Yoshikazu Mera - Bach : Widerstehe doch der Sünde, BWV 54, I. Aria

[kimito418]

あんた、なんで不良になっちゃったんだ！

[Lunabarok]

Bravi! Beautiful!

[5kumi5]

great!

[RRRSHINO]

もう、ほんとに綺麗な声！何を歌っても素晴らしいけどバッハもい­いなぁ（＾＾）

[ramanatom65]

In dieser frohen Version, man wuerde meinen koennen, dass Satan nicht schlechter als ein listiger Used Car Salesman waere. Langsamer und wuchtiger bitte! Aber nicht traege--die Musik ist so schoen. Der Tenor singt gut, aber der Dirigent

hat die Musik missverstanden, leider.

[newFranzFerencLiszt]

never heard of him before today... unfortunately

[combatlutenist]

Yoshikazu Mera should foocus on baroque repertoire again..... 

[superjfbm]

@combatlutenist where is he these days? i don't seem to find any recitals by him.

[combatlutenist]

@superjfbm He seldome sings early music recently. I've never heard his singing Handel or Bach since he gained great popularity with a song for the film "Princess Mononoke." Japanese trads and folksongs seem to interest him since then. And furthermore, thanks to his autography which made a hit he's been rather busy with talk shows than recitals. His official website is only in Japanese, that indicates he limits his activities domestically..

[MrFalckenhagen]

Genial.

[Chopinsperwer]

Schade, dasz er nicht "life" zu sehen iszt. Wonderful this voice.

[Ratzfourtyfour]

The wider in widerstehe sounds a bit like people pronounce it in the german states Bach worked in most of his life. Almost eerie.

[erroll9621]

gives andreas scholl a run for his money, but still not quite.

[andyuk]

Each to their own of course but this is right up my street. Delicious!

[assistantorganist]

Please don't anyone talk about whats 'right' and 'wrong' when it comes to tempi in Bach! Who of us can accurately say what speed is right or wrong. It's all about artist interpretation - thats the great thing about early music. Composers trusted performers to make their own judgements about phrasing, tempi etc.

[CorelliCollective]

@assistantorganist Agreed! Besides, the composition of this aria is at such a humanly impossible level of beauty that it works wonderfully with a large variety of tempi.

[Raphtor13]

I much prefer Mera to Scholl - Mera's voice has a sweetness to it I don't hear in Scholl who seems a bit harsh to me. Mera is by far my favorite counter tenor.

[Terrdemarzielle]

I'm sick of people arrogantly asserting that this version is too fast. As an interpretation it is well within the limits of 'appropriate speed.' Personally, like many others I would agree that the Scholl version has a more suitable tempo, but don't give me any nonsense about this one being 'rushed' or 'ruining the structure.' I'm a young man and a speed like this is quite comfortable.

[plekkchand]

@Terrdemarzielle This is too fast.

[Faraduruyer]

I like this a lot but not as much as Andreas Scholl's version. This singers's German is excellent!

[edwinstar100]

"we are all catching a plane" I love this and it is perfect for someone learning it; it is so wonderfully sung and recorded. Thanks for posting.

[bachsuonalcitofono]

Very goooooooooood! :)

[LDU00340]

この時代の米良は神と言っていいと思う。

[laertes160]

No, no, no! Much too fast, and the singer swallows passages. By playing it this fast you lose the big, effective punches on the main chord transitions. Instead, everything is hurried through without the necessary weight in the right places. Technically fine, I suppose, but nowhere near the quality of Andreas Scholl's recording. This version is soulless - it is as if everybody had a plane to catch.

[gariadara]

@laertes160 It's a "period" rendition. You can't expect it to carry that idea of "weight" that you're referring to. It's supposed to sound light and....well, prancy? This recording is technically superior IMO, but I agree that it is emotionally rigid. It's really good if you're learning the piece yourself and you're trying to examine every note.

