Masaaki Suzuki – J.S. Bach: Musikalisches Opfer (2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Masaaki Suzuki – J.S. Bach: Musikalisches Opfer (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:12:12 minutes | 1,44 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BIS

Johann Sebastian Bach’s appearance on 7th May 1747 at the court of Frederick the Great is the best documented event in the composer’s otherwise unglamorous career. During the proceedings, Frederick provided Bach with an exceptionally difficult theme on which to improvise a fugue. The King is said to have been impressed with the improvisation, but Bach himself was less so, and announced that he intended to set the theme to paper ‘in a regular fugue’. Several months later the Musical Offering appeared in print – a collection of 13 pieces in diverse genres: fugues, canons and a trio sonata, all exploiting the ‘Royal Theme’ in various intricate ways.

Bach’s published score gives no firm idea about a playing order for the pieces, and in most cases no instrument-ation is specified. Furthermore, some of the canons – the so-called ‘riddle canons’ – are very sketchily notated, with just a few notes and some enigmatic clues in Latin. The performers are thus left with an unusual degree of freedom when it comes to the interpretation of the work – a freedom which Masaaki Suzuki, with his colleagues from Bach Collegium Japan, is singularly well-placed to explore. Following the Offering on this disc is another collection of riddle canons by Bach: the ‘14 Canons on the Goldberg Ground’ which were discovered as late as 1974, in the form of a hand-written addendum to the composer’s own printed copy of the Goldberg Variations. The canons are all based on the first eight bass notes of the celebrated Aria from the Goldberg Variations, and are performed here as harpsichord solos, along with the Aria. The disc closes with another chamber work however – the Sonata in G major for flute, violin and basso continuo, BWV 1038.

Tracklist:
01. Masaaki Suzuki – Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Canon 1 à 2 cancrizans (01:58)
02. Masaaki Suzuki – Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Canon 2 à 2 violini in unisono (00:53)
03. Masaaki Suzuki – Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Canon 3 à 2 per motum contrarium (00:56)
04. Masaaki Suzuki – Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Canon 4 à 2 per augmentationem, contrario motu (01:16)
05. Masaaki Suzuki – Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Canon 5 à 2 per tonos (05:59)
06. Masaaki Suzuki – Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Fuga canonica in epidiapente (02:32)
07. Masaaki Suzuki – Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Ricercar à 3 (06:12)
08. Masaaki Suzuki – Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Canon perpetuus super Thema Regium (00:59)
09. Masaaki Suzuki – Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Ricercar à 6 (07:27)
10. Masaaki Suzuki – Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Canon à 2 querendo invenietis (01:18)
11. Masaaki Suzuki – Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Canon à 4 (02:30)
12. Masaaki Suzuki – Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079, Sonata sopra il Soggetto Reale: I. Largo (05:49)
13. Masaaki Suzuki – Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079, Sonata sopra il Soggetto Reale: II. Allegro (05:57)
14. Masaaki Suzuki – Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079, Sonata sopra il Soggetto Reale: III. Andante (03:27)
15. Masaaki Suzuki – Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079, Sonata sopra il Soggetto Reale: IV. Allegro (03:04)
16. Masaaki Suzuki – Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Canon perpetuus (02:40)
17. Masaaki Suzuki – Goldberg Variations, Op. 4, BWV 988: Aria (02:25)
18. Masaaki Suzuki – 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 1, Canon simplex (00:32)
19. Masaaki Suzuki – 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 2, Canon all’ roverscio (00:33)
20. Masaaki Suzuki – 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 3, Canon in motu recto e contrario (00:33)
21. Masaaki Suzuki – 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 4, Canon in motu contrario e recto (00:29)
22. Masaaki Suzuki – 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 5, Canon duplex à 4 (00:33)
23. Masaaki Suzuki – 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 6, Canon simplex à 3 über besagtes Fundament (00:35)
24. Masaaki Suzuki – 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 7, Canon simplex à 3 (00:26)
25. Masaaki Suzuki – 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 8, Canon simplex à 3 il soggetto in alto (00:34)
26. Masaaki Suzuki – 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 9, Canon in unisono post semifusam à 3 (00:31)
27. Masaaki Suzuki – 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 10, Canon à 2 alio modo per syncopationes et per ligaturas (00:44)
28. Masaaki Suzuki – 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 11, Canon duplex übers Fundament à 5 (00:33)
29. Masaaki Suzuki – 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 12, Canon duplex über Fundamental Noten à 5 (01:02)
30. Masaaki Suzuki – 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 13, Canon triplex à 6 (00:36)
31. Masaaki Suzuki – 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 14, Canon à 4 per augmentationem et diminutionem (00:52)
32. Masaaki Suzuki – Flute Sonata in G Major, BWV 1038: I. Largo (03:04)
33. Masaaki Suzuki – Flute Sonata in G Major, BWV 1038: II. Vivace (00:59)
34. Masaaki Suzuki – Flute Sonata in G Major, BWV 1038: III. Adagio (02:14)
35. Masaaki Suzuki – Flute Sonata in G Major, BWV 1038: IV. Presto (01:44)

Personnel:
Masaaki Suzuki, harpsichord
Members of Bach Collegiums Japan

Download: