This sixth instalment of Masaaki Suzuki's critically acclaimed complete organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach presents the first eleven pieces from a manuscript since referred to as the Leipzig Chorales. Conceived around 1739, this collection is unusual in that it contains no new compositions, but rather 'reworkings' of organ chorales dating from the years 1708-17, when Bach was in Weimar. The chorale arrangements are based on established Lutheran melodies that particularly appealed to Bach. They were not intended as preludes for congregational singing, but rather as music to accompany the communion service or as concert music. Bach took great care with this project, selecting the best of his organ music from earlier in his career, and saw it as his legacy for the future. Together with the Orgel-Buchlein, the Schubler Chorales and the third book of the Clavier-ubung, the Leipzig Chorales represent the pinnacle of Bach's sacred organ music. On this recording, Masaaki Suzuki plays the Arp Schnitger organ of the Martinikerk in Groningen, the Netherlands, one of the largest and most famous baroque organs in Northern Europe. Arp Schnitger was the most famous organ builder in northern Germany in the seventeenth century, and his admirers included Buxtehude, Handel and Bach himself.
The fifth volume of Masaaki Suzuki’s series of Bach’s works for organ features one of the most important surviving instruments from Bach’s time, made by the German organ builder Christoph Treutmann the Elder. Widely known for its extraordinary tonal quality, the instrument was built between 1734 and 1737. A recent general restoration preserved all essential structural elements or renewed them while remaining faithful to the originals, making this an ideal instrument for Bach interpreters who wish to come close to the sound world of the Leipzig Thomaskantor.
Suzuki now takes up the Orgel-Büchlein (literally, “little organ book”), a collection of 45 short chorale preludes on melodies from the Lutheran hymn book, a project that came into being in connection with Bach’s appointment as organist and chamber musician at the Duke’s court in Weimar in 1708. Presenting chorales for different periods of the church year, this collection serves as a general guide to text-based composition focusing on word- sound relationships and content-specific musical expression. Three Preludes and Fugues complete the second volume dedicated to the Orgel-Büchlein, illustrating the principle of variety and structure historically practised by concert organists in order to demonstrate the tone colours and expressive possibilities of their instrument.
This album was released in the summer of 2023; it may not have been intended as a Christmas album, but it would make a wonderful purchase at that time.
The fourth volume of Masaaki Suzuki’s Bach works for organ series features one of the most important surviving instruments of Bach’s time, made by the German organ builder Christoph Treutmann the Elder. Widely known for its extraordinary tonal quality, the instrument was built between 1734 and 1737. A recent general restoration preserved all essential structural elements or renewed them, remaining faithful to the originals, making it an ideal instrument for Bach interpreters who wish to come close to the sound ideas of the Leipzig Thomaskantor.
Suzuki now takes up the Orgel-Büchlein (literally, ‘little organ book’), a collection of 45 short chorale preludes on melodies from the Lutheran hymn book, a project that came into being in connection with Bach’s appointment as organist and chamber musician at the Duke’s court in Weimar in 1708. Presenting chorales for different periods of the church year, this collection serves as a general guide to text-based composition focusing on specific word-sound relationships and content-specific musical expression. Two Preludes and Fugues complete the first volume dedicated to the Orgel-Büchlein, illustrating the principle of variety and structure historically practised by concert organists in order to demonstrate the tone colours and expressive possibilities of their instrument.
REVIEW:
The great Masaaki Suzuki’s traversal of Bach’s keyboard music is well underway, and several attractions have become clear. In general, he is a bit less concerned with a pearly surface and a bit more with direct expression. In works for organ, he has shown a willingness to delve into period instruments, and the one here is a real find. Suzuki is willing to take a bit of time to bring out its colors; there is nothing too radical, but there are subtle adjustments to the tempo throughout that define the profile of each little ornamented chorale, and all the performances are vivid. This album was released in the summer of 2023; it may not have been intended as a Christmas album, but it would make a wonderful purchase at that time.
