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

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:

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750)
01. Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Canon 1 a 2 cancrizans
02. Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Canon 2 a 2 violini in unisono
03. Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Canon 3 a 2 per motum contrarium
04. Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Canon 4 a 2 per augmentationem, contrario motu
05. Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Canon 5 a 2 per tonos
06. Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Fuga canonica in epidiapente
07. Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Ricercar a 3
08. Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Canon perpetuus super Thema Regium
09. Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Ricercar a 6
10. Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Canon a 2 querendo invenietis
11. Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Canon a 4
12. Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079, Sonata sopra il Soggetto Reale: I. Largo
13. Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079, Sonata sopra il Soggetto Reale: II. Allegro
14. Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079, Sonata sopra il Soggetto Reale: III. Andante
15. Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079, Sonata sopra il Soggetto Reale: IV. Allegro
16. Musikalisches Opfer, Op. 6, BWV 1079: Canon perpetuus
17. Goldberg Variations, Op. 4, BWV 988: Aria
18. 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 1, Canon simplex
19. 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 2, Canon all’ roverscio
20. 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 3, Canon in motu recto e contrario
21. 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 4, Canon in motu contrario e recto
22. 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 5, Canon duplex a 4
23. 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 6, Canon simplex a 3 uber besagtes Fundament
24. 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 7, Canon simplex a 3
25. 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 8, Canon simplex a 3 il soggetto in alto
26. 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 9, Canon in unisono post semifusam a 3
27. 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 10, Canon a 2 alio modo per syncopationes et per ligaturas
28. 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 11, Canon duplex ubers Fundament a 5
29. 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 12, Canon duplex uber Fundamental Noten a 5
30. 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 13, Canon triplex a 6
31. 14 Verschiedene Canones, BWV 1087: No. 14, Canon a 4 per augmentationem et diminutionem
32. Flute Sonata in G Major, BWV 1038: I. Largo
33. Flute Sonata in G Major, BWV 1038: II. Vivace
34. Flute Sonata in G Major, BWV 1038: III. Adagio
35. Flute Sonata in G Major, BWV 1038: IV. Presto