A passion for Bach
RECEIVING a LP of the Karl Richter B Minor Mass from his father as a teenager changed Masaaki Suzuki’s life.
‘‘That was a revelation for me.’’ Little was his father, a professional pianist, to know that it would lead his son to become one of the world’s leading authorities on Bach’s work.
Suzuki received the LP about the same time he took up playing the organ and began playing at church services.
‘‘Since then I could not escape from Bach’s music and I have been led by J.S. Bach, firstly to organ and then to harpsichord.’’
He had a ‘‘great love’’ of performing and recording Bach’s works.
‘‘There are various aspects about why I love Bach.’’
They included its polyphonic lines and its structure with many layers, its power and density in sound and its symbolism, rhetorics which make a bridge between words and music.
‘‘Intricacy and puzzling issues about genesis of many works, about instrumentation, about performance.’’
In April, Suzuki completed his recording of Bach’s church cantatas.
‘‘This project took 18 years and resulted in 55 CDs.’’
Born in Kobe, Japan, Suzuki graduated from Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music with a degree in composition and organ performance.
He went on to study harpsichord and organ at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam under Ton Koopman and Piet Kee.
Along the way he learnt conducting to perform some cantatas, likening it to playing the organ.
‘‘So many paths coming in and out. It’s so wonderful having so many layers in your hands at one time.’’
He returned to Japan to set up the Bach Collegium in 1990 with the aim of introducing Japanese audiences to period instrument performances of great works from the Baroque period.
The collegium has a Baroque orchestra and chorus and they perform an annual concert series of Bach’s cantatas and a number of instrumental programmes.
‘‘That was actually because I wanted to perform cantatas and other vocal works for choir and ensemble, not only organ or harpsichord music on my own. And the new concert hall in Osaka [in 1990] asked me to present a concert.’’
As music director, Suzuki has taken the collegium to major venues and festivals in Europe and the United States.
He also works with period ensembles such as the Collegium Vocale Gent and Philharmonia Baroque and is invited to conduct modern instrument orchestras in repertoire as diverse as Britten, Faure, Haydn, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Stravinsky.
In doing so he has met criticism about Japanese musicians performing Bach by producing highlyacclaimed recordings.
Suzuki also founded and set up the early music department at Tokyo University of the Arts and is visiting Professor of Choral Conducting at the Yale School of Music and Yale Institute of Sacred Music and the conductor of Yale Schola Cantorum.
He is visiting Dunedin as part of a 10centre nationwide tour in Chamber Music New Zealand’s Kaleidoscopes 2017 Season.
Chamber Music New Zealand chief executive Peter Walls said the tour stands out as a highlight of the 2017 season.
‘‘Masaaki Suzuki is one of the world’s greatest authorities on Bach and it’s incredibly exciting to have him lead Juilliard415 on this tour.’’
Last weekend, Suzuki led a threeday Bach Cantata Residency in Nelson with 40 singers and musicians from New Zealand, Australia and England attending.
It was a ‘‘onceinalifetime opportunity to New Zealand singers and musicians to participate in a workshop on Bach led by Maestro Suzuki and alongside the members of the ensemble’’.
With 19 members, Juilliard415 is one of the largest international ensembles toured by Chamber Music New Zealand.
The ensemble includes a soprano soloist, eight violinists, two viola players, two cellists, a double bass player, a flautist, two oboeists, a bassoonist and a harpsichord player.
It is part of the historical performance programme of The Juilliard School in New York specialising in early music and providing opportunities for graduate students to perform with the most eminent musicians of the early music world.
The ensemble has a reputation for combining youthful energy with poise, precision and a luminous sound.
Violinist Alana Youssefian has previously played in a joint concert with Suzuki.
‘‘He knew just what both ensembles needed to bring the concert to life, and both performances were a real joy to be a part of.’’
The programme for the Masaaki Suzuki and Juilliard415 Dunedin concert focuses exclusively on Bach works with two magnificent orchestral suites, the Concerto for Two Violins in D minor and the cantata Ich habe genug.
Mr Walls said it was significant that Bach composed these works for students to perform.
‘‘Maestro Suzuki is mirroring Bach’s intentions for these pieces.’’
To see
Masaaki Suzuki and Juilliard415 perform at the Glenroy Auditorium on Saturday at 7.30pm.