Rating: 5/5
Verdict: The ultimate in Zen Baroque with Japanese master Masaaki Suzuki.
Some of the finest Bach recordings originate not from Leipzig's Thomaskirche or Berlin's Philharmonie Hall, but from Kobe Shoin Women's University in Kobe, Japan.This is where Masaaki Suzuki often takes the singers and instrumentalists of his Bach Collegium Japan for their many highly regarded CDs on the Swedish BIS label.
Bach & Beyond is an irresistible collection of 15 of these discs and, for only $125, you can hear the glories of European Baroque infused with a sensibility that is quintessentially Japanese.
Over the past few years, Bach Collegium Japan has been engaged in a complete cycle of Bach Cantatas. On this set we are offered two on the secular side, including the Coffee Cantata in which soprano Carolyn Sampson craves for caffeine in immaculate recitative and aria.
Instrumentally, Bach is represented by a volume of deliciously sprung Concertos and Suzuki's own 1997 Goldberg Variations, one of the best available, although lingering harpsichord resonance may not be to everyone's taste. As the set's title suggests, Bach is just the beginning. Buxtehude's quirky yet touchingly devout Membra Jesu Nostri presents a series of miniature cantatas working through Christ's body, part by part. Two further discs offer restrained Schutz motets, set in the burnished ambience of gamba and organ.
New to me was Johann Rudolf Ahle, an organist and composer at Muhlhausen, whose death provided an opening for the young Bach. Ahle looks to the Venetian splendour of Gabrieli with brass, organ and voices combining to spectacular effect.
A 2001 Monteverdi Vespers and a 1997 Messiah are topline. In the Handel, John Elwes and David Thomas relish their dramatic moments, while the timpanist dispenses quite terrifying thunder in the Hallelujah Chorus.
Living with this exemplary box set (with the bonus of all the original CD booklets) has been transformative, and the disc of Vivaldi Recorder Concertos with Swedish soloist Dan Laurin has accompanied more than one trip down the island. A few days ago, Vivaldi's delirious birdsong had momentary competition from the cries of the diving petrel on National Radio's 7am call. Predictably, Vivaldi won.
