MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             

CD REVIEW



Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively AmazonUK

 

 

Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Cantatas, Vol. 36
Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats, BWV 42 (1725) [28:45]
Ihr werdet weinen und heulen, BWV 103 (1725) [14:24]
Es ist euch gut, daß ich hingehe, BWV 108 (1725) [13:44]  
Bleib bei uns, BWV 6 (1725) [17:27]  
Yakari Nonoshita (soprano); Robin Blaze (counter-tenor); James Gilchrist (tenor); Dominik Wörner (bass)
Bach Collegium Japan/Masaaki Suzuki
rec. February 2006, Kobe Shuin Women’s University Chapel, Japan. DDD
BIS-SACD-1611 [75:31] 

 


Like its fellows from the year 1725, Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats, BWV 42, is a chorale cantata. It takes the bulk of its inspiration from an existing hymn-tune and develops the music from there. First performed on 8 April 1725, it is typical in taking the chorale theme and exploring its musical potential before releasing it in clear identity in the final chorale movement. Some scholars believe that Bach’s congregation would have known these tunes well enough to join in the when the cantata came to its close. 

This cantata is exceptional for 1725, since Bach found the associated Biblical verse, of the private appearance of the risen Christ to the disciples, unsuitable for a choral setting. Instead he began with a substantial da capo instrumental movement. As ever Suzuki captures exactly the right tempo for this, and the balance between winds, strings is perfect. Perhaps Robin Blaze is recorded a little closely in his aria. However he sings most expressively in this, one of the most extended of all Bach’s da capo movements, at more than 13 minutes. The other aria in this piece is most effectively delivered by the bass, Dominik Wörner. 

BWV 103, Ihr werdet weinen und heulen (We shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice) was written for Jubilate Sunday, 22 April 1725. There is a most affecting opening chorus, replete with subtle woodwind counterpoints to the string ensemble. These are beautifully balanced in the texture by Suzuki, as structure and expressive meaning are so subtly intertwined. Again the solo voices are on top form, with James Gilchrist delivering his splendid aria to perfection. 

From one volume to the next Suzuki assembles an array of forces that seems perfectly judged for these cantatas, and the SACD BIS sound helps articulate the musical delivery so convincingly. The chorus numbers twelve, and there is always plenty of atmosphere in the acoustic of the Kobe Shuin Women’s University Chapel. There is no opening chorus or sinfonia in BWV 108, Es ist euch gut, daß ich hingehe (It is right that I go away), rather the music begins with Dominik Wörner’s bass aria, and the instrumental ensemble balances the voice most effectively, as Jesus sings his song of farewell. James Gilchrist’s tenor aria is heard with a wonderful obbligato violin, but possibly its most effective aspect as realized here is the strong underlying pulse of the ostinato rhythm. 

In BWV 6, there is another cantata from the closing weeks of Bach’s second year cycle, in other words from the period around Easter. The background is another story concerning the return of the resurrected Christ and his unexpected appearance before (two of) the apostles. Here the musical construction is more distinctive, perhaps, than in the other cantatas on the disc. The opening chorus, for example, is cast in French overture form, with a faster fugal central section at the centre. Bach skilfully develops the two fugue subjects, and as ever Suzuki judges the balancing and projection of the themes with aplomb. Robin Blaze is on top form in his alto aria, combining so imaginatively with the obbligato decoration of the oboe da caccia. Later in the cantata the cello piccolo shares material with the soprano, the excellent Yakari Nonoshita, in one of Bach’s most distinctive and unusual voice-and-instrument relationships.

The closing chorale movements are simply delivered in all four of these cantatas, making the musical and expressive point all the more effectively. This is another splendid achievement by Masaaki Suzuki and Bach Collegium Japan. 

Terry Barfoot 

 

 

 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.