Releasing Bach cantatas one disc at a time necessarily results in a far­off completion date‚ but it has its advantages. Higher levels of preparation are more likely than in projects which steam through them (the hastiest being Brilliant Classics’ set in which 60 CDs were recorded in less than two years). Whether this form of familiar engagement is always preferable is another matter but‚ after 16 volumes‚ Bach Collegium Japan here consolidate their reputation for considered and polished interpretations. A stately chronological approach keeps us still in the calendar year of 1723‚ enabling us above all to appreciate just how fruitful was Bach’s first year in Leipzig. Of the two large­scale celebratory works‚ the first‚ Höchsterwünschtes Freudenfest‚ is a reworking from a congratulatory cantata‚ written in Cöthen a few years before‚ and contains all the hallmarks of ‘secular’ extrovert declamation and gracious‚ courtly manners. Bach’s new version is a major bipartite creation‚ composed for the dedication service on November 2 of the restored organ at Störmthal. Bach had acted as consultant on the organ itself and so felt obliged to produce a piece worthy of his advice and efforts. Masaaki Suzuki gives the work a fittingly airy charm‚ heard most infectiously in ‘Hilf‚ Gott’ where an underlying Gavotte (with resonances of the final movement of the Wedding Cantata‚ No 202) finds bright­eyed soprano‚ Yukari Nonoshita‚ in confident and beguiling voice. She is most accomplished throughout and delectably joins the gentle and receptive baritone‚ Jochen Kupfer‚ in ‘O wie wohl’ ist uns geschehn’‚ a bucolic minuet­style duet. This is‚ all told‚ the most persuasive reading on disc and supersedes both Rilling’s stiff reading and even Harnoncourt’s cultivated (if slightly hit­and­miss) performance‚ notable also for the presence of a young Thomas Hampson. Harnoncourt‚ however‚ comes out better in one of the grandest French­overture cantatas Bach was to write‚ ‘Preise Jerusalem’ (No 119). Composed to honour the new Leipzig town council‚ Bach really pushed the boat out. Suzuki never quite boasts either the grand sonic cohesion of Philippe Herreweghe’s urgent account or the thrilling characterisation of Harnoncourt. This is ostentatious municipal music (note the swaggering trumpets in the penultimate chorus – like a bunch of burgomasters) and Suzuki’s earnest perusal fails to stir. A game of two halves‚ as they say.