Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki - J.S. Bach: Cantatas, Vol. 49 (2011) Hi-Res

Conductor Masaaki Suzuki continues his ambitious project of recording all of J.S. Bach's cantatas with this 2010 release, his 49th installment in the series for BIS, which he began in 1995. This volume continues the virtues of the conductor's practices -- scrupulous, informed scholarship; the employment of first-rate soloists along with Bach Collegium Japan; attention to details of the score; and deep feeling for the emotional content of the music -- that have characterized his previous efforts, and fans who have followed the series will certainly want to take advantage of this release. The four works recorded here, written between October 1728 and February 1729, are testimony to the diversity of Bach's treatments of the cantata form in structure, deployment of soloists and chorus, and the range of musical styles he draws on. Three of them deal with stories taken from the Gospels and demonstrate the composer's skill in depicting dramatic situations in a few telling movements, and the fourth is a celebratory new year's cantata. The singers and players of Bach Collegium Japan perform with exemplary polish, spirit, and idiomatic understanding under Suzuki's nuanced leadership. He's not afraid of rubato when the music and text justify it, as in the aria "Es is vollbracht" from Cantata BWV 159; it feels entirely appropriate, not like Romantic indulgence, and the effect is incredibly moving. The vocal soloists are terrific and bass Peter Kooij is especially effective. BIS' sound is warm and deep without sacrificing clarity or depth.