan – is the satisfyingly measured and articulated unfolding of individual lines, such as in the ‘Allemande’ of the Second Partita, the ‘Gigue’ of the Fourth, the ‘Sarabande’ of the Sixth and so on: there is no vain attempt to stamp an intrusive ‘personality’ on his subject, and yet neither does that mean cold-hearted objectivity. Indeed, it soon becomes clear that Suzuki’s way is both distinctive and thoughtful. An undoubted virtuoso (he uses an instrument by Willem Kroesbergen, after a Ruckers), Suzuki’s playing does raise certain questions as to the extent to which his interpretations are pre-ordained. Prophecy is, of course, inherent in any form of musical preparation but it is also a matter of the means by which musicians allow their musical and intellectual reflexes to be honed and distilled before the ‘event’. I only mention this because, despite the clarity and success of Suzuki’s vision, one rarely hears articulation, textural spreading, melodic rubati (such as in the ‘Corrente’ of the third Partita) or ornamentation emerging from the ‘moment’ in quite the way one does with either Rousset, Pinnock or Haugsand. I don’t wish, however, to give the impression that there is anything mechanical about Suzuki’s playing; that is certainly not at issue as he conveys a suppleness of phrasing and concentrated expressivity in many of the performances here. There is a courtly congeniality in the First Partita, if without the invigorating fun of Ketil Haugsand or sonorous generosity of Trevor Pinnock. The Second Partita is an almost unmitigated success of a kind which one rarely experiences, for its rhythmic authority alone. In terms of bravura, only Haugsand provides a brilliance of glistening orchestral opulence to the opening saccadй of the Fourth Partita, but Suzuki delivers just as thrilling a fast section and carries this through with the longest and most mesmerising ‘Allemande’ on record, beating Rousset by a clear minute, to 12'05". I found his Fifth Partita a touch unseasoned, lacking the wit and balletic ‘lift’ of the dexterous Staier but the Sixth is a tour de force to rival all the above versions, in gravitas if not fantasy.
Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone, April 2003



Masaaki Suzuki

... The title Clavier-Ьbung (‘Keyboard practice’) should not imply that the work is a study for beginners. Rather, this particular title appears to have been chosen so that, under the generality of its scope, the various types and styles of music written for several different keyboard instruments can be accommodated. This is exactly what Bach did, producing music which was not only varied in type but also demanded high technical standards in perfomance. Bach focused his target audience upon ‘Music Lovers’ alone, as in the series we see no reference to those ‘desiderous of learning’ which we find in the title pages of his other works of educational intent, such as Inventions and Sinfonias and the Well-Tempered Clavier. In this way Bach was able to explore musical content of higher dimensions. In another sense, this may also have had an unfortunate consequence, in that the circulation of these works was not as high as anticipated, and many copies remained unsold, simply because the music was technically too difficult for most of the middle-class amateurs who dominated the market.
Yo Tomita, 1997

... Listeners familiar with other recordings in Masaaki Suzuki's ongoing traversal of Bach’s solo keyboard works may find his performances of the Partitas somewhat of an anomaly. For instance, the sharply delineated juxtapositions of tempos that made his Fantasias and Fugues program so thrilling are nowhere to be heard here. The interpretive agenda this time is much subtler and decidedly more introverted. Not only does his choice of relatively moderate-to-slow tempos throughout (and his observance of all repeats) make this performance one of the longest ever – each CD of this two-disc set extends beyond 80 minutes – there also is a sense of deeply considered involvement with the way phrases are turned, details attended to, and passages executed. Like Bach, who esteemed these compositions highly, Suzuki’s performances suggest admiration, even occasionally excessive adoration. Listen for instance to the way Suzuki renders the opening ‘Sinfonia’ of the second Partita, to the way in which each thematic idea, however brief, is underlined through his use of subtle dynamic shading and crisp counterpoint. Likewise in the ‘Passepied’ of the fifth Partita Suzuki’s emphasis on inner detail often makes him sound as if he’s recapitulating the recapitulations (though without ever sacrificing the movement's already quirky momentum). In less capable hands this kind of overt attention to detail could sound affected or needlessly fussy. In Suzuki's very capable ones however, we hear an artist ceaselessly probing, relishing both the significance and joy of his task. BIS’s engineering is fine, though admittedly the harpsichord sounds less immediate than in Suzuki’s previous offering mentioned above. There is no shortage of outstanding harpsichord performances of Bach’s Partitas, and for listeners who may prefer a performance equally as personal though a bit more extroverted, the stylish angular rhythms that characterize Blandine Verlet’s performance on Philips, the freewheeling elegant ornamentation of Igor Kipnis on Seraphim, or the fresh unfettered spirit that Christophe Rousset brings to his L’ Oiseau Lyre cycle make them deservedly distinctive and worthwhile as well.
John Greene, ClassicsToday.com

A compendium of Johann Sebastian Bach’s compositions which were printed during his lifetime (1685-1750).

Three languages-, 24- pages booklet in .pdf format included.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Clavier-Ubung II - Italian Concerto & French Overture


... The fact that published pieces represent only a minority of Bach’s entire creative output should be understood in the actual historical context: he was an extremely busy man in his office, and the financial burden of publishing music in his time was far greater than we, from our 20th century perspective, might assume that it was. This being the case, Bach’s decision to undertake the publication of a series of works for keyboard instrument under the general title of Clavier-Ubung (‘Keyboard practice’) speaks volumes of his pride and ambition to assess himself not only as a learned church musician, but also as a highly competetent teacher and keyboard virtuoso. The series began in the autumn of 1726 with the first of the Partitas, followed by other five pieces between 1727 and 1730, so to reduce the financial risk and to inject earnings from earlier sales into future productions. A year later, Bach assembled all six and republished the collection as Opus 1, denoting his satisfaction with the initial success of his project and his ambition to continue the series in the years to come. Bach published Part II (consisting of the Italian Concerto and French Ouverture) in 1735, which was followed four years later by Part III, the so-called German Organ Mass. Finally, after a shorter break of two years, in 1741 the most serious and ambitious composition ever written for harpsichord, the Goldberg Variations came to crown the Clavier-Ьbung series as Part IV. Which still remains the most complete studies exploring the art of keyboard instruments that was to be seen in the works of German Baroque composers; during this fifteen-year period concerned with the series, Bach published no other pieces.
Yo Tomita, from the booklet notes


1-3: Italian Concerto, BWV 971
"Concerto nach Italiaenischen Gusto" [13:31]
4-13: French Overture, BWV 831
"Ouverture nach Franzцsischer Art [34:54]
14-17: Sonata in D minor, BWV 964
after Sonata in A minor for solo violin, BWV 1003 [20:52]

Masaaki Suzuki
2-manuals harpsichord by Willem Kroesbergen,
Utrecht 1982 after enlarged Ruckers.

Recorded May 2004 at the Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel, Japan
Sound engineer and recording producer: Jens Braun
© 2006 Bis Records AB BIS-CD-1469



In between concerts, recordings and tours with his Bach Collegium Japan, the indefatigable Masaaki Suzuki still manages to make time for the harpsichord (...) Now the turn has come to the Italian Concerto and its companion piece, the French Overture. The two works, which make up the so-called Clavier-Ьbung, part II, demonstrate Bach’s familiarity with two main orchestral genres – the concerto and the overture suite – which respectively represent two important national styles of the day, Italian and French. As Yo Tomita argues in his liner notes, Bach’s aim was to extract these two distinct styles and give them expression in two keyboard works. Maybe he succeeded too well as the Italian Concerto, in particular, was hailed by some contemporaries as an indication that Bach was moving away from his ‘old-fashioned’ contrapuntal style... Highly characterful music then, in a programme which is complemented by the Sonata in D minor, a transcription – probably by the composer himself – of the Sonata in A minor for solo violin. bis.se

... The title Clavier-Ubung (‘Keyboard practice’) should not imply that the work is a study for beginners. Rather, this particular title appears to have been chosen so that, under the generality of its scope, the various types and styles of music written for several different keyboard instruments can be accommodated. This is exactly what Bach did, producing music which was not only varied in type but also demanded high technical standards in perfomance. Bach focused his target audience upon ‘Music Lovers’ alone, as in the series we see no reference to those ‘desiderous of learning’ which we find in the title pages of his other works of educational intent, such as Inventions and Sinfonias and the Well-Tempered Clavier. In this way Bach was able to explore musical content of higher dimensions. In another sense, this may also have had an unfortunate consequence, in that the circulation of these works was not as high as anticipated, and many copies remained unsold, simply because the music was technically too difficult for most of the middle-class amateurs who dominated the market.
Yo Tomita, 1997



