Free Brandenburgs, come and get 'em

Started by Drasko, August 12, 2007, 07:23:07 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 3 Guests are viewing this topic.

Drasko

Free download of complete Brandenburg Concertos by Czech HIP Band Musica Florea in mp3 or flac with pdf tracklisting. Courtesy of Czech radio.

http://www.rozhlas.cz/d-dur/download_eng

beclemund

Here is a cover I threw together for my iTunes coverflow; I thought I would share. Corrections, criticisms and complaints can be sent my way...

"A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession." -- Albert Camus

beclemund

I managed to get in a full listen of this download last night and WOW!

The only other Brandenburg set I have is Harnoncourt's Teldec set:



While I enjoy that set, this Musica Florea performance seems so much more vibrant. There is a great deal of appropriately placed ornamentation by the players throughout the set and I think that makes for a more exciting, energetic reading. I particularly enjoyed the trumpet on the 2nd concerto, it blew me away (no pun intended) and it had a playfulness about it that seems particularly appropriate to many Baroque compositions rather than the stodgy HIP translations I have heard over recent years.

It is not perfect throughout, there are slips here and there, but on the whole, the brisk tempos and the engaging ornamentation makes for an exciting listen, but never falling into the trap of excess. It really seemed that the players sat in their seats with smirks on their faces playing a game of oneupmanship during their solos. Very refreshing.

Thank you for the post, Drasko. If you come across other performances like this, please do share. It is a real pleasure to enjoy it.
"A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession." -- Albert Camus

The Mad Hatter

Great!

Er...just for the record, HIP means period instruments, right?

beclemund

Quote from: The Mad Hatter on August 22, 2007, 07:32:49 AMGreat!

Er...just for the record, HIP means period instruments, right?

Historically informed performance, so generally yes, on period instruments as well as incorporating ideas on how parts should be played based on existing academic research. It is an ever changing ideal, however. ;)
"A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession." -- Albert Camus

The Mad Hatter

Quote from: beclemund on August 22, 2007, 07:38:36 AM
Historically informed performance, so generally yes, on period instruments as well as incorporating ideas on how parts should be played based on existing academic research. It is an ever changing ideal, however. ;)

Ah, ok! Thanks a lot - I'm glad I know what it stands for now.

Renfield

I finally sorted out some .flac issues I had with my Mac (as my PC is currently out of commission), and am now happily downloading these! Many thanks for find, Drasko. :)

(Particularly since I haven't had the time to delve into the Brandenburgs before, and a free acquaintance with them of this sort is more than I could ask for. :D)

Heather Harrison

I also downloaded these (and had to fix some computer problems before I could copy them to CD).  I'm glad I got these; they are very exciting and vibrant performances even if they are a bit rough around the edges in places.

Thanks for posting the link.

Heather

KevinP

Quote from: The Mad Hatter on August 22, 2007, 07:32:49 AM
Er...just for the record, HIP means period instruments, right?

Generally yes but if you want to get nitpicky, they are two different things, just with considerable overlap. When this whole PI/HIP thing got started, it was basically just a matter of substituting modern instruments with period ones. That was fine and dandy, but people started doing more research and realised that performance practices have changed over time as well, which is really what HIP is: attempts to return to (some say 'second guess') earlier styles of playing with regard to tempo, phrasing, etc. Although not a common road to take, you could do HIP on modern instruments, which is what Rilling often (always?) does.

Incidentally, the first recording of the Brandenburgs on period instruments was done by...this may surprise you...Horenstein as early as 1954.

premont

Quote from: KevinP on August 23, 2007, 12:13:59 AM

Incidentally, the first recording of the Brandenburgs on period instruments was done by...this may surprise you...Horenstein as early as 1954.


This is a common claim, but listening to it makes one doubt, if this is entirely true. The valve-trumpet/clarinet combination in concerto 2 (for the tromba part) is definitly a modern instrument solution. And I doubt, if the horns and oboes are true period too. The strings are probably period instruments and so are the recorders and maybe the flauto traverso. One of the problems is, that the dated sound quality of the recording makes evaluation of this question difficult.
Maybe M forever knows more about this.

Probably the situation is much like the Wenzinger recording for Archiv, which was made 1950 - 53 and for that reason precedes the Horenstein recording.

As far as I know, the first true period instrument recording (except perhaps concerning the detailled construction of the tromba) is the Harnoncourt recording from 1964.

γνῶθι σεαυτόν