Bach Collegium Japan

This landmark series is nearly at its end in this antepenultimate recording. The three cantatas on this recording come from the first half of the 1730s and clearly show Bach’s affinity for instrumental colour and expressive melodies rich in syncopation and suspensions.

All three works are choral cantatas based on well-known hymns and are therefore more choral in style.

In Volume 52 of his monumental sacred cantatas project, Masaaki Suzuki includes one of J.S. Bach’s best-loved cantatas of all, Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140.

The famous chorale is joined by a couple of the most beautiful love duets in the history of music, here sung by the soprano Hana Blažíková and bass Peter Kooij.

Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt (‘the Lord is my faithful shepherd’) follows. Psalm 23 provides the text for all five movements.

Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir was composed for a church service celebrating the inauguration of a new city council – a ‘Ratswahl cantata’ – in which Bach shows off his capabilities as a composer. The first chorus is a reworking of material which Bach would return to in his Mass in B minor.

This startling recording project now nears its conclusion with three final volumes left to be released.

Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki return to their cantatas cycle with four cantatas composed for specific events.

These sacred occasional pieces are independent works and did not form part of his cantata cycles for the Sundays and feast days of the church year. Two of cantatas (BWV 195 and BWV 120a) were intended for wedding ceremonies, and one for a funeral (Ich lasse dich nicht… BWV 157), but the setting for the fourth piece, Nun danket alle Gott, BWV 192, is unknown.

The cycle of cantatas initiated by Masaaki Suzuki and Bach Collegium Japan in 1995 is nearing completion, with four volumes to come. Volume 50 was acclaimed by reviewers who praised the continued high quality of interpretation and performance.

Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki present their long-awaited second volume of secular cantatas by J.S. Bach.

The “Hunt Cantata”, composed in 1713, is the oldest of his secular cantatas. The libretto includes a dramatic plot in which four divinities from ancient mythology appear.

Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht was intended for the 1719 New Year celebrations in Köthen. The cantata is set as a dialogue between Time (tenor) and Divine Providence (alto), who in the final movement are joined by a chorus wishing ‘glückseligen Zeiten’ (‘joyous times’)

On the 50th volume of Masaaki Suzuki’s traversal of J.S. Bach’s cantatas features works composed by Bach in collaboration with the Leipzig poet Picander (Christian Friedrich Henrici).

Three of the works on the disc, along with six others, are all that remain of his cantatas written in 1729.

The cantatas here featured generally make sparing use of the choir, but centre on two arias, linked by one or two recitatives, and a final chorale. In addition, the surviving works contain several examples of parody and reuse of earlier instrumental movements as introductions: The opening Sinfonia of BWV 174, uses the first movement of his Third Brandenburg Concerto.

The volume features soprano Hana Blažíková, alongside three other familiar soloists of the series: Robin Blaze (counter-tenor), Gerd Türk (tenor) and Peter Kooij (bass).

Recent releases from the series have received critical acclaim: in International Record Review, where Volume 48 was described as demonstrating ‘the ever-rising standard, by now quite stratospheric, of Suzuki and his choir and orchestra in this massive recording project.’

After 15 years since Masaaki Suzuki and Bach Collegium Japan began recording all of Bach’s church cantatas, this huge project enters the final stretch with its 49th volume.

In the present volume Suzuki has gathered four works from 1728-29, with the texts all written by the poet Christian Friedrich Henrici – a regular collaborator with Bach, most famously on the St Matthew Passion and the Christmas Oratorio

The four works gathered here hint at the variety that may have characterized the Bach-Picander cantata year, with moods spanning from the jubilation of the New Year Cantata BWV171 to the anticipation of Jesus’ path of suffering in Sehet, wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem, BWV159, intended for the Sunday before Passiontide. There is also variety on a more technical level, with BWV188 and BWV156 both beginning with instrumental sinfonias featuring important solo parts for organ and oboe respectively.

The latest volumes from the cantatas series have been met with considerable critical acclaim. With Volume 46 being made a ‘Critics’ Choice’ in Gramophone, and BBC Music Magazine singling out both Volume 47 and 48 as ‘Choral & Song Choice of the Month’.

‘With Suzuki you can hear Bach's heart beat...’ (International Record Review

Volume 48 of Masaaki Suzuki’s and Bach Collegium Japan’s traversal of Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantatas opens with Cantata 34, O ewiges Feuer, o Ursprung der Liebe – a jubilant work intended for Whit Sunday 1727, but with its origins in an earlier, secular wedding cantata.

Gott, man lobet dich in der Stille (BWV 120) was composed for a festive church service marking the annual town council election in Leipzig. But the programme also also offers moments of introspection and quiet beauty, such as the celebrated alto aria Ich will dich all mein Leben lang from Cantata 117, here performed by the counter-tenor Robin Blaze, well-known to the followers of this series.

Cantata 98 contains another heartfelt aria: Hört, ihr Augen, auf zu weinen, sung by the soprano Hana Blažíková, whose performances on recent releases have impressed many reviewers.

With approximately another eight volumes remaining of this great undertaking, the energy and dedication of Masaaki Suzuki and his musicians show no signs of flagging, and the recent volumes 46 and 47 were warmly welcomed by reviewers around the world, receiving distinctions such as ‘Critics’ Choice’ in Gramophone and ‘Choral Choice of the Month’ in BBC Music Magazine.

Founded by Masaaki Suzuki in 1990, the Bach Collegium Japan began its landmark series of Bach's cantatas in 1995. In order to celebrate the ensemble's 20th anniversary – and indeed the 15th anniversary of the start of the cantata cycle – Suzuki has now devised a compilation of some of his personal favourites among the choral movements from the cantatas. The programme of the disc follows the Lutheran liturgical calendar, beginning with Advent and ending with the Feast of the Reformation, a feast which commemorates the day (31st October 1517) on which Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses, the spark that would set off the Reformation in Germany. This disc thus traverses the full range of events and emotions that constitute the church year, from the joyous expectancy of Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, by way of the Passion of Christ, to Bach's elaboration on Martin Luther's own hymn Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. In his own comments to the ample selection, Masaaki Suzuki gives his reasons for choosing these particular movements, and also offers two further favourites 'beyond the church year'. These are both pieces which in different ways transcend the boundaries of calendars, churches, religions and even nations: Bach's universally loved setting of Jesus bleibet meine Freude, and Dona Nobis Pacem, the heartfelt prayer for peace for the world from the B minor Mass.

In view of the fact that several of the works are composed for double choir, the usual 16-member choir from the cantata recordings have been slightly expanded to 18 singers, of which some also appear as soloists. Included on the disc are the six motets BWV 225-231, as well as BWV 118 O Jesu Christ, mein’s Lebens Licht and BWV Anh. 159 Ich lasse dich nicht.

Although Bach did not compose many cantatas during the year 1725, the four cantatas that he did compose are far from being routine affairs. Lobe den Herren (Praise to the Lord), BWV 137, is a case in point: in it Bach includes the original text of the famous hymn, and also uses the familiar melody in all five movements to a greater or lesser degree. To impose such limitations must have been a challenge to himself as a composer, and the imagination and technical skill with which he fulfilled his task are striking.