Bach: 6 Brandenburg Concertos

Everything that could be desired in a historically informed performance of J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos is presented in Philip Pickett's brilliant set with the New London Consort, released in 1993 on L'Oiseau Lyre. This version with period instruments and an ensemble of a size according to Baroque norms is much more than a dry run-through of these beloved works. It is a clever and highly expressive re-creation of Bach's most popular concertos, re-imagined through the artistic and philosophical connections and conventions that likely were found in them by Bach's contemporaries, most probably by Bach and the Margrave of Brandenburg himself.

This recording by Trevor Pinnock is one of the finest ever. Played on original baroque instruments, the sound is a little thinner than what we are used to with modern orchestras. This is not a fault - it is actually an advantage. It brings Bach to life - every instrument is heard clearly, the feel is gutsy, real, lively. This is the Brandenburgs as Bach himself would have heard it. Wonderful stuff.

Johann Sebastian Bach - 6 Brandenburg Concertos - Jean-Francois Paillard (1974) {Erato-Warner Classics 0825646138654 rel 2015}
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© 1974, 2015 Erato / Warner Classics | 0825646138654
Classical / Baroque / Concerto

Released in 1974, this 2-LP set devoted to the 6 Brandenburg Concertos supplanted the old Erato reference by Kurt Redel – the stereophonic version of 1962. It remains precious testimony to the art of Jean-François Paillard, a musician who assuredly deserves to be re-evaluated, like Louis Auriacombe, who had, with the Toulouse Chamber Orchestra, made magnificent recordings devoted to 18th-century music for Le Club Français du Disque. With their intimate chamber tone, these Bach recordings celebrated the 20th anniversary of Erato (founded in 1953) and also remain an example of the achievement of a performing aesthetic that has now become marginal.

The Brandenburg Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV 1046–1051, original title: Six Concerts à plusieurs instruments) are a collection of six instrumental works presented by Bach to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, in 1721 (though probably composed earlier). They are widely regarded as some of the best orchestral compositions of the Baroque era.

John Butt and the Dunedin Consort are familiar to many listeners for their exquisite recordings of Baroque choral masterworks, such as Handel's Messiah and Bach's Mass in B minor, but this set of Bach's six Brandenburg Concertos is the first instrumental outing for the Scottish period ensemble. Playing original instruments or modern copies, and using a lower tuning of A = 392hz, the group recreates Bach's music with a lively combination of extemporaneous ornamentation and propulsive rhythms that is invigorating for its lack of preciosity. The music is by turns brusque and gentle, and at times quite raucous, as it should be in the Concerto No. 1 in F major with its echoing horn calls, chattering oboes, and buzzing bassoon, and vigorous in the Concerto No. 3 in G major, with its energetic string playing.