Iona Brown

Iona Brown, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields - Telemann: Five Violin Concertos (1984)

Iona Brown, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields - Telemann: Five Violin Concertos (1984)
WEB | FLAC (tracks) - 255 MB | 50:23
Genre: Classical | Label: Philips

Iona Brown, violinist and sometime conductor of the Academy of St. Martin and the fields, clearly understood how different Telemann was from other baroque composers - and what was needed to really bring out his special qualities. Unlike J.S. Bach and Handel, who were keyboard virtuosi, Telemann, who had unusual interest in and an especially keen ear for instrumental sonorities, spent his early years (secretly) learning to play all the instruments available in his time. Despite his prodigious musical gifts, his upper middle class family did not want him pursuing what was then the low occupation of musician.
Heinz Holliger, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Iona Brown - Telemann: Oboe Concertos (1982)

Heinz Holliger, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Iona Brown - Telemann: Oboe Concertos (1982)
WEB | FLAC (tracks) - 280 MB | 45:41
Genre: Classical | Label: Philips

Although this recording is now at least temporarily out of press it combines the finest oboist of our day, Holliger, with the most sensitive interpreter of Telemann in my experience: Iona Brown with the Orchestra of St. Martin and the Fields. That's particularly important because groups that don't understand or exploit Telemann's sense of musical drama, instrumental color and special effects, and ingenious interactions between orchestra and soloist can reduce a blood-pressure raising work to just baroque music. I expect to offer a more detailed sampler of Telemann recordings and comment in the future. For now let me point out the opening oboe concerto as a unique masterpiece.
Iona Brown, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields - George Frideric Handel: 12 Concerti Grossi, Op.6 (1983)

Iona Brown, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields - George Frideric Handel: 12 Concerti Grossi, Op.6 (1983)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 817 Mb | Total time: 47:07+62:12+59:13 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Philips | # 410 048-2 | Recorded: 1981

This is the second recording which the Academy of St Martin in the Fields has made of Handel's 12 Concerti grossi, Op. 6. The first was directed by Neville Marriner whereas the new one is directed by Iona Brown. handel assembled his twelve ''grand concertos'', as he called them, during the autumn of 1739 and they were published by subscription in the following year. Their stylistic terms of reference are marvellously diverse and, in this respect they represent an apotheosis of what had become, by the 1730s, an old-fashioned form of concerto writing on the continent. Variety in form, ingenuity of thought and Handel's own unmistakeable personality ensure that in no other sense can these satisfying concertos be regarded as archaic.
Iona Brown, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sinfonia concertante; Concerto for two pianos (2009)

Iona Brown, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sinfonia concertante; Concerto for two pianos (2009)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 208 Mb | Total time: 53:56 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | # CHAN 10507X | Recorded: 1995, 1996

In this much requested re-issue, Chandos presents the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra performing Mozart’s Concerto for two pianos and Sinfonia concertante.
Both these works were written in Salzburg. The Concerto for two pianos was intended for performance by Mozart and his sister. With his justly famous Sinfonia concertante, boundlessly energetic in the outer movements and including a slow movement of quite remarkable poignancy, Mozart achieved one of his finest orchestral works before arriving in Vienna.
Sabine Meyer, Iona Brown - Carl Stamitz: Clarinet Concertos Vol. II (1995)

Sabine Meyer, Iona Brown - Carl Stamitz: Clarinet Concertos Vol. II (1995)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 347 Mb | Total time: 78:17 | Scans included
Classical | Label: EMI Classics | # 5 55511 2 | Recorded: 1995

