The three cantatas on this disc, volume 33 of the ongoing complete edition by conductor Masaaki Suzuki and his historical-instrument Bach Collegium Japan, aren't familiar items. But they make a marvelous program that introduces the listener to many of the specific virtues of Suzuki's series. Those virtues do not run especially in the direction of warmth and humanism (turn to John Eliot Gardiner for those qualities). Instead, Suzuki's readings as a whole are clear, rather restrained, and carefully shaped, coalescing ...
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The three cantatas on this disc, volume 33 of the ongoing complete edition by conductor Masaaki Suzuki and his historical-instrument Bach Collegium Japan, aren't familiar items. But they make a marvelous program that introduces the listener to many of the specific virtues of Suzuki's series. Those virtues do not run especially in the direction of warmth and humanism (turn to John Eliot Gardiner for those qualities). Instead, Suzuki's readings as a whole are clear, rather restrained, and carefully shaped, coalescing periodically into quiet moments of exquisite beauty. The cantatas here, written in Leipzig for services shortly after the New Year, have a common structure, varied in execution: each begins and ends with a big chorale setting, while the central movements, mostly solo recitatives and arias, intertwine fragments of the chorale with added material. The opening Jesu, nun sei gepreiset, BWV 41 (Jesus be now praised) and closing Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir (Lord God, we all praise you) feature...
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