Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #45290 in Digital Music Album
• Released on: 2006-01-01
• Running time: 0 seconds

Customer Reviews

Excellent!
I am surprised this recording has not garnered more attention--it is simply fantastic. Though I wouldn't necessarily recommend this as a first recording (go for Pinnock/English Concert or Pearlman/Boston Baroque), those of you that have multiple versions of the Brandenburgs should definitely give this one a try. The tempos are lively, the balance is superb, and there is an aspect of cohesiveness in each concerto that is rarely found in other recordings. I Barocchisti plays with the same creativity and musicianship one would associate with any leading Italian period instrument ensemble. Especially for those that enjoy the recent recording by Alessandrini/Concerto Italiano, or Antonini/Il Giardino Armonico, this set is a must!

The SACD Alternative
This completes Fasolis' set of these evergreen concertos in state of the art sound. The interpretive virtues of concertos 1-4 on the companion volume impressed me for the quality of the playing, interesting interpretive choices, and great sound. They carry over to this disc. Fasolis' playing of the harpsichord part in No. 5 is very fine indeed. The silvery sound of the gambas in No. 6 is well captured by the engineers.

The Triple Concerto is an interesting bonus. It has the same concertino combination as Brandenburg No. 5. The outer movements are a transcription for soloists and orchestra of BWV 894, composed for solo keyboard. The central movement is a transription of the slow movement of the D Minor Trio Sonata for organ. J. S. Bach was probably not the transcriber, however. More likely, it is the work of sons W. F. or C. P. E. Bach. Use of pizzacato in the orchestral strings, for example, being more typical of the later generation. Regardless, it is a worthwhile companion to the main events.

As is the case for the first volume, this set doesn't displace longtime favorites Pinnock, Leonhardt, and the Berlin Akademie for period performances. For SACD, I prefer this set to Somary on Vanguard, which appears to be out of print.

Badly translated notes are a blemish, sounding like a computer translation of the German. Here's a quote from the notes on No. 5: "The last movement is an Allegro fugue, whose reverie-like, gigue reminding theme is commonly carried by both, the solo instruments as well as the orchestra." Syntax aside, reverie is not what I would associate with a gigue. Given the volumes of material available on the music, poor notes should not deter purchase of this set.

PURE JOY!
This review is of the multi-channel SACD layer listened to in 5.1 surround.

This recording and performance of Bach's Brandenburg concertos with I Barocchisti directed by Diego Fasolis is by far the best performance I've ever heard and I've heard many as follows:

English Chamber - Raymond Leppard
Musica Antiqua Koln - Reinhard Goebel
La Petite Bande - Sigiswald Kuijken
Concentus Musicus - Nikolaus Harnoncourt (both analog and digital recordings)
Leonhardt Consort - Gustav Leonhardt
The Academy of Ancient Music - Christopher Hogwood
Le Concert Des Nations - Jordi Savall
The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra - Ton Koopman

I've never heard Bach's Brandenburgs performed with as much passion as I Barocchisti infuses into this performance. Their dramatic arches and inflections are new and extraordinarily right on, making the Brandenburgs even more exciting. The original instruments sound so gorgeous in this SACD (a 24 bit 96kHz original recording) it was truly like having them in my room with me. The emotion of the performance and the earthiness of the original instruments made for what I can only describe as PURE JOY!!