Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

One of the quirks about this reviewing lark is how we choral and classical types get deluged with seasonal releases at Christmas and, to a lesser extent, Easter. However this Christmas release arrived with me just in time to play it in the car on my way to the opening day of Wimbledon 2009 and it mattered not a jot. This is not being promoted as a Bach Christmas CD but instead continues in the steady stream of releases from Suzuki's excellent Bach Collegium Japan that has now reached number 43 (but if I see it in a different packaging just in time for Christmas I will be sure and point it out to you). Here we have "Unser Mund Sei Voll Lachens" ("Then Was Our Mouth Filled With Laughter") (BWV 110), "Selig Ist Der Mann" ("Blessed Is The Man") (BWV 57), and "SuBer Trost, Mein Jesus Kommt" ("Sweet Consolation, My Jesus Is Coming") (BWV 151), all taking us back to Christmas 1725, Bach's third year of service in Leipzig. They belong to a group of eight Christmas-related cantatas that were composed in rapid succession around the turn of the year 1725-26, mainly using texts by the Darmstadt court poet Georg Christian Lehms (1684-1717). As ever, Suzuki leads his Japanese choir and orchestra with a very assured baton and supplements them with a first-rate quartet of European soloists: soprano Hana Blazikova, counter-tenor Robin Blaze, tenor Gerd Turk and bass Peter Kooij. And there is little more to say. If you enjoy this series you will enjoy this CD and if you have not yet sampled any of the releases this is as good a place to start as any (with the obvious exception of Volume One).

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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