Volume 7 of the Bach Collegium Japan’s ongoing cycle includes three cantatas (BWV 61, 132, and 172) composed during Bach’s final years at Weimar as well as one (BWV 63) written around the same time but likely not performed there. What we do know is that BWV 63, a cantata for Christmas Day, was used by Bach on several occasions, including his first Christmas in Leipzig in 1723. From the outset it’s clear that Bach draws immense inspiration from his subject, with a jubilant opening movement featuring four trumpets, timpani, full woodwinds and strings, and one of his most lively chorales that thoroughly evokes if not proclaims the joy of Jesus’ birth. Masaaki Suzuki and his forces rise to the occasion, delivering a powerfully charged performance that outclasses all others–highlighted by the musicians’ remarkable ability to negotiate the wide range of expression required throughout the work.
Soprano Ingrid Schmithüsen and bass Peter Kooy’s pensive third-movement aria (duet), with its haunting complementary oboe obbligato, couldn’t be more lovely and passionately convincing. Likewise countertenor Yoshikazu Mera and tenor Makato Sakurada’s sprightly fifth-movement duet set against a highly rhythmic momentum of strings and organ continuo vividly extols the text’s message of thankfulness and grace. Add three highly dramatic, near-Italianate recitatives and a glorious spirited choral finale and you’ve got one extraordinarily auspicious first entry among Bach’s numerous Christmas cantata settings.
The remaining three cantatas also feature many inspired moments. For instance, BWV 61 includes a brief though very suspenseful fourth-movent recitative–“Siehe, ich stehe vor der Tür und Klopfe an” (Behold, I stand before the door and knock)–where Bach imaginatively sets bass Kooy against a sharply delineated, austere “knocking” pulse of plucked pizzicato strings and organ. As well in the opening aria of BWV 132 “Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn” (Prepare the ways, prepare the road) Bach affords soprano Schmithusen numerous opportunities to display her prodigious talents; her deft ability to trill and sustain notes while remaining integral to the continuo line is simply a joy.
In the final cantata–BWV 172 Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! (Ring out, songs, resound strings!)–as the title suggests, back are the trumpets, timpani, and overall full orchestration heard earlier in BWV 63. While the rousing full-tilt opening and grand choral finale certainly impress, Kooy’s bracing third-movement aria set against a heroic backdrop of brass, and the ravishing fifth-movement aria (duet) with Schmithüsen and Mera are equally inspiring. This is an impressive installment in a cycle that so far has done nearly everything right. Brilliant.
