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| Bach: St John Ardour – Benjamin Bruns, Christian Immler, Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan at BBC Proms (Picture: BBC/ Mark Allen) |
Bach: St John Ardour; Benjamin Bruns, Christian Immler, Carolyn Sampson, Alexander Probability, Shimon Yoshida, Bach Collegium Japan, Maasaki Suzuki; BBC Proms on the Royal Albert Corridor
Reviewed 19 August 2024
Finally this was Maasaki Suzuki’s night as he forcefully directed the music that he is aware of and loves, giving us a private imaginative and prescient that greater than stuffed the corridor
The BBC Proms present the chance for a lot of individuals to listen to a remarkably various vary of music, however with the proviso that not every thing is absolutely suited to the broad open areas of the Royal Albert Corridor and visiting ensembles, usually on a tour of extra standard venues, can battle to suit the corridor’s distinctive acoustics.
Maasaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan are in the midst of a Summer season tour and their London cease on the BBC Proms on the Royal Albert Corridor gave us an opportunity to listen to Suki’s masterly strategy to Bach’s St John Ardour with Benjamin Bruns as Evangelist, Christian Immler as Christus and the bass soloist, plus soloists Carolyn Sampson, Alexander Probability and Shimon Yoshida.
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| Bach: St John Ardour – Alexander Probability, Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan at BBC Proms (Picture: BBC/ Mark Allen) |
Suzuki used 17 choristers with the soloists singing within the choir thus bringing the quantity as much as 20/21, and an instrumental ensemble with 13 strings, and within the corridor this meant that steadiness was considerably off. Within the massive choruses, the higher strings merely didn’t carry in opposition to the choral sound, although the bass line, strengthened by double bass, bassoon and luxurious contrabassoon, was sturdy. However it is a compromise we should fortunately make to allow us to listen to this ensemble. On the plus aspect, the soloists had been all properly attuned to the corridor and there have been not one of the audibility issues that occurred in Saturday’s efficiency of Britten’s Conflict Requiem [see my review].
The outcomes had been absorbing, at occasions thrilling and undoubtedly
transferring, however allow us to not child ourselves, what we heard was most likely a
world away from something Bach might need anticipated. However Bach’s music is ready to transcend the restrictions and strictures of any specific efficiency.
This was a efficiency that had interval manners, however a lot about it utilised trendy norms. Maasaki Suzuki is a extremely lively conductor, directing every thing together with the recitatives with out even a nod to the conference that Bach would merely have directed from the keyboard and given performers a higher factor of freedom. The organ continuo was discreet, nothing like the total organ Bach would have used, and naturally we used ladies and countertenors moderately than boys.
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| Bach: St John Ardour – Carolyn Sampson, Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan at BBC Proms (Picture: BBC/ Mark Allen) |
The opening refrain was sturdy and extremely lively, the devices actually digging deep and a really intent refrain creating a particular sound. This was the sound world of each large-scale choruses that bookend the work. Suzuki’s speeds right here had been brisk, giving the choruses nice impetus, against this the narration from the Evangelist, Benjamin Bruns had a steadiness too it. As I’ve mentioned, Suzuki performed the recitatives, which maybe inhibited the sense of freedom. Bruns has fairly a giant voice, a lyric tenor, he’s transferring into the Wagnerian repertoire with Erik in The Flying Dutchman and a deliberate position debut as Parsifal. He additionally has a really mellifluous voice, with an enviable freedom on the high. This Evangelist was sturdy toned however compelling and he colored his phrases finely, albeit with a steadiness of supply. Partly two, Bruns was not scared of bringing the total pressure of his voice to the service of the drama
Christian Immler made a sober, trenchant Christus, declaiming with a confidence which masked that undeniable fact that sometimes bass arias appeared to slide moderately low for him at this pitch. Immler’s account of the primary bass aria, ‘Betrachte, meine Seel’, mit ängstlichem Vergnügen’ was very transferring, the best way he mixed consideration to the phrases with a way of inwardness. Against this, ‘Eilt, ihr angefochtnen Seelen’ with refrain, was intentionally strenuous and ‘Mein teurer Heiland, laß dich fragen’ mixed shapely phrasing with nice urgency of tone.
Carolyn Sampson introduced nice bubbly pleasure to her first aria, ‘Ich folge dir gleichfalls mit freudigen Schritten’, while ‘Zerfließe, mein Herze, in Fluten der Zähren’ was intimate and tender with a wonderful accompanying trio from flute, violin and cello. Alexander Probability’s first solo, ‘Von den Stricken meiner Sünden’, was very pressing and splendidly particular, with fabulous oboe enjoying. His second aria, ‘Es ist vollbracht’ featured Probability’s beautiful, melancholy tone and very good line, making a extremely expressive but by no means fussy efficiency. Probability gave it a directness which labored properly on this corridor. Tenor Shimon Yoshida made ‘Ach, mein Sinn’ pressing. He has a effective lyric tenor, however on this aria didn’t appear solely comfy with Suzuki’s pressing tempo and the aria felt a bit uneven. His second aria, ‘Erwäge, wie sein blutgefärbter Rücken’ nonetheless, featured a beautiful floated line, as did his last arioso.
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| Bach: St John Ardour – Benjamin Bruns, Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan at BBC Proms Notice the contrabass bassoon behind Bruns (Picture: BBC/ Mark Allen) |
We had a fierce and forceful, nearly bad-tempered Pilate from Yusuke
Watanabe (within the choir), the confrontation between him and Immler’s
Christus being extremely dramatic and vivid with out turning into operatic. Chorales had been usually brisk, while the Turbae had been splendidly vivid and a part of the drama.
Finally this was Maasaki Suzuki’s night as he introduced a lifetime’s expertise to shaping and directing the music of Bach.
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