Masaaki Suzuki gives No 194 a fittingly airy charm, heard most infectiously in 'Hilf, Gott' where an underlying Gavotte (with resonances of the final movement of the Wedding Cantata, No 202) finds bright-eyed soprano, Yukari Nonoshita, in confident and beguiling voice.
She's most accomplished throughout and delectably joins the gentle and receptive baritone Jochen Kupfer in 'O wie wohl' ist uns geschehn', a bucolic minuet-style duet. This is, all told, the most persuasive reading on disc, and supersedes both Rilling's stiff reading and even Harnoncourt's cultivated (if slightly hit-and-miss) performance, notable also for the presence of a young Thomas Hampson.
Harnoncourt, however, comes out better in one of the grandest French-overture cantatas Bach was to write, 'Preise Jerusalem' (No 119).
Composed to honour the new Leipzig town council, Bach really pushed the boat out. Suzuki never quite boasts either the grand sonic cohesion of Philippe Herreweghe's urgent account or the thrilling characterisation of Harnoncourt.
Strongly recommended nevertheless for Suzuki's superb reading of No 194.