[[{“value”:”Here is the audio, video, and transcript, we recorded in NYC. Here is the episode summary: A conductor, harpsichordist, and organist, Masaaki Suzuki stands as a towering figure in Baroque music, renowned for his comprehensive and top-tier recordings of Bach’s works, including all of Bach’s sacred and secular cantatas. Suzuki’s unparalleled dedication extends beyond Bach,
The post My Conversation with the very excellent Masaaki Suzuki appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.”}]]
Here is the audio, video, and transcript, we recorded in NYC. Here is the episode summary:
A conductor, harpsichordist, and organist, Masaaki Suzuki stands as a towering figure in Baroque music, renowned for his comprehensive and top-tier recordings of Bach’s works, including all of Bach’s sacred and secular cantatas. Suzuki’s unparalleled dedication extends beyond Bach, with significant contributions to the works of Mozart, Handel, and other 18th-century composers. He is the founder of the Bach Collegium Japan, an artist in residence at Yale, and conducts orchestras and choruses around the world.
Tyler sat down with Suzuki to discuss the innovation and novelty in Bach’s St. John’s Passion, whether Suzuki’s Calvinist background influences his musical interpretation, his initial encounter with Bach through Karl Richter, whether older recordings of Bach have held up, why he trained in the Netherlands, what he looks for in young musicians, how Japanese players appreciate Bach differently, whether Christianity could have ever succeeded in Japan, why Bach’s larger vocal works were neglected for so long, how often Bach heard his masterworks performed, why Suzuki’s favorite organ is in Groningen, what he thinks of Glenn Gould’s interpretations of Bach, what contemporary music he enjoys, what he’ll do next, and more.
Here is one excerpt:
COWEN: You’re from Kobe, right? That was originally a Christian center along with Nagasaki.
SUZUKI: Exactly.
COWEN: Because they were port cities. Is that why?
SUZUKI: Yes, Kobe is one of the most important after the reopening of Japan in 1868. There are probably two, Kobe and Yokohama, and even Sendai — the port places. This was very important to accept any kind of culture from the outside, but Christianity came in. For example, the oldest Protestant church is in Yokohama. That is the end of 19th century. That’s a really interesting history.
COWEN: How do Japanese audiences for classical music, say in Tokyo, differ from New York audiences?
SUZUKI: Hmmm, probably a little different. American audience are more friendly, I think.
[laughter]
More friendly and more easily excited by the performance, and they look more inspired directly from the music, and also musicians. In Japan, Japanese audiences — sometimes they know very well about the repertoire and they are very cooperative, but at the same time, they are a little bit, well, not so excited immediately. Probably on the inside, very excited, but we Japanese people don’t express directly from inside to outside. We were all told in school, for example, that is a rule. That is not the intellectual demeanor — something like that.
Of course most of the conversation is about Bach. Self-recommending, and then some.
The post My Conversation with the very excellent Masaaki Suzuki appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.
Education, Music, Religion, The Arts, Uncategorized
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