The Art of Fugue emerges as the central instrumental project of the last decade of Bach’s life, after a gradual development over several years: the exploration in depth and with an overflowing musical imagination of the contrapuntal possibilities inherent in a single musical subject. In this work, the theoretical component of Bach’s thinking is at its clearest: theory and practice merge, old and new stylistic elements and compositional techniques are integrated and demonstrate in an incomparable way his individual approach to composition.
Since Bach gave no indication of the instrument, nor does his writing shed any further light on the subject, one might even wonder whether this work is a purely theoretical work, intended solely for musical analysis. However, since the composer’s rediscovery in the nineteenth century, musicians have appropriated the work, whatever their instrument. It is now generally accepted that the work was composed for the keyboard. A second harpsichord part is added for three fugues, played here by Masato Suzuki.
After several acclaimed recordings of Bach’s works for keyboard instruments, Masaaki Suzuki finally takes on this immense work, the pinnacle of the cantor’s art and one of the absolute peaks of Western music.
REVIEW:
Although Masaaki Suzuki’s solo harpsichord Bach recordings span several decades, his technical and musical consistency seems to defy time, as borne out in The Art of Fugue. He continues to use a Willem Kroesbergen harpsichord modeled after a Flemish Baroque-style instrument, whose transparent timbres befit the vocal orientation governing his phrasing. For example, his tempos never move faster nor slower than one can comfortably sing. As a result, the contrapuntal lines accommodate Suzuki’s breath pauses, arpeggiations, agogic adjustments, and ritards at cadences.
In lieu of Bach’s completion, Suzuki follows the tradition of placing Bach’s valedictory chorale prelude Wenn wir in höchstein Nöten sein at the end. All in all, a fine Art of Fugue that complements my harpsichord reference versions. BIS’s superb sonics and Bach scholar Christoph Wolff’s in-depth annotations also deserve kudos.
Bruhns: Cantatas and Organ Works, Vol.1 / Suzuki, Yale Institute of Sacred Music
BIS
SACD
$21.99Feb 04, 2022
When he died, Nicolaus Bruhns was just 31 years old, and only twelve of his vocal works and five organ compositions have survived. On the strength of these, he is nevertheless considered one of the most prominent North German composers of the generation between Buxtehude and Bach.
Buxtehude was in fact Bruhns's teacher, and thought so highly of him that he recommended him for a position in Copenhagen. There he worked as a violin virtuoso and composer until 1689, when he returned to Northern Germany to become organist in the main church of Husum. It was here that most if not all of the extant works were performed. According to Bach's obituary, Bruhns was one of the composers that he took ‘as a model’, and he is therefore naturally of interest to Bach specialist Masaaki Suzuki.
On this first of two discs made in collaboration with the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Suzuki directs – from the organ – a group of singers and musicians, in six of the vocal works: so-called ‘sacred concertos’ scored for 1-3 soloists and various combinations of strings with basso continuo. Suzuki’s performances of two organ pieces by Bruhns – the larger of the two preludes in E minor, and the fantasia on the chorale Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland – appear here as well.
REVIEWS:
These performances by famed Bach conductor Masaaki Suzuki were recorded in 2016 and 2017 at Yale University in the U.S. but not released until 2022. Bruhns is closer to Buxtehude (and there's even the flavor of Heinrich Schütz) in these chamber cantatas than he is to Bach. Suzuki directs these pieces from the organ and gets wonderful results from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music choir; if it originally had an American sound, Suzuki smooths it out. His soloists are not quite the equal of those he assembled in Japan, but they are idiomatic and fully equal to the music, perhaps consistent with what the composer would have heard. A wonderful Baroque release commended to anyone with the slightest interest in Bach and his world.
Bach: Matthäus-Passion / Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan
BIS
CD
$39.99Dec 01, 1999
"Masaaki Suzuki brings to the St Matthew Passion the same devotional intensity that has characterised his Bach cantata recordings. This focus is immediately evident in the opening chorus/chorale, which he imbues with compelling power despite opting to use relatively small vocal and orchestral forces throughout. It is evident, too, in Bach Collegium Japan’s impeccable performances, which bespeak a score explored in meticulous detail and with profound affection. There is certainly much to admire here: fierce turbas, gentle chorales, exemplary instrumental solos."
