JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)

 

Cantatas Vol. 35

 

Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein, BWV128

Es ist ein trotzig und verzagt Ding, BWV176

Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten in meinem Namen, BWV87

Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten, BWV74

 

Yukari Nonoshita (soprano)

Robin Blaze (counter-tenor)

Makoto Sakurada (tenor)

Peter Kooij (bass)

Bach Collegium Japan / Masaaki Suzuki

 

The four cantatas on this disc were all first performed in Leipzig during May 1725. Just a few weeks earlier, for reasons unknown, Bach had been forced to abandon his projected chorale cantata cycle, in which each cantata for an entire church year was to focus on the text of a well-known hymn, rather than the gospel reading for the relevant day. The texts of these cantatas were in contrast apparently especially for the occasion, meditations on biblical events such as the ascension of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Whit Sunday.

 

Recent instalments in the Bach Collegium Japan cantata cycle have received the same high praise as the entire series. The German web site Klassik Heute summed it up in its review of Volume 32 (BISSACD1501): “Once more there is cause to extol the by now well-accustomed merits of Masaaki Suzuki’s complete cycle of Bach cantatas: a profound knowledge of style, a multifaceted art of phrasing, and perfectly-judged choices of tempo and musical character have been the distinguishing features of this series since its inception.”

 

Please note: The music on this Hybrid Super

Audio CD can be played back in Stereo (CD and SACD) as well as in 5.0 Surround sound (SACD).

 

BISSACD1571