[sybrandb1]

Typical Bach aria, even if you don't know this piece you recognize Bach immediately. Too bad it is conducted at a too high pace, though it is not too fast. I like Andreas Scholl (also on Youtube) in this piece more though. One would wish Jaroussky is going to sing Bach one day.

[maxdatha]

Y.Mera est vraiment un excellent contre-ténor et a un sens parfait de la musique baroque, en particulier de J.S. Bach. Peut-être le tempo de M. Suzuki est un peu trop rapide , mais cet aria est absolument sublime et je peux le ré-écouter sans fin.La version d'Andreas Scholl (avec Herreweghe) est tout aussi belle.

[a0a0aful]

流石本職。

[Sumimansen]

omg he sings german o.O thats nice

[gerbrandvisser]

Abslolutely baroque, with its lightness and the sound of the vowels (the e in widerstehe the u" in Sünde, the a in ergreife, brilliant!), the harmony with the orchestra that exudes energy, complete with exiting pauses for the orchestra, my favourite interpretation for this aria!

[tipisays]

Though it sounds really quick, but great voice.

[keckvan66]

great voice... lot quicker than all other interpretations!

[snowballrambo]

Hmm. This is the first time on youtube that I actually stumbled upon a version of a song, sounding better with a male alto, than the versions sung by female voices here.

[maboroshi638]

Wow! His German is great! You can really understand every word.

[Maddog5340]

This could be a tolerable album of arias, but the single "posed" posed photo is too much; a simple slide show of "stills" would be more entertaining. His unwavering photo of himself is absolutely toooooo Narcissistic for me !!!

[Enix5548]

Holy crap his voice is far better than many other well known singers.

[fpaulnl]

I like Yoshikazo's voice here in BWV 54! His vocal timbre is very nicely matching the melodic 'drive' of this stimulating Cantata. As to the tempo: this is one of those pieces that I feel should be played a bit slower (than we hear here). I've listened to a lot of variants of BWV 54, and this tempo feels somewhat rushed. This cantata really needs a slower tempo IMHO.

[keymoosaabee]

I was listening to a compilation of various classical music about a month ago, among which was a song titled, 'Morgen' (from Richard Strauss' superb, 'Four Last Songs' ). The orchestration and the, what I thought was a rather unusual, but very beautiful soprano voice, blended sublimely. It was of course, Yoshikazu Mera.

If you do not have YM's 'Morgen' in your collection, go to Amazon's MP3 download and for a few pence, enjoy one of the most superb pieces of music that is simply spine tingling!

[raanan17]

What grace!

[Terrdemarzielle]

What an incredible voice. As for tempo, better faster than too slow, but at this speed we can't savour the juicy harmonic tensions that Bach was kind enough to whip together for us. Let us learn from this mistake :)

[chinafreakie]

omg

[yourforte]

I love this aria and this is a lovely version of it. I like the quick tempo.

[99jeanne65]

Wonderful voice! I love the music by Bach so very much! Dramatic aria!!

[yashakawaii]

Klasse wie er das Deutsch singt, ich mag seine Stimme sehr.

Wonderful how sings german, i like his voice a lot.

[metphmet]

Poor interpretation.

Conducting brutal and with no understanding of the text.

Ugly.

[OlDoinyo]

Great aria for a hybrid countertenor of his type--he gets to show off both the modal and falsetto ends of his range here, and you can appreciate how well he integrates them.

[starbreez3]

Yes, and it makes this so amazing.

He makes it sounds easy haha.

[BayAreaBiker2001]

Nice driving tempo.

[Norbeone]

I have i MUCH slower version of this that I love, but I love this version also. I'm telling you, all these 'corrected-tempoed', 'you-can't-do-that' prudes can get lost! Bach works at any tempo! (almost)

[lmspr]

Yoshikazu Mera is such a wonderful countertenor. This is such a gorgeous aria. I just wish the conducting had been slower. But it's still really beautiful.

[mradaChris]

Beautiful voice!