BBC Proms 2024: Prom 40 - Bach: St. John Passion (Bach Collegium Japan / Suzuki)

19th August 2024
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

BACH St. John Passion

Benjamin Bruns (Evangelist)
Christian Immler (Jesus / bass)
Yusuke Watanabe (Pilate)
Carolyn Sampson (soprano)
Alexander Chance (counter-tenor)
Shimon Yoshida (tenor)
Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki (conductor)



I hate to admit that I'm old, but there's no denying when the Prom I looked forward to the most this season was "St. John Passion", one of Bach's most monumental liturgical works, and I went all in by listening to nothing but Bach's choral and organ works all week just to prepare for tonight. 2024 marks the 300th anniversary of the premiere of "St. John Passion". Bach's Passion settings are unique in that they are not concert showpieces per se, but full-scale liturgical music for Good Friday services. They are framed around sermons and congregational singing (hence the chorales) so the best, or most appropriate, performances are those that perfectly balance the dramatisation of events and the religious solemnity. The Bach specialist Masaaki Suzuki and his superlative Bach Collegium Japan have hit that sweet spot since 1990s. It was pure perfection - note-perfect sensitivity and musical flow polished over decades of experience. The homogeneity of the choir (soloists embedded - I counted 11 upper and 10 lower voices), the diction, the word painting, the intense exchange among the choir and the soloists from "Jesum von Nazareth" at the beginning to the entire courtroom scene in Part 2, the glorious chorales, the reflective moments after the Crucifixion - it was always moving (in every sense of the word). Some might complain about the relatively modest orchestral force for the vast RAH and the lack of operatic dramatisations from the soloists, but that was precisely the spiritual and ethereal transcendence I anticipated from Suzuki and his team. The minimalistic elegance from the instrumental forces were also breathtaking, from the traversi flute duets to trios in the arias to the earth shattering moment when the veil was torn in two. I have rarely seen a Prom audience so attentive and respectful, and a number of them walked out after the concert still humming "Ruht wohl, ihr heiligen Gebeine". "Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise," says Jesus on the Holy Cross (though this line is from Luke), when "It [was] finished" (this line is from John), it certainly felt like that. I left the concert feeling like a transformed person. It was Heaven.



[Re-writing the above in Japanese as exercise]

【IG 日本語作文練習】（３）

年配になったと認めるのが嫌だが、今年の Proms 音楽祭には、最も楽しみにしたコンサートのはバッハの『ヨハネ受難曲』だ。今夜のために、一週間中バッハの合唱曲とオルガン曲ばかり聴いた。『ヨハネ受難曲』は、初演から今年で３００周年を迎える。この作品は、コンサートパフォーマンスのための曲より、むしろキリスト教の聖金曜日のための典礼音楽である。作品の曲が説教や会衆の歌唱を中心に構成されたので、最高の演奏には、脚色と荘厳をバランスさせるはずだ。バッハの権威のマエストロ鈴木雅明は、彼が１９９０年に創設したバッハ・コレギウム・ジャパンと共に、そんなふうに Royal Albert Hall で演奏した。何十年も磨かれた感性と音楽の流れ、絶対完璧な演奏だった。合唱団の均質性、ドイツ語の発音、冒頭の「ナザレのイエス」から第２部の法廷シーンまで合唱団とソリストとの激しいやり取り、壮麗なコラール、十字架刑の後の反省の瞬間など、全部完璧だった。古楽器オーケストラにとって Royal Albert Hall が広大すぎたかもしれないが、ソリストのドラマ性が不足したかもしれないが、これは期待したバッハの超越だった。楽団の演奏も抜群だった、そのフルートのデュエットも、アリアのトリオも、十字架刑の後、幕が二つに引き裂かれた時に衝撃的な瞬間も、全て印象的だった。Proms の観客たちがそんなに尊敬して注意して立って聴くのを私は見たことがない（笑）。コンサートの後も、何人かの観客が「Ruht wohl, ihr heiligen Gebeine」を口ずさみながら会場から出かけた。「よく言っておくが、あなたは今日私と一緒に楽園にいる」と十字架上のキリストが言った。本当に、天国のような美しさを感じた。流石に最高の Prom だった。