Suzuki Concertos

Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki - J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites (2009)

Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki - J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites (2009)
EAC | APE (image+.cue, log) | Digital Booklet | 03:20:39 | 1,01 Gb
Genre: Classical | Label: BIS | Catalog: 1721/22

Listening to this irresistibly joyful and magnificently musical set of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos and Orchestral Suites, one is immediately struck by two thoughts. First, Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan have been wasting their time concentrating on Bach's dour cantatas, and second, Bach himself was wasting his time writing his melancholy church music when he could have been composing infinitely more cheerful secular music. While Suzuki and his crew have turned in superlatively performed, if spectacularly severe recording of the cantatas, they sound just as virtuosic and vastly more comfortable here.
Masato Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan - Johann Sebastian Bach: Concertos for Harpsichord, Vol. 1 (2020)

Masato Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan - Johann Sebastian Bach: Concertos for Harpsichord, Vol. 1 (2020)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 414 Mb | Total time: 66:34 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS Records | # BIS-2401 SACD | Recorded: 2018

The extant concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach for one harpsichord and strings were all composed before 1738, which makes them some of the first, if not the first keyboard concertos – a genre destined to become one of the most popular within classical music. In all likelihood Bach wrote them for his own use (or that of his talented sons) – probably to be performed with Leipzig’s Collegium Musicum of which he had taken over as director in 1729. The fresh and exuberant character one finds in the concertos seems to reflect how much Bach enjoyed the opportunity to engage with his fellow musicians.
Hidemi Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan - C.P.E. Bach: The Three Cello Concertos (1997)

Hidemi Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan - C.P.E. Bach: The Three Cello Concertos (1997)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 317 Mb | Total time: 67:33 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS Records | # BIS-CD-807 | Recorded: 1996

Why is it that cellists who bemoan their lack of concerto repertory continue to neglect CPE Bach's three essays in the genre? It's a mystery; they're excellent pieces, full of infectious nervous energy in their outer movements and tender lyricism in central ones. They aren't unknown to the recording catalogues, however, not least because they also exist in alternative versions which the composer made for flute and harpsichord.
Masato Suzuki & Bach Collegium Japan - J.S. Bach: Concertos for Harpsichord & Strings, Vol. 2 (2022) [Digital Download 24/96]

Masato Suzuki & Bach Collegium Japan - J.S. Bach: Concertos for Harpsichord & Strings, Vol. 2 (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Front Cover & Digital Booklet | Time - 59:44 minutes | 1,22 GB
Classical | Label: BIS, Official Digital Download

The concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach for solo harpsichord and strings are some of the earliest, if not the very first, keyboard concertos. In all likelihood Bach wrote them for his own use (or that of his talented sons) – probably to be performed with Leipzig’s Collegium Musicum. The concertos’ fresh and exuberant character reflects how much Bach enjoyed the opportunity to engage with his fellow musicians, a quality that also came across on Masato Suzuki’s first installment of Bach's harpsichord concertos together with his colleagues in Bach Collegium Japan: ‘sparkling performances…
Hidemi Suzuki, Makoto Akatsu, Orchestra 'Van Wassenaer' - Leonardo Leo: Six Cello Concertos (2000)

Hidemi Suzuki, Makoto Akatsu, Orchestra 'Van Wassenaer' - Leonardo Leo: Six Cello Concertos (2000)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 432 Mb | Total time: 79:30 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS | # BIS-CD-1057 | Recorded: 1999

It won't do to claim the cello concertos of Leonardo Leo (1694-1744) as unknown masterpieces. But if you enjoy hearing a composer struggle with musical materials in an era of transition (might be relevant to today's scene, eh?), you'll find these interesting. Leo was posthumously praised by both Charles Burney and E.T.A. Hoffmann, but today he is known vaguely, if at all, as one of the forerunners of Classical-era opera.
Masato Suzuki & Bach Collegium Japan - J.S. Bach: Concertos for Harpsichord & Strings, Vol. 2 (2022)

Masato Suzuki & Bach Collegium Japan - J.S. Bach: Concertos for Harpsichord & Strings, Vol. 2 (2022)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 362 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 144 Mb | Digital booklet | 00:59:44
Classical | Label: BIS

The concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach for solo harpsichord and strings are some of the earliest, if not the very first, keyboard concertos. In all likelihood Bach wrote them for his own use (or that of his talented sons) – probably to be performed with Leipzig’s Collegium Musicum. The concertos’ fresh and exuberant character reflects how much Bach enjoyed the opportunity to engage with his fellow musicians, a quality that also came across on Masato Suzuki’s first installment of Bach's harpsichord concertos together with his colleagues in Bach Collegium Japan: ‘sparkling performances…
Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan - Bach & Beyond [15 CDs] (2010)

Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan - Bach & Beyond: Monteverdi, Schütz, Buxtehude, Ahle, Kuhnau, Zelenka, Vivaldi, Handel, CPE Bach [15 CDs] (2010)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 4,75 Gb | Total time: 16:29:11 | Scans included
Classical | Label: BIS | # BIS-CD-9036/39 | Recorded: 1997-2010

Widely regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of Bach's music today, Masaaki Suzuki has made his name both as the artistic director of the Bach Collegium Japan and as a performer on the harpsichord and the organ. Much interest has been focussed on the BCJ/Suzuki series of Bach Cantatas, begun in 1995 and reaching its final stretch with the recent release of Volume 46 (of a projected 55 discs). Hailed by the international music press, this monumental undertaking has acquired a world-wide following. From the very beginning of the collaboration with BIS, however, there have been numerous recording projects beyond the sacred cantatas of Johannes Sebastian, and, indeed, beyond Bach himself. Some of these acclaimed recordings can now be found in a limited edition boxed set, released in connection with the 20th anniversary of Bach Collegium Japan this year.
Masato Suzuki - J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 (2024) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Masato Suzuki - J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Front Cover | Time - 109:30 minutes | 2,4 GB
Classical | Label: BIS, Official Digital Download

Described as the ‘Pianists’ Old Testament’, The Well-Tempered Clavier is a collection of pieces of exceptional artistic quality. No other work from the baroque period has been as valued, performed and studied as this collection whose objectives were musical, theoretical and didactic. Both books of The Well-Tempered Clavier feature a prelude and fugue in each of the 12 semitones of the chromatic scale, covering each of the 24 major and minor modes – a unique body of works. No two preludes or fugues are alike; they display the full range of contrapuntal devices, while the preludes offer an infinite variety of melodic, rhythmic and constructional possibilities. Each of these pieces demonstrates a mastery of counterpoint that never takes precedence over emotion, beauty and aesthetics.
Masato Suzuki - J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 (2024)

Masato Suzuki - J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 (2024)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 715 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 260 Mb | 01:49:30
Classical | Label: BIS

Described as the ‘Pianists’ Old Testament’, The Well-Tempered Clavier is a collection of pieces of exceptional artistic quality. No other work from the baroque period has been as valued, performed and studied as this collection whose objectives were musical, theoretical and didactic. Both books of The Well-Tempered Clavier feature a prelude and fugue in each of the 12 semitones of the chromatic scale, covering each of the 24 major and minor modes – a unique body of works. No two preludes or fugues are alike; they display the full range of contrapuntal devices, while the preludes offer an infinite variety of melodic, rhythmic and constructional possibilities. Each of these pieces demonstrates a mastery of counterpoint that never takes precedence over emotion, beauty and aesthetics. With the two books of The Well-Tempered Clavier, Bach established himself as the unrivalled master of the fugue genre. Following his recordings of Bach’s concertos for one and two harpsichords (BIS-2041, BIS 2051 and BIS-2481), which reviewers have praised for his unaffected playing and acute musicianship, Masato Suzuki now offers us his take on this Bach monument.
Yale Institute of Sacred Music & Masaaki Suzuki - Bruhns: Cantatas & Organ Works, Vol. 1 (2022)

Yale Institute of Sacred Music & Masaaki Suzuki - Bruhns: Cantatas & Organ Works, Vol. 1 (2022)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 417 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 202 Mb | Digital booklet | 01:25:54
Classical, Sacred, Vocal | Label: BIS

When he died, Nicolaus Bruhns was just 31 years old, and only twelve of his vocal works and five organ compositions have survived. On the strength of these, he is nevertheless considered one of the most prominent North German composers of the generation between Buxtehude and Bach. Buxtehude was in fact Bruhns teacher, and thought so highly of him that recommended him for a position in Copenhagen. There he worked as a violin virtuoso and composer until 1689, when he returned to Northern Germany to become organist in the main church of Husum. It was here that most if not all of the extant works were performed.