Masaaki Suzuki

There’s no denying Masaaki Suzuki’s Bach credentials, but despite plenty of virtuosity and enthusiasm, these performances are let down by two factors. The first of these concerns Suzuki’s use of rubato, which lends the tutti sections of the Italian Concerto a stop-and-start quality that quickly becomes tiresome. It also compromises some of the opportunities for contrast between the ‘orchestral’ and ‘solo’ episodes, despite an instrument with aptly differentiated stops. Indeed, the slow movement is quite lovely, with its delicate, lute-like timbre. Suzuki’s approach works better in the French Overture, the opening movement of which has a rhetorical grandeur that can take Suzuki’s inflections of phrase better than the concerto. Once again the slower music (the Sarabande in particular) has plenty of grace and an affecting lyricism, while the more muscular pieces generally find Suzuki responding in kind. - However, the second drawback is the harpsichord’s sound. Soft bits aside, this double-manual instrument has an aggressively steely and dry tone that, combined with the high-level recording, easily might become aurally fatiguing after a few minutes. Certainly it renders true legato playing all but impossible. It may be that Suzuki’s phrasing is designed to counteract to some extent this harsh, even mechanical timbre, but if so why choose this instrument in the first place? These inherent limitations in terms of responsiveness to touch mean that choosing the right instrument is critical, especially in a recording situation where sonic peculiarities tend to be magnified. It’s a shame, really, not just because these two works naturally belong together, but also because Suzuki has found a very attractive and interesting coupling in the form of a keyboard arrangement (by Bach or one of his students) of the Solo Violin Sonata in A minor. So despite respectable musicianship, this disc remains something of a chore to get through, and Bach should never be that.
David Hurwitz, Classictoday.com

A compendium of Johann Sebastian Bach’s compositions which were printed during his lifetime (1685-1750).

Johann Sebastian Bach

Clavier-Ubung III - German Organ Mass


... Johann Sebastian Bach’s Clavier-Ьbung (‘Keyboard practice’) series began between 1726 and 1730 with the publication of the Six Partitas, republished a year later as ‘Opus 1’ denoting his satisfaction with the initial success of his project and his ambition to continue the series in the years to come. Bach published Part II (consisting of the Italian Concerto and French Ouverture) in 1735, which was followed four years later by Part III, the so-called ‘German Organ Mass’. Finally, in 1741 the Goldberg Variations came to crown the Clavier-Ьbung series as Part IV. Which still remains the most complete studies exploring the art of keyboard instruments that was to be seen in the works of German Baroque composers ... The so-called German Organ Mass was published towards the end of September 1739: it was Bach’s first published work for organ, and was also the longest and most problematic of all the printed works that appeared during his lifetime. The collection consists of multiple settings of the German Kyrie and Gloria, pairs of settings for each of six catechism chorales and four duets, all of which are enclosed by the prelude and fugue in E flat major, BWV 552. The common nickname, ‘the German Organ Mass’, did not in fact derive from Bach, which gave the following title to the collection: ‘Third Part of Clavier-Ьbung, consisting of various preludes on the catechism and other hymns for the organ. For music lovers and especially for connoisseurs of such work, to refresh their spirits (...)’.
Yo Tomita, from the booklet notes


Disc I
Prelude in E flat major, BWV 552/1
1: Preludium pro Organo pleno [8:56]
Kyrie and Gloria settings, BWV 669-677
2-3, 8: Kyrie, Gott Vater in Ewigkeit [5:13]
4-5, 9: Christe, aller Welt Trost [6:37]
6-7, 10: Kyrie, Gott heiliger Geist [6:46]
11-14: Allein Gott in der Hцh’ sei Her’ [9:34]
Six catechism chorales, BWV 678-689
15-17: Dies sind die heilgen zehen Gebot [7:45]
18-20: Wir glauben all an einen Gott [6:44]


Disc II
1-3: Vater unser im Himmelreich [10:27]
4-6: Christ, unser Herr, zum Jordan kam [6:06]
7-9: Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir 11:04]
10-12: Jesus Christus, unser Heiland [8:24]
Four duets, BWV 802-805
13: Duetto I in E minor [1:58]
14: Duetto II in F major [3:22]
15: Duetto III in G major [2:32]
16: Duetto IV in A minor [2:46]
Fugue in E flat major, BWV 552/2
17: Fuga a 5 con pedale pro Organo pleno [6:31]

Masaaki Suzuki
Marc Garnier Organ, built in 2000
Bach Collegium Japan Choir

Recorded March and April 2000 at the Sougakudo Concert Hall,
Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
Sound engineer and recording producer: Hans Kipfter
© 2000 Bis Records AB BIS-CD-1091/1092



