Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F major, BWV 1046: Allegro
2. Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F major, BWV 1046: Adagio
3. Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F major, BWV 1046: Allegro
4. Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F major, BWV 1046: Menuetto / Trio I / Polacca / Trio II
5. Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047: Allegro
6. Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047: Andante
7. Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047: Allegro assai
8. Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048: Allegro
9. Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048: Andante
10. Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048: Allegro assai

Disc 2:

1. Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major, BWV 1049: Allegro
2. Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major, BWV 1049: Andante
3. Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major, BWV 1049: Presto
4. Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050: Allegro
5. Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050: Andante
6. Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050: Presto
7. Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B flat major, BWV 1051: Moderato
8. Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B flat major, BWV 1051: Adagio ma non tanto
9. Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B flat major, BWV 1051: Allegro

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48559 in Music
• Brand: Bach
• Released on: 1997-09-16
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .28 pounds

Amazon.com essential recording
Il Giardino Armonico is an original instruments group made up of skilled young Italian specialists in Baroque music. They bring a light, airy touch to the Brandenburg Concertos, with deeply felt slow movements, sprightly Allegros, and blistering Prestos. Unlike some of their ilk, they play with vitality while avoiding interpretive extremes; the finale of No.3, for example, is taken at a blistering pace but never feels too fast for the music. Solos are highly accomplished, with scintillating violin and wind contributions, along with charmingly blatty period horns in No. 1. The engineering is a big plus, helping to make this one of the best period performances of these perennial favorites. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews

I can hardly believe that many of us reviewers listened to the same recording
I'm a professional singer who specializes in Baroque and early repertoire. This has made me a firm believer in the historical performance movement. It has done so much to give new shape and dynamism to works that were heretofore rendered mostly in broad, lugubrious strokes. The movement continues to evolve, and as it does the amount of color and depth infusing this repertoire continues to grow and take on new dimension. No longer are many of us content to hear Monteverdi and Lully sung with the extremely bright, straight tones of Emma Kirkby and Nancy Argenta, but rather wish to hear the more appropriate lush and shimmery vocal colors of singers like Sandrine Piau, Guillemette Laurens, Christine Brandeis and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson.

With that in mind, I've heard more recordings of the Brandenburgs than I care to name. And I'm just as tired of the anemic sound and too-fast tempi of ensembles like Hogwood's as I am of the too slow, syrupy interpretations of Furtwangler and Karajan. This recording by Il Giardino Armonico is the only recording I've heard that manages to make these extraordinary works really speak.

Antonini bridges the gap between rich lyricism and crisp articulation better than anyone I can think of who performs this repertoire. My favorite of all the Brandenburgs is #4, and the five-voice fugue in the last movement is the standard by which I judge all the best interpretations of this work. Antonini does the most remarkable things with this piece. The subject is rendered by each voice in the most song-like, tuneful, vocal manner. Instead of thumpy, fast, dry (for most period recordings) or wobbly, incoherent, unintelligible (for most modern instrument recordings) here is great legato playing without any loss of crispness or transparency of texture. Where the line may jump a fifth, he connects the lines where most conductors demand extreme separation, and then creates the most astonishing, perfectly shaped messe di voce you can imagine. That said, all the entrances of the fugue subject are completely distinguishable, and no entrance has the same quality as any other. All the instruments are allowed to let their unique color and texture come forth, and Bach surely understood how important this was when he orchestrated the work. Furthermore, all of the silences in the work are sharply drawn by the ensemble and as dramatic as you might hear in any Beethoven symphony. I could hardly believe what I was hearing, and I was enormously grateful that, finally, someone got it right.

The other great measure of a high-quality period recording of this work is the natural horn playing on the Brandenburg #2. While it's a hair rough and decidedly masculine (the latter not being a bad thing), it's extremely powerful and expressive, and the player (Gabriele Cassone) understands how to make his instrument speak and dazzle, rather than just hammering out a technically perfect performance, which is all that most natural horn players can hope for.

It's rare that I don't have a complaint about a recording, but this is that exception. I recommend this piece heartily and unqualifiedly.

Hesitantly said, the best set yet.
This is by far the most energetic and consistent of the Brandenburg sets I've heard. Fast, furious, always keeping Bach's dialogue even and ordered, even in the fast movements, and they are quite fast. If you're used to the stuffy pomp of Sir Neville Mariner or the smooth spit and polish of Karajan, these readings will seem hurried and sloppy, but if you like your baroque loud and dynamic, this is the set to have. Also, Konrad Hunteller and the Camerata of the 18th Century turn out a similar reading well worth investigating--Matthew E. Holcomb

Beautiful and dynamic
This is the best Baroque recording of the Brandenburg Concertos that I have ever listened to. The norm is a well-balanced even tempo orchestration. This performance breathes fire. If you listen to it on a good system, you don't just hear the music - you feel it.