Bach, J S: Mass in B minor, BWV232

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The choir is small enough, two/three to a part, to project great clarity and detail - 'Osanna' is delightfully exuberant - though elsewhere Suzuki's tempos are rather deliberate… — BBC Music Magazine, January 2008, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 29th Oct 2007
Catalogue No: BISSACD170102
Label: BIS
Length: 1 hour 48 minutes

Presto Recording of the Week

29th October 2007
Gramophone Awards

2008

Finalist - Baroque Vocal
Diapason d’Or de l’Année

2008

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Bach, J S: Mass in B minor, BWV232

Work length1:48:19

$29.00

$37.65

$50.75

Peter Kooij (bass), Gerd Türk (tenor), Robin Blaze (alto), Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Rachel Nicholls (soprano)
Bach Collegium Japan Chorus, Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki
Recorded: March 2007
Recording Venue: Kobe Shoin Women's University Chapel, Japan

Kyrie: Kyrie eleison (Chorus)

Track length10:39

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$3.85

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Kyrie: Christe eleison (Soprano I and II)

Track length4:49

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$1.30

$1.75

Kyrie: Kyrie eleison (Chorus)

Track length3:13

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$1.75

Gloria: Gloria in excelsis Deo (Chorus)

Track length1:41

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$1.75

Gloria: Et in terra pax (Chorus)

Track length4:56

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Gloria: Laudamus te (Soprano II)

Track length4:03

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Gloria: Gratias agimus tibi (Chorus)

Track length3:15

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Gloria: Domine Deus, Rex coelestis (Soprano I and Tenor)

Track length5:08

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Gloria: Qui tollis peccata mundi (Chorus)

Track length3:05

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Gloria: Qui sedes ad dextram Patris (Alto)

Track length4:24

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Gloria: Quoniam tu solus sanctus (Bass)

Track length4:19

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Gloria: Cum Sancto Spiritu (Chorus)

Track length4:20

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Credo: Credo in unum Deum (Chorus)

Track length1:47

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Credo: Patrem omnipotentem (Chorus)

Track length1:57

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Credo: Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum (Soprano I and Alto)

Track length4:20

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Credo: Et incarnatus est (Chorus)

Track length3:37

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Credo: Crucifixus etiam pro nobis (Chorus)

Track length3:17

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Credo: Et resurrexit tertia die (Chorus)

Track length3:54

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Credo: Et in Spiritum Sanctum (Bass)

Track length4:49

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Credo: Confiteor unum baptisma (Chorus a cappella)

Track length3:55

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Credo: Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum (Chorus)

Track length2:06

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Sanctus: Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth (Chorus)

Track length5:52

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Osanna: Osanna in excelsis (Chorus)

Track length2:37

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Benedictus: Benedictus qui venit (Tenor)

Track length4:05

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Benedictus: Osanna in excelsis (Chorus)

Track length2:40

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Agnus Dei: Agnus Dei (Alto)

Track length5:19

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Agnus Dei: Dona nobis pacem (Chorus)

Track length4:12

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$1.75

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Recording of the Week, Bach B minor Mass from Suzuki

29th October 2007

Part-way through his cycle of the complete sacred cantatas, the Japanese conductor and Bach Collegium Japan pause to tackle one of the composer’s large-scale choral masterpieces.

Reviews

January 2008

The choir is small enough, two/three to a part, to project great clarity and detail - 'Osanna' is delightfully exuberant - though elsewhere Suzuki's tempos are rather deliberate…

2010

This is, as you would expect from Masaaki Suzuki, a B minor performance of extraordinary devotional weight, as its resonant surround sound irradiates the score in a patiently constructed explication. The reflective objectivity may seem a little too tantalising as the strangely uncharacterised 'Christe eleison' duet is dogged by the kind of over-regulated articulations in the strings from which Bach Collegium Japan can still suffer.
Yet, after the somewhat lugubrious Kyrie, the Gloria fairly crackles and Suzuki's careful voicing between singers and instrumentalists generates extraordinary revelations (such as the consoling beauty of the 'Qui tollis' and, later, a remarkable reading of the Sanctus). The choral movements are admirably unhurried but purposeful.
The solo movements are more variable: intonation takes time to settle early on, especially in the 'Laudamus te', and the 'Quoniam' is shorn of its eloquent grandeur in a prosaic romp, but 'Et in unum Dominum' reveals its expectant delights, as does Blaze's heart-stopping Agnus Dei.
Comparing this to Frieder Bernius's vital account with his Stuttgart forces (see below), the over-riding feeling with Suzuki is that generic beauty of sound, 'good judgement' and expert production (though the stereo picture is preferable to the undefined Super Audio) are collectively not quite enough. Preference remains with Bernius whose reverence for Bach's consummate compendium brings greater inner from the expert soloists here – just a touch more quality. Still, this is a rounded and impressive reading whose 'Dona nobis pacem' encapsulates the best of Suzuki: committed, life-affirming and generous.

February 2008

…this is a rounded and impressive reading whose "Dona nobis pacem" encapsulates the best of Suzki: committed, life-affirming and generous.

Bach, J S: Mass in B minor, BWV232

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Recording of the Week, Bach B minor Mass from Suzuki

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