Of all the bright stars from East Asia revealed by BIS, none twinkles more brightly than Masaaki Suzuki, professor of organ and harpsichord at Tokyo’s University of Fine Arts and Music – where this recording was made. Among releases featuring Suzuki ... this is his first solo organ disc. A pupil of both Ton Koopman and Piet Kee, Suzuki seems to have been influenced more in his playing by the latter. He certainly has Kee’s precision and respect for the text, with none of the Koopman’s exuberance or individuality. He plays in a brisk, no-nonsense manner which, as in the famous Wir Glauben Prelude, injects the music with a fine sense of purpose but which, in the great E flat Prelude, sacrifices some of the music’s grandeur. He has a sound instinct for registration, and only with the smallest Vater unser Prelude, where a single four-foot flute is graced by a tremulant, does he seem to choose a colour primarily for its beauty. Perhaps the biggest clue to his approach to the organ lies in his concentration, on disc at least, on the harpsichord. These are very heavily articulated performances, with, to my ears, an over-concentration on the horizontal. The final Allein Gott Prelude chatters away on an endearing four-foot Traverso (yes, all registration details are meticolously mapped out in a first-rate booklet) yet it all seems devoid of shape and warmth. The accompanied chorales, sung by singers from the Bach Collegium Japan, are taken from cantata movements, giving the now customary addition of sung chorales to organ solo Preludes added interest. There is almost clinical cleanliness in this singing – not a wobble, not the merest whiff of vibrato in sight – and it seems so closely focused on the note that entries appear disconcertingly direct. As for the organ, built by Marc Garnier in 2000, it is a splendid baroque-style beast, boasting some 75 speaking stops and sounding glorious in the clean but far from unyielding acoustic of the University’s Sougakudo Concert Hall. The recording captures it vividly with an almost total absence of background action or wind noise.
Marc Rochester, Gramophone, June 2001, pag. 74



Masaaki Suzuki at the Marc Garnier Organ

... Traditionally, the Missa pieces are invariably related to the Trinity, and it is no mere coincidence that the Trinitarian symbolism is found in various aspects of the collection. One of these is the use of the three-flat key of E flat major used not only in the opening and closing movements, but also in the first Kyrie setting; in fact, the whole collection is built on this numerical foundation, which is evident from the number of movements in the Mass chorales (9=3x3) and the entire collection (27=3x3x3), not to mention the presence of the number ‘three’ as the headword in the work’s title. Also present in the collection is the symbolism for ‘two’, the dualism as well as symmetry: each chorale tune is set twice, first in a grander pedaliter setting, and then a shorter manualiter setting. It has been frequently pointed out that these may be connected respectively to Luther’s Greater and Lesser Catechisms, or to the ‘connoisseurs’ and ‘music-lovers’ quoted by Bach on the title-page.
Yo Tomita, 2000

Today we more frequently hear the work played by solo organ, though here the Bach Collegium Japan Choir performs choral items BWV 38/6, 260, 298, 363, 371, 416 and 437 with organ accompaniment by Suzuki ... Let me say from the outset, with one major caveat, that this pair of discs has afforded me considerable pleasure. I very much enjoy the fresh and spontaneous playing of Masaaki Suzuki in his role as organist, the very dramatic handling of the opening Prelude bringing a nice feeling of anticipation for the remaining performances. Throughout his playing is crisp, neat, and with imaginative registration; the inner clarity that he brings in the more complex scoring is an added pleasure. He has an impressive understanding of the style of Bach performance we have grown to believe as being ‘authentic’. He has an immaculate sense of pacing and balance in the choral items, with the eight singers showing, in their enunciation, with a good grasp of the German text. I must add that the new Marc Garnier organ in Tokyo is a pure joy, whether working in the large-scale Prelude and Fugue or as a chamber instrument providing discreet accompaniments. – My reservation comes in the sound quality. Having enjoyed the opening solo-organ track, I quickly turned to the back page of the accompanying booklet when the choir entered on the second track, convinced that two locations had been used. The recording, in fact, took place at the Sougakudo Concert Hall at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, though the acoustic in the choral items seems to be that of a church, the choir somewhat distant in a nicely controlled reverberation. Nether the solo organ nor the choir tracks are in any way deficient or displeasing, but to my ears they do not sit happily together. It is a feature you would have to hear and judge for yourself.
© Fanfare Magazine 2001, Andante.com

A compendium of Johann Sebastian Bach’s compositions which were printed during his lifetime (1685-1750)

