Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg

Claudio Abbado isn't a name one associates with early music, in light of his impressive career conducting the masterworks of the Romantic and modern eras. Indeed, he didn't conduct any music by J.S. Bach with the Berlin Philharmonic until as late as 1994. Yet when he's leading the talented Orchestra Mozart of Bologna in Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, his ease with the music and his players is obvious, and the performances have almost as much Baroque style as many versions by period ensembles of greater longevity. Abbado led this ensemble in all six Brandenburgs in 2007 at the Teatro Municipale Romolo Valli in Reggio Emilio, and the live performances were recorded by Deutsche Grammophon with close attention to details, as befits chamber music.

In the same spirit as the DHM boxes, Sony Music revives the pearls of its other legendary label devoted to ancient, baroque and classical music on period instruments - VIVARTE
From the renaissance to the 19th century, the VIVARTE label repertoire was recorded with the most advanced technologies, by the best production teams in the world (Tritonus Music Production in Stuttgart).

Very few conductors have recorded as much Bach as Karl Richter and none can lay a stronger claim to a legacy based on championing the master. Richter's reverence for Bach is evinced by the simplicity, splendor, and grandeur with which he consistently imbued his performances exemplified here by these landmark recordings of the Brandenburg Concertos and Orchestral Suites. In Archiv's original-image bit-processing remastered transfers as well, the sound is better than ever. This is cornerstone Bach that should not be missed.

Since the beginning of it’s existence in 1960, the Slovak Chamber Orchestra has developed into one of the most popular ensembles in the field of classical music in Slovakia, and into one of the principal representatives of the Slovak interpretation art abroad. The idea of founding a string orchestra has risen in the mind of Prof. Bohdan Warchal in the late 50-s, while still a member of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra.

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.

La Stravaganza, under their director/harpsichordist Siegbert Rampe, are a Hamburg-based ensemble. Their performances of the six Brandenburg Concertos, together with the Triple Concerto in A minor (BWV 1 044), and a version of the Fifth Brandenburg which predates by about three years Bach's presentation copy to the Margrave, provide stimulating and mainly satisfying listening. It is perhaps a pity that the earlier version of the First Concerto was omitted from the recording, since it reveals significant textual variants from the Brandenburg, above all the scoring of the second of the two Trios.

In 2010, Maestro Riccardo Chailly releases Johann Sebastian Bach for Decca for the very first time. Having conducted the illustrious Gewandhaus Orchestra since 1986, this esteemed conductor’s association with Leipzig is but one year less than Bach’s. Played on modern instruments, Chailly’s Bach beautifully demonstrates that vivid, stylistically aware performance is not the exclusive preserve of period instrument ensembles. Every concerto of this first release – the Brandenburg Concertos – showcases the Orchestra’s expert soloists. Collectively, they celebrate the orchestra’s renaissance under its charismatic Italian music director. This release will be followed up later in the year with new recordings of the St Matthew Passion and Christmas Oratorio.