Magnificat [Import]

Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Johann Kuhnau (Composer), Jan Dismas Zelenka (Composer), Bach Collegium Japan Orchestra (Orchestra), Yukari Nonoshita (Performer), Gerd Turk (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Yukari Nonoshita, Gerd Turk
• Orchestra: Bach Collegium Japan Orchestra
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Kuhnau, Jan Dismas Zelenka
• Audio CD (May 1, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Bis
• ASIN: B00000J2RZ
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #300,258 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Magnificat for 5 voices & orchestra in C: Magnificat anima mea Dominum

2. Magnificat for 5 voices & orchestra in C: Et exultavit spiritus meus

3. Magnificat for 5 voices & orchestra in C: Quia respexit humilitatem

4. Magnificat for 5 voices & orchestra in C: QUia fecit mihi magna

5. Magnificat for 5 voices & orchestra in C: Et misericordia eius

6. Magnificat for 5 voices & orchestra in C: Fecit potentiam

7. Magnificat for 5 voices & orchestra in C: Deposuit potentes

8. Magnificat for 5 voices & orchestra in C: Esurientes implevit bonis

9. Magnificat for 5 voices & orchestra in C: Suscepit Irael

10. Magnificat for 5 voices & orchestra in C: Sicut locutus est

11. Magnificat for 5 voices & orchestra in C: Gloria Patri

12. Magnificat for 5 voices & orchestra in C: Sicut erat in principio

13. Magnificat for soprano, chorus, instruments & continuo in C major, ZWV 107: Magnificat anima mea dominum

14. Magnificat for soprano, chorus, instruments & continuo in C major, ZWV 107: Esurientes implevit bonis'

15. Magnificat for soprano, chorus, instruments & continuo in C major, ZWV 107: Magnificat/Gloria Patri

16. Magnificat for soprano, chorus, instruments & continuo in C major, ZWV 107: Amen

17. Magnificat for soprano, alto, chorus, instruments & continuo in D major, ZWV 108: Magnificat anima mea Dominum

18. Magnificat for soprano, alto, chorus, instruments & continuo in D major, ZWV 108: Suscepit Israel

19. Magnificat for soprano, alto, chorus, instruments & continuo in D major, ZWV 108: Amen

20. Magnificat, for 5 voices, 5-part chorus, orchestra & continuo in D major, BWV 243 (BC E14): Magnificat

See all 31 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Bach's setting of the Magnificat is one of his most often-recorded vocal works; as a rule, it's paired with one of Bach's lavishly scored festal cantatas. (The Easter Oratorio seems to be a current favorite.) Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan had a different idea: they've paired Bach's Magnificat with roughly contemporary settings by Johann Kuhnau, who was Bach's immediate predecessor in Leipzig, and Jan Dismas Zelenka, who was a composer at the court of Saxony in Dresden. Zelenka is an interesting composer, among the most underrated of the Baroque era. His writing is less dense and intricate than Bach's--at times it looks forward to the simpler, more elegant style of Haydn and C.P.E. Bach. Zelenka knew his counterpoint, however, and was fond of slipping the occasional surprising chord change into his music. The two Magnificat settings by Zelenka presented here are relatively short (about 10 minutes each) and cover most of the text in their opening movements, which are extended choruses with full orchestra and florid soprano solos; each concludes with a splendid fugal "Amen" along the lines of the one Handel used to conclude Messiah. Kuhnau's Magnificat, on the other hand, has a format much like Bach's: each verse of the canticle is set as a separate short movement, with choruses and solo movements alternating. Set beside Bach's dazzling setting, Kuhnau's can't help but seem bland, but it's festive and pleasant to hear. As for the Bach--well, the BCJ has an awful lot of competition; they don't quite achieve the gusto of Gardiner, the radiance of Koopman, or the sheer manic energy of Parrott, but Suzuki and his choir truly get the measure of such fugal choruses as "Sicut locutus" (and Zelenka's "Amen" choruses), and they acquit themselves well overall. Countertenor Akira Tachikawa has done plenty of ensemble singing in Europe with such groups as Concerto Vocale and Ensemble Gilles Binchois; he copes well enough here, but doesn't seem to have yet the soloistic flair of his fellows Yoshikazu Mera and Robin Blaze. Bass soloist Chiyuki Urano is somewhat stolid; tenor Gerd Türk sings eloquently (if with a bit of strain). The two sopranos, however, get the most to sing, and the bright, clear voices of Miah Persson and Yukari Nonoshita steal this show entirely. --Matthew Westphal

