Bach - St. John Passion / Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan
One of the greatest musical treatments of the suffering and  death of Jesus Christ receives a performance that is musically precise  and stylistically close to what we now know of Bach's ideals. Western  classical music is becoming more and more the property of musicians and  audiences in the Far East, and this performance shows that it is in  good hands. The participants are all specialists, including the  Japanese orchestra, which plays on period instruments, and their work  meets the highest international standards. Masaaki Suzuki, who conducts  and plays the harpsichord, is a complete and thorough musician, deeply  involved in the emotional overtones of the music as well as technical  questions of tempo, balance, and phrasing. His vision comes to terms  with the full complexity of the music. His soloists are all excellent,  with particularly notable work by Gerd Tuerck as the Evangelist and  Robin Blaze in the alto arias.--Joe McLellan