Seine Bekanntheit im heutigen Musikleben verdankt Carl Stamitz hauptsächlich auch seinen Klarinettenkonzerten, die sowohl ästhetisch als auch gattungs- und musikhistorisch von nicht zu unterschätzender Bedeutung sind. Obwohl die genaue Anzahl seiner Klarinettenkonzerte nach derzeitigem Forschungsstand nicht zweifelsohne gesichert ist, werden ihm insgesamt 11 Klarinettenkonzerte zugeordnet, die vermutlich zwischen 1770 und 1790 entstanden sind. In der kompositorischen Behandlung der Klarinette bei Carl Stamitz zeigt sich, dass er versuchte die virtuose Seite der Klarinette auszuschöpfen, sie aber vornehmlich als Gesangsinstrument erkannte.
Dieter Klöcker, Consortium Classicum, Iona Brown, The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields - Symphonies Concertantes (2004)

Dieter Klöcker, Consortium Classicum, Iona Brown, The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields - Symphonies Concertantes (2004)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 966 Mb | Total time: 216:03 | Scans included
Classical | Label: CPO | # 777 009-2 | Recorded: 1977

This collection of ten Classical symphonies concertantes was recorded (quadraphonically!) in 1977 and issued as a five-record set by EMI Electrola. Now it has been licensed by CPO and reissued economically on just three CDs.
Mstislav Rostropovich, Iona Brown, Academy of St Martin in the Fields - Joseph Haydn: Cello Concertos 1 & 2 (2000)

Mstislav Rostropovich, Iona Brown, Academy of St Martin in the Fields - Joseph Haydn: Cello Concertos 1 & 2 (2000)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 256 Mb | Total time: 49:34 | Scans included
Classical | Label: EMI Classics | # 5 67234 2 | Recorded: 1975

This is a quite extraordinary achievement. Not the least of its merits is that it leaves you loving the music as never before. The orchestra gives splendid support and the sound is warm and ingratiating.
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Iona Brown - Händel: Concerti Grossi Op. 3 (2019)

Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Iona Brown - Händel: Concerti Grossi Op. 3 (2019)
WEB | FLAC (tracks) - 288 MB | 53:49
Genre: Classical | Label: CFClassic

Handel’s Twelve Grand Concertos, Op. 6, represent one of the twin peaks of the late Baroque orchestral repertoire – Bach’s Brandenburgs are, of course, the other. Like all the greatest art they are susceptible to an almost infinite variety of interpretation and, for the same reason, there is something interesting and of value in each. The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, playing modern instruments, favours a sprightly, crisply delivered, no-nonsense approach.
Iona Brown, Academy of St.Martin-in-the-Fields - Vivaldi: La Cetra 12 Concertos op. 9 (1996) (Repost)

Iona Brown, Academy of St.Martin-in-the-Fields - Vivaldi: La Cetra 12 Concertos op. 9 (1996)
EAC | FLAC (image+.cue, log) | Covers Included | 144:56 | 754 MB
Genre: Classical | Label: Decca | Catalog: 0289 448 1102 5

The 12 violin concertos which make up La cetra were published in Amsterdam in 1727 as Vivaldi's Op. 9. They were not his last published ones, although La cetra ("The lyre") was the composer's last great set, each and every one of its contents representative of his mature instrumental style. The soloist in this reissued recording is Iona Brown, who is joined by Malcolm Latchem in the one and only concerto for two violins (No. 9). Brown shapes her phrases elegantly and is lucid in her articulation; and she favours moderate tempos which, though sometimes erring on the slow side, are usually effective. T
Michala Petri, Academy of St. Martin-In-The-Fields, Iona Brown - Telemann: Suite in A Minor, 2 Double Concertos (1982)

Michala Petri, Academy of St. Martin-In-The-Fields, Iona Brown - Telemann: Suite in A Minor, 2 Double Concertos (1982)
EAC | APE (image+.cue, log) | Covers Included | 56:14 | 269 MB
Genre: Classical | Label: Philips | Catalog: 56:14

Michala Petri adds her characteristic spright to this recording and the largos are pleasant as well. The concerto in F includes a bassoon part which adds bottom to the works on this CD as a contra to the higher-pitched recorder.The Philips recording quality on this CD is near flawless as well– there is a nice balance between the woodwinds on the one hand and the strings and the occassional harpsichord on the other. Overall quite a worthwhile and enjoyable addition to one's baroque-period collection.