Orchestral Suites Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach - The Orchestral Suites (2013) {Accent}

Johann Sebastian Bach - The Orchestral Suites (2013) {Accent}
EAC 1.0b3 | FLAC tracks level 8 | Cue+Log+M3U | Full Scans 300dpi | 454MB + 5% Recovery
MP3 CBR 320 Kbps | 181MB + 5% Recovery
Genre: Classical, Baroque

La Petite Bande has recorded a spectacular rendition of Bach’s four orchestral suites, certainly some of the most spectacular instrumental music of the Baroque repertoire. La Petite Bande director, Sigiswald Kuijken, has written a very informative essay explaining the history of these pieces. Unfortunately, more is unknown than known. Kuijken speculates that the works were conceived for string orchestra and the wind parts were added at a later date. He also notes that sections of the 4th Suite were reused in the opening chorus of the Christmas Cantata, BWV 110. Kuijken also remarks that he has rethought his approach to these works opting for small musical forces as opposed to the rather large ensemble that La Petite Bande employed in its performances and recording of about 30 years ago.
Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki - J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites (2009)

Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki - J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites (2009)
EAC | APE (image+.cue, log) | Digital Booklet | 03:20:39 | 1,01 Gb
Genre: Classical | Label: BIS | Catalog: 1721/22

Listening to this irresistibly joyful and magnificently musical set of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos and Orchestral Suites, one is immediately struck by two thoughts. First, Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan have been wasting their time concentrating on Bach's dour cantatas, and second, Bach himself was wasting his time writing his melancholy church music when he could have been composing infinitely more cheerful secular music. While Suzuki and his crew have turned in superlatively performed, if spectacularly severe recording of the cantatas, they sound just as virtuosic and vastly more comfortable here.
Munchner Bach Orchester, Karl Richter - J.S.Bach: Brandenburg Concertos; Orchestral Suites; Triple Concerto (2002) 3CDs

Johann Sebastian Bach: Brandenburgische Konzerte; Orchestersuiten;
Tripelkonzert für Flöte, Violine, Cembalo und Streicher
Münchener Bach-Orchester, Karl Richter, conductor & harpsichord
Aurèle Nicolet, flute; Gerhart Hetzel, violin

EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 1.13 Gb | Scans included | Time: 3:33:19
Genre: Classical | Label: Deutsche Grammophon | # 463 657-2

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.
Sontraud Speidel, Evelinde Trenkner - Johann Sebastian Bach: Orchestral Suites, arr. for 2 Pianos by Max Reger (2000)

Sontraud Speidel, Evelinde Trenkner - Johann Sebastian Bach: Orchestral Suites, arr. for 2 Pianos by Max Reger (2000)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 491 Mb | Total time: 73:27+74:46 | Scans included
Classical | Label: MDG | # MDG 330 1006-2 | Recorded: 2000

Most piano duet arrangements were meant for the home rather than the concert hall. When you sight-read orchestral reductions at the piano, your physical involvement with the material “fills in” the missing instrumental color. Even with skillful four-hand “de-orchestrations” like Max Reger’s of the Bach Orchestral Suites, listeners run the risk of “registral fatigue”. In the main, the Speidel-Trenkner piano duo circumvents these limitations through canny pianistic means. In the C major Suite’s Forlane, for example, the oboe’s hornpipe-like melody bounces on a featherweight accompaniment.
Neville Marriner, Academy of St Martin in the Fields - Johann Sebastian Bach: Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites (2007)

Neville Marriner, Academy of St Martin in the Fields - Johann Sebastian Bach: Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites (2007)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 914 Mb | Total time: 191:35 | Scans included
Classical | Label: EMI Classics | # 5 00955 2 | Recorded: 1984, 1985

While most serious listeners already have their favorite sets of J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos and the Orchestral Suites, newcomers searching for respectable recordings at a reasonable price would do well to start with this triple-CD set by Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. These recordings were made in 1984 and 1985, and still offer fine sound for early digital recording and exceptional musical value. Marriner's performances may not be as exacting and scrupulous about Baroque performance practice as those of Gustav Leonhardt or Trevor Pinnock, but they are informed by serious scholarship and have sufficient appeal to make the finer points debatable.
Andrew Parrott - Johann Sebastian Bach: Brandenburg Concertos; Orchestral Suites [4CDs] (1999)

