# St John Passion by Masaaki Suzuki - April 2020 presentation



## aioriacont (Jul 23, 2018)

*Ops, I am sorry. I guess I posted this in the wrong subforum. I now realised it should have been posted in the Religious Music one.*

Hello people,
I am a huge fan of Masaaki Suzuki's precise approach to Bach's vocal works (but I also love many non-HIP , like Klemperer's SMP). IMO, he captures very well the essence of Bach's sacred music. Of course I am also open to non-HIP, though. Depending on my mood, I listen to either a full HIP set like Suzuki's or Herreweghe's, or non-HIP amazing versions like Klemperer's (too bad he only recorded the SMP and the Mass in B Minor) and Richter's. 
Anyway, the St. John Passion has been amazingly presented by Masaaki Suzuki in his 1999 studio recording for BIS, and in his video live at Suntory Hall in Tokyo from 2000. More recently, they provided a full video on their own youtube channel BachCollegiumJapan. It is an amazing performance from this month, but I noticed a quicker tempo this time. If you listen to the opening Chorus, you'll realize it it is much quicker performed than in Suzuki's past versions. I really liked this new approach too, it added a lot to the intensity of the music, and the oboes are very strong in this version as well. I'd like to discuss with you if it is possible that Suzuki decided to increase the tempo this time due to him considering this tempo (faster) the correct one nowadays. Could this be the reason? Enjoy this version, it sounds great!


----------

