Bach’s St John Passion: Bach Collegium Japan
With Joanne Lunn (soprano), Clint van der Linde (counter tenor), Gerd Turk (tenor), Peter Kooij (bass), conducted by Masaaki Suzuki
Michael Fowler Centre, March 5
Although the world of music is blessed with a large number of groups and conductors who offer us performances and recordings of Bach of the highest quality, the Bach Collegium Japan under Masaaki Suzuki occupies a unique and privileged position.
There is a purity of style, a justness to their Bach that avoids all extremes; there is not the sheer drama and theatricality of Renee Jacobs or even John Eliot Gardiner, but neither is there the solid, Germanic style of Helmuth Rilling.
Some of the English Bach specialists are similar – Stephen Cleobury springs to mind – yet Suzuki and his dedicated group of singers and musicians remain special, and this performance of Bach’s St John Passion offered us Bach of the highest quality.
The St John Passion has never been treated with the same reverence as the St Matthew Passion partly because Bach never finished it. As a result there are several competing versions, and almost all concerts and recordings offer appendices with alternative arias and choruses.
The other major point of difference from the St Matthew Passion is that whereas that masterpiece had a libretto enhancing the biblical texts by just one man, Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander), several poets contributed to the St John Passion.
Audiences who find worthy performances of the St Matthew Passion a touch tedious never have the same problem with the St John Passion, for it is a more direct, more dramatic telling of the crucifixion story.
Leaving the concert my foremost thoughts were of the sheer musicality and lucidity of the performance; the clarity and attack from the17-voice choir, the marvellous soloists, including two from the choir, and the wonderfully soft sheen to the authentic strings – unequalled in my experience.
Thoughts, too of the superb obbligato playing and, above all, the marvellous understanding of Bach’s world enshrined in conductor Masaaki Suzuki. I can’t wait to hear the rarely heard Lutheran Masses tomorrow night.
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