Bach Collegium Japan conducted by Masaaki Suzuki at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, August 3rd 2020

God Is More Than Love Can Ever Be is the title of a late seventies album by Sun Ra. That is quite a statement as well. I’ve always been a fan of those artists in touch with the Mystic, like Sun Ra, John and Alice Coltrane, Santana, Ravi Shankar, Terry Riley, among others. It seems obvious to me that music elevates spirit and mind and can serve as a conduit to reach what’s beyond ourselves. Connecting with the universal structure. The Creator has a Master Plan…

Through his works, Johann Sebastian Bach reached mystical transcendence several times. St. Matthew Passion is perhaps the quintessential spiritual work of art. This was the piece that I witnessed in my return to live music after an almost five months pause due to the pandemic.

I didn’t think this concert would happen. It was supposed to take place on April 10th, Good Friday, but it was postponed to August 3rd. I thought it was going to be cancelled like most of my other scheduled concerts were, but then I got an email saying that the concert will go on. They decided to have two performances on the same day to split the audience in two halves. I received a new ticket for the second of those two performances and headed up to the venue.

The staff at the venue wore masks and face shields. As you walked in they will first spray alcohol on your hands, then measure your temperature and then check your ticket. I was a bit in a hurry to get to my seat, but I don’t think I saw the bar opened. The place looked very barebones to me. Not even a poster I could take a picture of. I went to my seat and confirmed that social distancing rules were enforced. Every single person wore masks. Can’t complain, this made me feel a lot safer. Also having both seats next to me free for this two hours and forty five minutes performance was quite a plus.

Right on time the members of the Bach Collegium Japan took their places on stage, making use of the whole of it, in a semi-circular distribution that included plexiglas for separation and complied with the necessary safety regulations, with most musicians in the back and the vocalists up front. The last person to enter the stage was maestro Masaaki Suzuki, whose steady hand, the expressive kind that I love in choral conducting, guided us through this spiritual journey.

Spellbinding is the word that comes to mind to describe this performance. Just to listen to the precision and power of those massive chords at the end of certain phrases sang by the choir sent chills down my spine. It was not massive in the romantic epic sense, like you’ll hear in the opening scene of Casino (which is awesome and was my introduction to this piece). BCJ and maestro Suzuki went for the more authentic, somewhat reduced number of participants that emphasized spiritual recollection and solace. It was an all Japanese affair, due to the fact that guest performers from abroad were not able to attend. The soloists were more than up to the task. Makoto Sakurada was an excellent Evangelist. He looked tired, understandably so, this double header has to be the equivalent of running a marathon. His voice, though, didn’t show any signs of fatigue, it was flawless throughout.

By the time we reached the final chorale with every single performer on stage standing up, I got to admit that I choked up a little. Such was the intensity and emotional climax that followed the close to three hours build up we just witnessed. I don’t think I was the only one. An applause that lasted more than ten minutes followed as a sign of gratitude for the gift of such a magnificent performance but also the gift of live music in general. This pandemic has reminded us of the futility of our existence, of the things we cherish the most. I’m sure everyone in that audience was happy to remember what things were like and St. Matthew Passion performed by the Bach Collegium of Japan and conducted by Masaaki Suzuki couldn’t have been a better choice.

Closing on a spiritual note, a quote found on the Santana’s Caravanserai album liner notes from Paramahansa Yogananda, one of the early introducers of Eastern spirituality in the West. “The body melts into the universe. The universe melts into the soundless voice. The sound melts into the all-shining light. And the light enters the bosom of infinite joy”. Thus is the journey of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.

  

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