Bach's Orchestral Music (Brandenburgs, Suites & Concertos)

[Gurn Blanston]

I attended the complete Brandenburg Concertos performed by Gerarld Schwartz and the St Luke Chamber Orchestra on a New Year's Eve years ago in NY.  It was a spirited performance for the occasion.  All in all, I generally do not turn to any American ensembles for Brandenburg Concertos, as this is no Aaron Copland music.  Most average European ensembles are superior to what the US has to offer.

Curious as all hell what that has to do with the disk that DavidW posted...



----------------
Listening to:
Quatuor Festetics - Hob 03 76 Quartet in d for Strings Op 76 #2 4th mvmt - Finale

[Coopmv]

Curious as all hell what that has to do with the disk that DavidW posted...



----------------
Listening to:
Quatuor Festetics - Hob 03 76 Quartet in d for Strings Op 76 #2 4th mvmt - Finale

The concert I attended and the CD DavidW posted were both conducted by Gerald Schwartz. 

[Gurn Blanston]

The concert I attended and the CD DavidW posted were both conducted by Gerald Schwartz. 

Ah, I see.

[Antoine Marchand]

This 3-CD box set is slightly weird. It includes a new recording of the Brandenburgs recorded the last year at the MUZA Kawasaki Symphony Hall (Japan), joined with a reissue of the Orchestral Suites from 2003. The traditional cello part is replaced in four of the concertos (concertos 2, 3, 4 & 6) with violoncellos da spalla played by three well-known baroque violinists: Ryo Terakado, François Fernandez & Dmitry Badiarov (who is the builder of these violoncellos da spalla). Additionally, it is added a new second movement to the 3rd Concerto (an arrangement of the 2nd movement of Concerto for Three Harpsichords, BWV 1064).

I have just listened to three times the first disc and two times the second one. Therefore, my opinions are in construction; but it is eye-catching the sobriety and calm way adopted here. These are not performances intended to surprise with mad tempi or virtuosistic approaches (Il Giardino Armonico, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, I Barocchisti). Here all seems made with good taste, well blended textures and careful deliberation, which probably will seem a little boring for some people.

Do I read between your lines, that Suzuki´s interpretation is a bit aristocratic in contrast to the more vulgar renderings of Fasolis et alii?

Yes, it is right in some sense: as when you do the same thing that other people, but with less effort, without sweat: with a certain kind of elegance. IMO this is very suitable for these concertos intended to the Court.

What they certainly were. I think (well we can not know for sure) the new Suzuki set is outstanding and the style is spot on.

And I very much worship the less bass-heavy character especially of concertos no. 3 and 6.

And the inserted movement in concerto no. 3 is a most felicious choice IMO and it is most convincingly executed.

Just for the record.

[Coopmv]

The following CD has to be one of the top recent releases of the Bach Orchestral Suites.  I bought the CD a few weeks ago ...

[prémont]

The following CD has to be one of the top recent releases of the Bach Orchestral Suites.  I bought the CD a few weeks ago ...

Yes, it is in a litteral sense unusually good, even if constituting a theoretical and not exactly authenticised version of these works, but what the ... , nor was Siegbert Rampes version on MDG.

[The new erato]

i Just stumbed on this very curious review of the new BIS/Suzuki set of Bach orchestral music:

"J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos; Orchestral Suites
Album: J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos; Orchestral Suites
Label: Bis
Source: AMG
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, that Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan have been wasting their time concentrating on Bach's dour cantatas, and second, that 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. Their performances are just as musical; from top to bottom, the Bach Collegium Japan is an outstanding period instrument chamber orchestra. Their sound is rich but bright, their ensemble tight but relaxed, and their intonation virtually flawless. One can point out any number of felicities -- Shigeharu Yamaoka's warm-toned flute in the Second Brandenburg, Natsumi Wakamatsu's keen-edged violin in the Fourth Brandenburg, and Masaaki Suzuki's airborne harpsichord in the Fifth Brandenburg. Recorded in Bis' characteristically vivid super audio digital sound, this three disc set begs to be heard by anyone who likes the works. ~ James Leonard, All Music Guide"

All "boldings" are mine. This is some of the most peculiar Bach reviewing I've seen, and makes me question some aspects of the reviewers mental state. Any views?