Andrew Parrott, Taverner Players, Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra - Johann Sebastian Bach: Brandenburg Concertos; Orchestral Suites (1999)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & no Log) ~ 1.07 Gb | Total time: 03:00:43 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Virgin Classics | # 5 61726 2 | Recorded: 1989, 1993

I doubt if many of us have found our ideal set of Brandenburgs, but most, I suspect, have settled on a favourite collection. The field is enormous, reflecting a wide range of performing styles as well as smaller discrepancies where some of the instruments themselves are concerned. These reissued recordings of the Brandenburgs are style-conscious, period-instrument performances. For sheer refinement of thought and elegance of phrase Parrott’s set has few rivals, though some of the intellectual and artistic excitement that must have gone into its preparation seems a little chastened in the finished product. Parrott never lets us down in his lightly articulated performances and stylistically consistent concept of the music.
Karl Richter, Munchener Bach-Orchester, Aurele Nicolet - Bach: Orchestral Suites (1961,1973/2021)

Karl Richter, Munchener Bach-Orchester, Aurele Nicolet - Bach: Orchestral Suites (1961,1973/2021)
DSD64 2.0 | 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | Time: 01:13:49 | ~ 3.00 GB
or 24-bit/96 kHz | Flac(Tracks) | ~ 1.31 Gb
Classical | Deutsche Grammophon / Esoteric | SACD-R

~ J.S.BACH: Orchestral Suites Nos.2 & 3, Flute Sonata No.1, Harpsichord Concerto No.5 ~
Trevor Pinnock, The English Concert - Bach: 6 Brandenburg Concertos; 4 Orchestral Suites (1988)

Trevor Pinnock, The English Concert - Bach: 6 Brandenburg Concertos; 4 Orchestral Suites (1988)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 949 Mb | Total time: 58:26+56:18+56:51 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Archiv Produktion | # 423 492-2 | Recorded: 1978, 1982

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.
Pablo Casals, Marlboro Festival Orchestra - Johann Sebastian Bach: The Four Orchestral Suites (2004)

Pablo Casals, Marlboro Festival Orchestra - Johann Sebastian Bach: The Four Orchestral Suites (2004)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 506 Mb | Total time: 59:46+44:01 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Sony Classics | # 517492 2 | Recorded: 1966, 1976

From 1960 to 1973 Casals bequeathed his vast knowledge and led the Marlboro Festival Orchestra, whose deceptively nondescript name concealed a wealth of talent, its roster a dazzling catalog of present and future superstars. From the weekend concerts, Columbia recorded a variety of works that inspire with their depth and vitality. As recalled by producer Thomas Frost, Casals took a fresh look at old masterpieces, imbued by his vast experience, and stimulated "a crisp spontaneity undulled by the routine of repeat performances."
Wolfgang Rübsam - J.S. Bach: Organ Transcriptions. Orchestral Suites 2 & 3, Chaconne (2023) (Hi-Res)

Wolfgang Rübsam - J.S. Bach: Organ Transcriptions. Orchestral Suites 2 & 3, Chaconne (2023) (Hi-Res)
FLAC (tracks, digital booklet) 24bit-44.1kHz - 641 MB
1:10:37 | Classical | Label: Brilliant Classics

Over the course of more than half a century, Wolfgang Rübsam has consistently brought new insights to bear on the keyboard music of Bach, firstly in sets of the canonic organ music for Philips, then the same for Naxos. In the last few years, his musicianship and understanding of Bach enriched by those decades of experience, he has turned to the harpsichord/piano repertoire for Brilliant Classics. A series of critically acclaimed albums has shed new light on The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Goldberg Variations, the Partitas and Toccatas with Rübsam’s performance of them on a lautenwerk – a ‘lute-harpsichord’ with a distinctive chime and colour which Bach himself would have been familiar with.