Bach: Lutheran Masses, Vol. 2 Bach Collegium Japan & Masaaki Suzuki
Album info
Album-Release:
2016
HRA-Release:
25.02.2016
Label: BIS
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Vocal
Artist: Bach Collegium Japan & Masaaki Suzuki
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Marco Giuseppe Peranda (1625-1675)
Album including Album cover Booklet (PDF)
- 1 Kyrie (Chorus) 06:04
- 2 Gloria (Chorus) 05:12
- 3 Domine Deus (Bass) 05:54
- 4 Qui tollis peccata mundi (Soprano) 05:58
- 5 Quoniam tu solus sanctus (Alto) 03:13
- 6 Cum Sancto Spiritu (Chorus) 03:11
- 7 Kyrie (Chorus) 03:40
- 8 Gloria (Chorus) 05:12
- 9 Domine Deus (Bass) 03:13
- 10 Qui tollis (Soprano) 05:39
- 11 Quoniam (Alto) 03:34
- 12 Cum Sancto Spiritu (Chorus) 02:34
- Marco Giuseppe Peranda (1625 - 1675): Missa in A minor:
- 13 Kyrie 05:35
- 14 Gloria 11:08
Info for Bach: Lutheran Masses, Vol. 2
By Bach's time, the traditional forms of church service had been fundamentally altered by the Reformation, and in German churches Latin had yielded to the country's own language. To an extent, however, the Latin mass text did remain in use in Protestant church music in particular the Kyrie and Gloria sections. Albeit incomplete, this form of mass setting was termed Missa; nowadays the pieces are often referred to as 'Lutheran Masses'. Bach's famous Mass in B minor, later expanded into a complete mass, began its existence as a work of this kind, and four other examples from Bach's pen have survived. The recent release of the Missae in G minor and G major (BWV 235 and 236) caused the reviewers in Gramophone and Fono Forum to eagerly look forward to the sequel, and Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki have not kept them waiting. Like their companion works, the two Lutheran Masses recorded here make extensive use of earlier compositions by Bach and include reworkings of arias and choruses from cantatas, but each of the four masses also has its own unmistakable artistic profile. The most telling detail on the present disc is the instrumentation, where Bachs choice of flutes in BWV 234 and of horns and oboes in BWV 233 contributes to the individual character of each work. In his task of supplying the music for church services Bach also performed music by other composers, among them Marco Gioseppe Peranda whose Kyrie-Gloria mass closes the disc. Born in 1625, Peranda trained in Rome, and was active in the Dresden Hofkapelle from the 1650s until his death in 1675. Copies in Bachs hand of parts of Perandas splendidly contrapuntal Missa in A minor exist, and it is likely that Bach performed the work during the latter part of his Leipzig period.
Hana Blažíková, soprano
Joanne Lunn, soprano
Aki Matsui, soprano
Robin Blaze, counter-tenor
Gerd Türk, tenor
Katsuhiko Nakashima, tenor
Yusuke Fujii, tenor
Dominik Wörner, bass
Peter Kooij, bass
Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki, direction
Masaaki Suzuki
Since founding Bach Collegium Japan in 1990, Masaaki Suzuki has established himself as a leading authority on the works of Bach. He has remained their Music Director ever since, taking them regularly to major venues and festivals in Europe and the USA and building up an outstanding reputation for the expressive refinement and truth of his performances.
In addition to working with renowned period ensembles, such as Collegium Vocale Gent and Philharmonia Baroque, he is invited to conduct modern instrument orchestras in repertoire as diverse as Britten, Fauré, Haydn, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Stravinsky. Last season saw his debut appearances with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Melbourne Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, while engagements for 2012/2013 include return visits to the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris and Verbier Festival and his debuts with the New York Philharmonic and the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart.
Suzuki’s impressive discography on the BIS label, featuring Bach’s complete works for harpsichord and his interpretations of Bach’s major choral works and sacred cantatas with Bach Collegium Japan (of which he has already completed over fifty volumes of a project to record the complete series) have brought him many critical plaudits – the Times has written: “it would take an iron bar not to be moved by his crispness, sobriety and spiritual vigour”. In 2010, Suzuki and his ensemble were awarded both a German Record Critics’ Award (Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik) and a Diapason d’Or de l’Année for their recording of Bach motets, which was also honoured in 2011 with a BBC Music Magazine Award.
Highlights of last season with Bach Collegium Japan included a European tour incorporating concerts at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Brussels Palais des Beaux-Arts and Paris Salle Pleyel amongst others, and culminating with a performance of the St Matthew Passion at the Thomaskirche, Leipzig where Suzuki was presented with the 2012 Leipzig Bach Prize. This season sees the group in residence at the Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht and Bremen Musikfest.
Masaaki Suzuki combines his conducting career with his work as organist and harpsichordist. Born in Kobe, he graduated from the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music with a degree in composition and organ performance and went on to study harpsichord and organ at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam under Ton Koopman and Piet Kee. Founder and head of the early music department at the Tokyo University of the Arts, he is currently Visiting Professor of Choral Conducting at the Yale School of Music and Yale Institute of Sacred Music and the conductor of Yale Schola Cantorum.
Suzuki was decorated with ‘Das Verdienstkreuz am Bande des Verdienstordens der Bundesrepublik’ from Germany in April 2001, Bremen Musikfest Award 2011, and Bach Medal 2012 by the city of Leipzig in June 2012.
Bach Collegium Japan
was founded in 1990 by Masaaki Suzuki, its inspirational Music Director, with the aim of introducing Japanese audiences to period instrument performances of great works from the baroque period. Comprised of both baroque orchestra and chorus, their activities include an annual concert series of Bach’s cantatas and a number of instrumental programmes.
They have acquired a formidable international reputation through their acclaimed recordings of the major choral works of Johann Sebastian Bach for the BIS label; this season sees the triumphant conclusion of their recorded cycle of the complete Church Cantatas, a huge undertaking comprising over fifty CDs initiated in 1995. Their recent recording of Bach Motets was honoured with a German Record Critics’ Award (Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik), Diapason d’Or de l’Année 2010 and also in 2011 with a BBC Music Magazine Award.
Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki have shared their interpretations across the international music scene with performances in venues as far afield as Amsterdam, Berlin, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York and Seoul, and at major festivals such as the BBC Proms, the Edinburgh International Festival and the Hong Kong Arts Festival.
In 2010 the ensemble celebrated their 20th anniversary with a series of special concerts in Tokyo, and last season included performances at the Musikfest Bremen as well as appearances at New York’s Lincoln Center where Masaaki Suzuki and the choir were invited to collaborate with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra to open its Bach Variations Festival. This season they undertake their first visit to the New Zealand International Arts Festival and embark upon another major European tour during which they bring Bach’s St John Passion and a Cantata programme to cities such as Barcelona, Lyon, Paris and Toulouse.
Booklet for Bach: Lutheran Masses, Vol. 2