BACH Cantatas: No. 137;1,2,3,4 No. 168;1,2,3,4 No. 79;1,2,4 No. 1641,2,3,4 • Masaaki Suzuki, cond; Yukari Nonoshita (sop);1 Robin Blaze (ct);2 Makoto Sakurada (ten);3 Peter Kooij (bs);4 Bach Collegium Japan (period instruments) • BIS 1671 (Hybrid multichannel SACD: 57:22 Text and Translation)

Volume 40 of Suzuki’s well-praised Bach series is a continuation of what we heard in the previous volume (Fanfare 32:2), namely more music from Leipzig 1725, his third year of service in that city. This time period is a little unusual in that there are Sundays that completely lack any trace of cantata activity, with the exception of the Christmas season at the end of the year. It cannot be determined whether these “missing” Sundays are really missing or just plain lost, or whether Bach’s activity in this area really did subside; the four works on this disc come from just before the “dry” period began.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation (137) may or may not have been composed for either June or August of that year, one of the post-Trinity Sundays. It is the type of chorale cantata where the hymn text retains its original form in each movement, and the composer also uses the same melody (to a greater or lesser extent) in each movement as well. It is a splendid, celebratory work with lots of trumpets and timpani. The Lord God is a Sun and a Shield (79) was written for Reformation Sunday, a commemoration of Luther’s nailing of the 95 Theses to the church door at Wittenberg. The text writer combines verses from the Old Testament with his own words in a festive setting that is one of the most magnificent Bach ever set. The composer was to include portions of this work in his later two masses in G-Minor and A-Major.

Give an Account! Thunderous Word (168) is another post-Trinity Sunday work that gives an account of the dishonest steward found in Luke’s gospel, and begins with roaring and agitated strings. The music depicts the literal and emotional content of the text, falling of mountains and flashes of lighting. You Who Call Yourselves Christians (164) is another independent work based on the gospel of Luke. The consoling music speaks of the parable of the Good Samaritan with many canonic passages and tempered by the smooth sound of the flutes.

Standards remain high in this latest entry in what will no doubt end up being a first series choice for many when it is completed. Packaging it in Super Audio only adds to the desirability of those like me who place a premium on such technological advances.

FANFARE: Steven E. Ritter