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. This was the period of Bach’s appointment as Konzertmeister at the Weimar Court, when he was required to produce a cantata each month for performance in the duke’s chapel, the Himmelsburg.
The present disc begins with Gleich wie der Regen und Schnee, 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 Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn is more diverse, featuring in its opening Sinfonia a viola d’amore, viola da gamba, oboe and recorder. A conspicuous feature of Mein Gott, wie lang, ach lange 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, emphasizing the importance of a solo oboe which in fact has no place at all in this work. Komm, du susse Todesstunde is a piece of sustained beauty, scored for a pair of treble recorders, obbligato organ, strings and continuo. Bach’s authorship of Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele has sometimes been questioned. Much of it is indeed un-Bach-like, yet at times, as in the tenor aria “Tausendfaches Ungluck”, it is hard to envisage another composer’s hand.
The performances are, to my ears, of unmatched excellence. Masaaki Suzuki’s direction never falters and his solo vocalists seem to go from strength to strength as the series progresses. Midori Suzuki makes a richly rewarding contribution with beautifully poised singing, a crystal-clear voice and an upper range that only very occasionally, as in her F major “Mein Seelenschatz ist Gottes Wort” (No. 18), sounds at all threatened. Yoshikazu Mera is on stronger form than in the two previous discs of the series in which he has been involved (9/96 and 11/96). He and Makoto Sakurada sustain a delicately balanced partnership in the elegiac duet of No. 155, the limpid bassoon-playing completing this trio of outstanding beauty. Peter Kooy 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 on this occasion for their affecting performance in No. 161. The music and the textual content of this superb cantata are thoroughly understood and, it would appear, deeply felt by all concerned.
In short a real winner from this talented group. The disc is, as usual, admirably recorded and, notwithstanding the aforementioned confusion, painstakingly and informatively documented. A remarkable achievement.NA