Bach Collegium Japan – Bach and Beyond

Selected recordings by Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan of vocal and instrumental works by J.S. Bach and other composers.


Widely regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of Bach's music today, Masaaki Suzuki has made his name both as the artistic director of the Bach Collegium Japan (BCJ) and as a performer on the harpsichord and the organ. Much interest has been focussed on the BCJ/Suzuki series of Bach Cantatas, begun in 1995 and reaching its final stretch with the recent release of Volume 46 (of a projected 55 discs). Hailed by the international music press, this monumental undertaking has acquired a world-wide following. From the very beginning of the collaboration with BIS, however, there have been numerous recording projects beyond the sacred cantatas of Johannes Sebastian, and, indeed, beyond Bach himself. Some of these acclaimed recordings can now be found in a limited edition boxed set, released in connection with the 20th anniversary of Bach Collegium Japan this year. Apart from Bach himself, the composers represented in the set are illustrious forerunners such as Monteverdi and the German quartet of Schütz, Buxtehude, Ahle and Kuhnau, Bach's contemporaries Vivaldi, Handel and Zelenka, and finally his own son, Carl Philipp Emmanuel. Works included are from a wide range of genres, including vocal music as well as instrumental, secular as well as sacred, scores involving large forces as well as solo works. The members of the Bach Collegium Japan are joined in their music-making by a number of distinguished soloists, and there is also an opportunity to sample the harpsichord-playing of Masaaki Suzuki in his acclaimed recording of the Goldberg Variations. The eminently price-worthy set consists of eleven previously released titles, accompanied by the original booklets and full information. It also includes 'A Choral Year with J.S. Bach', a newly made compilation of Masaaki Suzuki's personal selection from famous movements in Bach's cantatas, ordered according to the Lutheran Church Calendar from Advent to Reformation Day.