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificence!, March 5, 2009

By 

Giordano Bruno (Wherever I am, I am.) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Magnificat (Audio CD)

First the performance: Masaaki Suzuki and his Bach Collegium Japan do their best work on robust, broadly expressive works like these Magnificats -- works that call for energy and a firm baton, and works that profit by the disciplined grandeur of the Collegium choir. In other words, these four Magnificats suit Suzuki's strengths as a conductor. Even so, I don't suppose many Bach fans would acclaim this performance to be their all-time favorite recording of the Bach Magnificat. What makes this CD particularly interesting is the juxtaposition of the oft-heard Bach with the seldom-heard Magnificat by Kuhnau and the two almost-never-heard Magnificats by Jan Dismas Zelenka.

Zelenka has something of a cult following that has promoted his reputation from the depths of oblivion to a stature among cognoscenti as the "Bohemian Bach" and one of the most progressive composers of his era. Zelenka (b. 1679) and Bach (b. 1685) were contemporaries, each certainly aware of the other's music. Zelenka had probably the better job, as a court composer in the Saxon capital Dresden. Both Zelenka and Bach wrote some of their finest and most distinctive music quite late in their lives, and in both cases that music was largely met with inattention until the 20th C rediscovery of it. Zelenka's two Magnificat settings are usually concise; all the text is set in a unified declamatory movement, followed by a flamboyant countrapuntal Amen nearly as long as the declamation. The Magnificat in D major does indeed sound more like Haydn than like Kuhnau or Bach, especially in the instrumental writing, which lends some credence to the idea of Zelenka as a progressive composer ahead of his generation. Be it so or not, both of these Magnificats are musically magnificent. Now that Zelenka has been rediscovered, he merits a much wider attention as in fact one of the most original composers of the Baroque.

On the other hand, Bach's honor as a composer has been impugned in recent decades by the widespread and unaccountable accusation that he was a musical "conservative," a provincial who had little influence on the next generation except through the agency of his sons. If Bach were truly conservative, unless the word 'conservative' has some occult mantric significance, what would his music sound like? This CD gives a possible answer; it would sound like that of Kuhnau, his immediate predecessor as cantor in Leipzig! Or perhaps it might sound more like that of Pachelbel or Buxtehude. Listening to the Magnificats of Zelenka and Bach side by side, I find they had much the same radical aspirations to create a music of monumental complexity, unifying the most operatic declamation with the most intricate counterpoint. Both men were progressive leagues ahead of their contemporaries, and even ahead of their successors in the evolution of a musical vocabulary that requires committed intellectual attention from its audience. Both were writing for the future; the chief difference seems to be that the "future" discovered Bach first.

The Kuhnau Magnificat is a charming, stately piece, full of 'moments' of musical intensity. It was wise for Suzuki to place it first on this CD, however, since after the Zelenkas and the Bach, you'll find it hard to recall a note of the Kuhnau.

Trumpets, oboes, bassoons, and drums! If you enjoy the splendor of brass and the sparkle of oboes, the celebratory rumble of drums and the full-throated exuberance of a fine choir, this is a CD you will want.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the Kuhnau Magnificat rocks !!, August 2, 2009

By 

Peter T. Wolf "Gilded Age Lover" (lake forest, ca United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Magnificat (Audio CD)

Wow !! What a piece of music !! Ive never heard the Kuhnau Magnificat before. In fact Ive never even heard of him before. Im buying this CD right off the bat. If you like grand baroque choral music complete with all the brass and drums then get this one.