Bach Academy st Martin

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields was founded in 1959 by Sir Neville Marriner and a group of London’s leading orchestral players. Originally formed as a small conductorless string group, it spearheaded the 1950’s Baroque revival.

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.

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.

Two brilliant retrievals from the fearsome mid-1970s. Oddly enough each - but especially the Maw - begins to show signs of a return to lyricism and a subtle renunciation of Boulez and Darmstadt.

Johann Sebastian Bach ~ Best of Bach (12CD Set) (2006)
Classical | Easy CD-DA / Flac & Cue, No Log | Covers included | 5 % recovery | 4,5 GB | RS.com
Audio CD: November 6, 2006 | Label: Warner Classics

Warner Classics presents Best of Bach, a spirited selection of works by Bach, both choral and instrumental, performed by some of Warner Classics's most highly acclaimed artists…

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