Yoshikazu Mera

“The order of pieces makes for a thoroughly seamless, always engaging programme...The performances here are pretty much top-notch, as previous critical acclaim has attested” MusicWeb International, July 2012

“What more can I say, other than that 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 tonality of great beauty. …this is a major recording event, and an eminently satisfying one.” Gramophone Magazine

“Bach seems to have performed his St John Passion on four Good Fridays during his tenure as Thomaskantor at Leipzig. However, he continued to make significant revisions right up to the last performance under his direction, on April 4, 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.
All has evidently been carefully prepared and deeply considered: what's 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 music on its audience. Some of their thoughts may strike readers as simplistic, even perhaps a shade sentimental, but on the strength of this fervent performance we can hardly question their sincerity.
The role of the Evangelist is sung with clarity and lightness of inflexion by Gerd Türk. His performance is eloquently measured, his phrasing well shaped and his articulation engagingly varied.
All this makes him a riveting story-teller. The role of Jesus is taken by Chiyuki Urano, warm-toned and resonant. Ingrid Schmidthüsen and Yoshikazu Mera make strongly appealing contributions and Peter Kooij is satisfying and affecting.
Excellent, too, are the contributions of the Collegium's choir of women's and men's voices.
Choral and instrumental articulation is incisive, propelling the rhythms with energy. The performance draws you in from the start. This is a major recording event, and an eminently satisfying one.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The six cantatas that make up Bach's ChristmasOratorio are part of a unified work celebrating not just Christmas itself but also the New Year and Epiphany. Masaaki Suzuki faces plentiful if not invariably stiff competition in this work.
In fact, it outstrips most of its rivals, in respect both of vocal and instrumental considerations.
A notable quality in Masaaki Suzuki's direction is his feeling for naturally expressive contours, allowing the music to breathe freely. Best of all, perhaps, is his refusal to pay even lip service to Bach's supposed predilection for fast tempos. Everything here seems to be exceptionally well judged, which isn't to say that the pace of individual movements is necessarily slower than those in competing versions but that it's more interrelated with a concept of each section as a whole, and more textually conscious than some.
The soloists are generally very good indeed.
Yoshikazu Mera makes a distinctive contribution and Gerd Türk is a communicative singer whose light articulation suits his partly narrative role. Peter Kooij never puts a foot wrong, while Monika Frimmer makes a favourable impression in her duet with Kooij, 'Herr, dein Mitleid, dein Erbarmen'. A small, wellbalanced choir of technical agility and an accomplished quorum of instrumentalists set the seal on an outstanding achievement. The finest all-round performance of the ChristmasOratorio on disc.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“This eighth volume of Bach Collegium Japan's Bach cantata series bridges the period between Bach's departure from Cöthen and his arrival at Leipzig, early in 1723. Du wahrer Gott und DavidsSohn (No 23) was mainly written at Cöthen, while Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe (No 22) must have been composed almost immediately on Bach's reaching Leipzig. The remaining cantata, Die Elenden sollen essen is on an altogether grander scale, in two parts, each of seven movements.
The performances maintain the high standards of singing, playing and scholarship set by the previous issues in this series. There are little insecurities here and there – the oboes, which play a prominent role in each of the three pieces, aren't always perfectly in agreement over tuning – but the careful thought given to the words, their significance and declamation, and the skill with which they're enlivened by the realisation of Bach's expressive musical vocabulary, remain immensely satisfying. The disciplined, perceptively phrased and beautifully sustained singing of the two choral numbers of No 23 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.
Polyphony, 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 No 76.
Lose no time in becoming acquainted with this one. It reaches, you might say, those parts that other performances do not.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The fifth volume of Bach's sacred cantatas performed by the Bach Collegium Japan continues their Weimar survey with five pieces written between c1713 and 1716. It begins with No 18, performed in its Weimar version – Bach later revived it for Leipzig, adding two treble recorders to the purely string texture of the upper parts of the earlier composition. The scoring of No 152 is more diverse, featuring in its opening Sinfonia a viola d'amore, viola da gamba, oboe and recorder.
A conspicuous feature of No 155 is its melancholy duet for alto and tenor with bassoon obbligato. While the vocal writing sustains something of the character of a lament the wonderfully athletic, arpeggiated bassoon solo provides a magical third voice. The accompanying essay is confused here, emphasising the importance of a solo oboe which in fact has no place at all in this work. No 161 is a piece of sustained beauty, scored for a pair of treble recorders, obbligato organ, strings and continuo.
Bach's authorship of No 143 has sometimes been questioned. Much of it is un-Bachlike, yet at times it's hard to envisage another composer's hand.
The performances are of unmatched excellence.
Suzuki's direction never falters and his solo vocalists go from strength to strength as the series progresses. 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. Mera and Sakurada sustain a delicately balanced partnership in the elegiac duet of No 155, the limpid bassoon-playing completing this trio of outstanding beauty. Kooij is a tower of strength, a sympathetic partner to Suzuki in the dance-like duet between Jesus and the Soul (No 152), and resonantly affirmative in his aria from the same cantata. But the highest praise should go to Mera and Sakurada for their affecting performance in No 161. All the elements of this superb cantata are understood and deeply felt by all concerned. The disc is admirably recorded and, apart from the aforementioned confusion, painstakingly and informatively documented.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010