One of the best recordings of Branderburg concertos | Bach: Brandenburg Concertos / Orchestra of the Age of...

Excellent recording. No production errors on mine | Bach: Brandenburg Concertos / Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment | Johann Sebastian Bach, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, ...

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	• Bach: Brandenburg Concertos / Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Johann Sebastian Bach, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, ... Virgin Veritas, 1999 average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Six of the best

Amazon lists numerous recordings of Bach's complete Brandenburg Concertos, but this particular CD can lay a strong claim to being one of the best. It offers a faithful, superbly played and authentically Baroque reading of these evergreen works.

The six concertos that make up the Brandenburgs are very varied - they may not even have been conceived as a set - so it's refreshing to see that no artificial attempt at uniformity is made: the mantle of 'musical director' is shared between three highly accomplished violinists - Monica Huggett, Catherine Mackintosh and Elizabeth Wallfisch.

Technically, concertos four and five offer the greatest challenge. I remember reading somewhere that Bach may never have had the chance to hear such demanding works actually played during his lifetime. A sobering thought. The pieces are played here with verve and precision by Huggett and Malcolm Proud, on violin and harpsichord respectively. The harpsichord solo in the opening Allegro of the fifth concerto is a spellbinding passage which gets increasingly frenetic (almost manic) and prefigures Classical/Romantic cadenzas and much else. Proud is always controlled and introduces subtle variations of tempo and dynamic to avoid sounding prosaic.

Artistically, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment brings a creative engagement to the works without ever putting themselves before JSB. I particularly liked the horns' cross rhythms throwing confusion and an air of modernity into the mix in the first concerto. (Recently, I heard this effect again on radio - by Europa Galante, if memory serves.) The small scale of the ensemble, meanwhile, creates a sound that is transparent and lucid, nowhere more so than in the second concerto, where Mark Bennett's trumpet is crisp and clear. My only complaint is that the ensemble make no attempt to fill the lacuna in Brandenburg 3. A meagre two or three bar violin solo bridges movements 1 and 3. Two chords in the manuscript are all that's left of the slow movement - but it is enough to tell us that something is missing. Interpolations from The English Suites have been used to good effect in other recordings and it's a shame something more ambitious isn't attempted here. But what we have is excellent music and unbeatable value.

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One of the best recordings of Branderburg concertos

I own quite a few recordings of the Branderburg concertos (Suzuki, Saval, Boston Baroque...) this one is one of the best.

There is an evident feel of musical joy coming out of this recording. I can't find other ways to describe it.
The musicians are enthusiastic about the work they are playing, restrained most of the time but when it is called for they give their best.

Highly recommended.

Excellent recording. No production errors on mine

I recently purchased this CD in January 2010 and everything was fine with it. Hopefully the production issues with this recording are fixed. I just wanted to let people know who are thinking of buying it since it appears that they've fixed the problem. Oh, and the recording/performance is excellent.

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my copy was ok

This is an excellent version of the Brandenbergs. The tempos are good and the instruments are all clearly heard. I noticed that some sort of production problem led to some poor reviews with the 2 CDs having the same music for some people. I did NOT have that problem and think this set can be highly recommended.

Think Higher

I love to paint, draw and read with this on low in the background... also nice relaxing way to drive too.
Good recording, glad I got the complete concertos - gives my mind time to unwind..... enjoy it

The Brandenburg Concertos seem to be Bach's most popular works by far, and there are so many recordings of them out there--on period instruments and "modern," and at all price ranges. Of course, it's hard to pick out one or even two to call the "best"--but this reissue of a 1989 recording by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment has a good claim for the title of "Best Buy Brandenburgs." These performances don't have the splashy extroversion of Il Giardino Armonico or the caffeine-pumped, high-velocity thrill of Musica Antiqua Köln, but they're not overly reserved or dull, as some English ensembles are accused of being. The OAE's instrumental playing is very skillful indeed, with particularly nice work from the horns in the third movement of the First Concerto, and from trumpeter Mark Bennett in the Second; and the tempos are moderately quick (which means that they would have been considered rather fast before 1980 or so), but without being breathless. The slow movements sing sweetly--the viola playing of Monica Huggett and Pavlo Besnosiuk in the slow movement of the Sixth Concerto is especially lovely--and the quick outer movements have an infectiously bouncy pulse. If money is no object, you might want to consider Il Giardino Armonico or the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, but these here are surely the best Brandenburgs available at such a low price. --Matthew Westphal

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Tracks
Concerti No.1 in F Major: I. No Tempo Indication | Concerti No.1 in F Major: II. Adagio | Concerti No.1 in F Major: III. Allegro | Concerti No.1 in F Major: IV. Menueto - Trio I - Polacca - Trio II | Concerto No.2 In F Major: I. No Tempo Indicated | Concerto No.2 In F Major: II. Andante | Concerto No.2 In F Major: III. Allegro assai | Concerto No.3 In G Major: I. No Tempo Indicated | Concerto No.3 In G Major: II. Adagio - Allegro | Concerto No.4 In G Major: I. Allegro | Concerto No.4 In G Major: II. Andante | Concerto No.4 In G Major: III. Presto | Concerto No.5 in D major: I. Allegro | Concerto No.5 in D major: II. Affetuoso | Concerto No.5 In D Major: III. Allegro | Conceto No.6 In B-flat Major: I. No Tempo Indicated | Conceto No.6 In B-flat Major: II. Adagio na non tanto | Concerto No.6 In B-flat Major: III. Allegro

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