Masaaki Suzuki has been plowing his way through Bach's sacred vocal works
with relatively high critical acclaim.  Bach's Magnifcat in D is a very
well known work which Suzuki could have added to one of his cantata seris
discs.  That's not what he wanted to do.  Instead, he programmed Bach's
Magnificat with another by Kuhlau and two short ones by Zelenka.  I think
this is an interesting strategy that sets it apart from most other
recordings having Bach's Magnificat.

For this program to click, the Magnificats by Kuhlau and Zelenka have to be
worthy of sharing space with Bach, and Suzuki's Bach performance has to be
a good one.  I'm glad to say that the recording is a success on both
fronts.

Both Kuhlau and Zelenka are excellent composers, although quite different.
I'd call Kuhlau a "composer's composer".  Within the confines of his
musical inspiration (which is high), the man writes with superb craft and
structure.  Everything is just as it should be for enjoyment to be insured.
Zelenka is much less predictable.  He has quirks which affect people
differently.  He surprises listeners with his adventurous harmonies.
They are both a joy to listen to.

suzuki's performance of Bach's Magnificat is excellent.  The orchestra
sounds perfect, and sound quality could not be better.  It compares well
with Gardiner on Philips and has better sound.  However, Gardiner's
coupling is my desert island cantata recording, BWV 51.

My only reservation with this new recording concerns the two soprano
soloists, Miah Persson and Yukari Nonoshita.  They have nice voices, but
what they have is on the weak side and their expressiveness is rather low.
The men, Akira Tachikawa, Gerd Turk, and Chiyuki Urano are much better -
they added to the performance.

So, we have a very fine recording which is programmed imaginatively.  But,
I can't give it a "must-buy" tag because of the sopranos.  If a listener
wants only one version of Bach's Magnificat, I'd recommend going with
Gardiner and his fantastic coupling.  For those who own multiple versions,
the Suzuki should be a winner.  For those who are primarily interested in
Kuhlau/Zelenka, I think you'll love the music.

Back to the vocalists.  Suzuki's female soloists have been the weak link in
his Bach recordings from the beginning.  Everything else is exceptional -
those soloists are just good.  I'd love to see him remove that weak link,
and it shouldn't be hard to do.  With that problem out of the way, I think
I'd prefer Suzuki to Koopman.

Almost forgot.  Suzuki is on BIS, and the catalog number is BIS-1011, an
easy one to remember.

Don Satz
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