Close on the heels of Herreweghe's 2nd recording of Bach's St.  Matthew
Passion, Suzuki's from BIS is now available.  Suzuki has been recording
the Bach cantatas and other Bach sacred choral works with great success.
I have consistently found Suzuki to be a superb interpreter of Bach's
music; instrumental/orchestral contributions are as good as it gets,
and the choral work is particularly outstanding (witness the St.  John
Passion).  My only problem with Suzuki's Bach has been the sopranos he
utilizes; I find them to have uniformly weak voices without much beauty
of tone.

Suzuki's St.  Matthew Passion follows the path of his previous Bach
recordings:  outstanding sound, instrumentation and choral work, with just
an adequate soprano soloist.  This time, it's Nancy Argenta.  I don't want
to be hard on her.  She has one of those "white" voices which I can easily
be drawn to, but Argenta is not Emma Kirby - not even close.  Argenta's
voice is not strong and its allure is slight.  Of course, there's much
more to the St.  Matthew Passion than the soprano soloist, so I have
still greatly enjoyed this recording.

Suzuki compares well with the 2nd Herreweghe recording excepting for
the soprano.  On that basis, I recommend Herreweghe as a first choice
with Suzuki close behind; both are better than the Gardiner St.  Matthew
Passion which is a little short on drama.

Just a few words about the work itself.  Although Bach's B minor Mass
is often referred to as the crowining musical achievement of Western
Civilization, I prefer the St.  Matthew Passion - more drama and superior
choral passages.  The opening of Part 1 sets the tone for the work - an
inexorable march of all of humanity.  I'd also like to mention a tenor aria
in Part 1 which suddenly breaks loose into a choral passage which sounds as
if the entire body of universal knowledge and power is pontificating from
on high.  Those are just two of the masterful passages from the Passion
which both Herreweghe and Suzuki get just right.

Don's Conclusion:  A great St.  Matthew Passion with only one vocal flaw
which is not debilitating.  Close to a must-buy.

Don Satz
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