Notes and Editorial Reviews
This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.
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BACH
Cantatas, Vol. 49: Nos. 188, 156, 159, 171
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Masaaki Suzuki (cond); Rachel Nicholls (sop); Robin Blaze (ct); Gerd Türk (ten); Peter Kooij (bs); Bach Collegium Japan (period instruments)
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BIS BIS-SACD-1891 (72:07
Text and Translation)
Here is another
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winner from Masaaki Suzuki and his dedicated cohort. One would never know, listening to the performances, that these four cantatas, rarely recorded outside the complete editions, are not generally considered to be top-drawer Bach. Cantata 188 actually had to be reconstructed from fragments of the score that had been cut into pieces and sold as souvenirs. Yet here they are, sounding like indispensible masterpieces. Suzuki can claim some credit, to be sure, but the inescapable wonder is the inexhaustible depth of the repertoire.
Undoubtedly the most familiar movements are the orchestral sinfonias that open Cantatas 188 and 156. Both are alternate versions of movements from Bach’s harpsichord concertos—the former the third movement of the D-Minor Concerto arranged for organ (dynamically played by Masaaki Suzuki); the latter the second movement of the F-Minor Concerto scored for what was probably its original instrument, the oboe. In fact, I got a bit of a cultural shock from the BWV 156 sinfonia, having just heard it played by Heinz Holliger in a reconstructed oboe concerto. The cantata version is appropriately stark and solemn, whereas the concerto version, as one might expect in a virtuoso showpiece, is elaborately ornamented. Holliger’s obvious advantage is striking until one realizes that Masamitsu San’nomiya’s version is entirely appropriate in its context.
And there are other felicities. The choir has relatively little to do, but the New Year’s Day cantata, BVV 171, opens with a motet-like choral fugue, festively accompanied by trumpets and timpani, which gloriously return for the triumphal concluding chorale. Newcomer Rachel Nicholls shines in her BWV 171 aria. Robin Blaze, in peak form, and San’nomiya collaborate in a lively aria in BWV 156. The always dependable Gerd Türk has a memorable aria in BWV 188. The aria “Es ist vollbracht” of BWV 159 rivals the setting of the same text in the
Saint John Passion
; veteran bass Peter Kooij sings it exquisitely.
Although all of the soloists listed above are imports, first trumpeter Guy Ferber was the only other obviously non-Japanese performer named in the roster. By now it’s no stretch to say that Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan have mastered the idiom. Warmly recommended.
FANFARE: George Chien
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Works on This Recording
1.
Sehet, wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem, BWV 159 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:
Rachel Nicholls (Soprano),
Robin Blaze (Countertenor),
Gerd Türk (Tenor),
Peter Kooy (Bass)
Conductor:
Masaaki Suzuki
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bach Collegium Japan
Period: Baroque
Written: 1729; Leipzig, Germany
3.
Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm, BWV 171 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:
Rachel Nicholls (Soprano),
Robin Blaze (Countertenor),
Gerd Türk (Tenor),
Peter Kooy (Bass)
Conductor:
Masaaki Suzuki
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bach Collegium Japan
Period: Baroque
Written: ?1729; Leipzig, Germany
4.
Ich steh' mit einem Fuss im Grabe, BWV 156 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:
Rachel Nicholls (Soprano),
Robin Blaze (Countertenor),
Gerd Türk (Tenor),
Peter Kooy (Bass)
Conductor:
Masaaki Suzuki
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bach Collegium Japan
Period: Baroque
Written: 1729; Leipzig, Germany
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