Johann Sebastian Bach

Clavier-Ubung IV - Goldberg Variations


... Johann Sebastian Bach’s Clavier-Ubung [‘Keyboard practice’] series began between 1726 and 1730 with the publication of the Six Partitas, republished a year later as ‘Opus 1’ denoting his satisfaction with the initial success of his project and his ambition to continue the series in the years to come. Bach published Part II (consisting of the Italian Concerto and French Ouverture) in 1735, which was followed four years later by Part III, the so-called ‘German Organ Mass’. Finally, in 1741 the Goldberg Variations came to crown the Clavier-Ьbung series, which still remains the most complete studies exploring the art of keyboard instruments that was to be seen in the works of German Baroque composers ... The Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) is often regarded as the most serious and ambitious composition ever written for the harpsichord. Based on a single ground bass theme, the variations display not only Bach’s exceptional knowledge of the diverse styles of music of the day but also his exquisite performing techniques. Being also the largest of all clavier pieces published during the Baroque period, the work soars high above the rest in terms of its encyclopжdic character: from this, it is often considered that it sums up the entire history of Baroque variation form, the Diabelli Variations by Ludwig van Beethoven being its Classical counterpart.
Yo Tomita, from the booklet notes

Goldberg Variations
Aria mit verschiedenen Variationen
(Clavier-Ubung IV, BWV 988)

1: Aria [4:44]
2-31: Variatio 1 - 30 [65:19]
32: Aria da capo [3:13]

Masaaki Suzuki
2-manuals harpsichord by Willem Kroesbergen, Utrecht 1982
Recorded February, June and July 1997 at the e Kobe Shoin Women’s University Chapel, Japan
Sound engineer and recording producer: Marion Schwabel
© 1997 Bis Records AB BIS-CD-819




At first I did not think I was going to get on with Masaaki Suzuki’s recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Right from the start he makes a point of spreading the texture of the Aria horizontally to an extent that I find musically uncalled for. Elsewhere in this great set of variations a degree of textural spreading b staggering the hands affords additional variety and contrast, but to over-apply it into the Aria is to deny this sarabande something of its sublime nobility and simply expressive restraint. A personal reaction, certainly, but it got me off to a bad start. Happily, though, from the First Variation to the Quodlibet (Var. 30) I found myself carried along by Suzuki’s virtuosity and his very clearly argued understanding of the music. For this recording he has chosen an instrument by Willem Kroesbergen, modelled on a Ruckers. The mannerisms present in the Aria, about which Suzuki will undoubtedly have given careful thought, are in stark contrast to his performance elsewhere; for this is, by and large, rather self-effacing playing, free from quirks, gimmicks and inclination towards redundant highlighting of harmonic moments in the text. Some additional ornaments are applied, but always discreetly and effectively. Suzuki has a clear sense of line and an engaging rhythmic sense. Var. 29 is given a more graceful rhythmic shape than almost any rival version that I know. He brings out the lyrical content of the music with limpid articulation and lucid textures, both of which virtues are abundantly present in Vars. 11, 20 and 23. Occasionally, I found him a shade unresponsive to dance rhythms or, rather, the spirit of a dance. The 9/8 rhythm of Var. 24 seemed a little leaden to my ears. Var. 25 comes over well, with an effective halting rhythm at the outset, and en expressive cogency liberated from the present implications conjured up by Landowska’s ‘Black Pearl’. The Quodlibet, a joyful, carefree piece, moves with easy gesture but is, perhaps, a touch too serious in intent. Technically, there is little that goes awry in Suzuki’s impressive performance: his polished, well-sustained and honest playing, in which he observes all but a handful of repeats, belongs up there with the finest interpreters. The booklet contains an excellent, at times debunking, essay by Yo Tomita.
Nicholas Anderson, Gramophone, March 1998, pag. 88




Masaaki Suzuki

A compendium of Johann Sebastian Bach’s compositions which were printed during his lifetime (1685-1750). Including 28-page, three languages-booklet with detailed info on the work and the organ registration.

Это был последный, изданный до сих пор, том из Bach / Suzuki series, BIS. :wink: Желаю всем скачавших релизов приятное прослушивание!

а нет ли относительно свежих 36-ой, 37-ой и 38-ой частей?

Не знаю к сожалению. :( У меня были только чужые релизы, которые я залил здесь.

Кстати сьемки изчезли именно из за того что находились не в мои адресы, а в адресы автора релизов. Лично я никогда не пользую Web Shack дль сьемок - он мне никак не нравиться именно из за то что в нем стирают содержание если посещение надвишаеть какие то там границы. Поетому именно я началь използовать photobucket.com сделав себе два адреса чтоб посещаемость каждого из них была ниже границ етого места для сьемок.

any chance these downloads have been relocated to another ID. i cannot find them any longer. this would be fantastic.