[Antoine Marchand]

And Gardiner is bringing out his first recording of the Brandenburg Concertos next month. What a embarrassment of riches, indeed.

Brandenburg Concertos / Gardiner project - Part 1

                  http://www.youtube.com/v/FYWB4R25Gs8



Brandenburg Concertos / Gardiner project - Part 2

                 http://www.youtube.com/v/8hLyNF57YKo



Brandenburg Concertos / Gardiner project - Part 3

                http://www.youtube.com/v/mkwFvAkD1BU

[Opus106]

Thanks for posting those, Antoine. Jazzy HIP Bach... that arouses my interest.

[Coopmv]

Thanks for posting those, Antoine. Jazzy HIP Bach... that arouses my interest.

I am taking a wait-and-see on the Gardiner's set.  I may consider getting the DVD if one is available.  After all, I already have 20+ versions of Brandenburg Concertos and it is not clear if Gardiner with his English Baroque Soloists can do better than some of my top selections ... 

[Antoine Marchand]

Thanks for posting those, Antoine. Jazzy HIP Bach... that arouses my interest.

My pleasure, Navneeth. 

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

wasting their time concentrating on Bach's dour cantatas, and second, that Bach himself was wasting his time writing his melancholy church music when he could have been composing infinitely more cheerful secular music.  ~ James Leonard, All Music Guide"

All "boldings" are mine. This is some of the most peculiar Bach reviewing I've seen, and makes me question some aspects of the reviewers mental state. Any views?

While I don't think Mr. Leonard is insane, the review, as written, suggests that he lacks some historical knowledge of the circumstances in which JSB lived.

Bach "wasted his time" writing church music because that's what his employer, the church, wanted him to do. That's what composers did in those days - they wrote what the boss ordered.

Let's just be glad that JSB did manage to spend a few years at the Court in Cöthen, where he had the chance to produce that secular music we enjoy today.

[Bulldog]

i Just stumbed on this very curious review of the new BIS/Suzuki set of Bach orchestral music:

"J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos; Orchestral Suites
Album: J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos; Orchestral Suites
Label: Bis
Source: AMG
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, that Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan have been wasting their time concentrating on Bach's dour cantatas, and second, that 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. Their performances are just as musical; from top to bottom, the Bach Collegium Japan is an outstanding period instrument chamber orchestra. Their sound is rich but bright, their ensemble tight but relaxed, and their intonation virtually flawless. One can point out any number of felicities -- Shigeharu Yamaoka's warm-toned flute in the Second Brandenburg, Natsumi Wakamatsu's keen-edged violin in the Fourth Brandenburg, and Masaaki Suzuki's airborne harpsichord in the Fifth Brandenburg. Recorded in Bis' characteristically vivid super audio digital sound, this three disc set begs to be heard by anyone who likes the works. ~ James Leonard, All Music Guide"

All "boldings" are mine. This is some of the most peculiar Bach reviewing I've seen, and makes me question some aspects of the reviewers mental state. Any views?

Oh, I think that Leonard just wanted to shock his readers.  However, I do take exception to his using Bach's magnificent cantatas to acheive the shock.

Of course, it could simply be that Leonard is not really a strong Bach enthusiast.

[prémont]

Of course, it could simply be that Leonard is not really a strong Bach enthusiast.

Seems so, but the fact remains, that Suzuli´s new Brandenburg set is outstanding.

[Leo K.]

I've been to concerts to hear Bach's solo Violin Concerti from Anne Akiko Meyers, and Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg...and had recordings here and there...all amazing...especially live and it seems it would be very difficult to screw up these works, but a great violinist creates the illusion these works are effortless...and the disk above is no exception.  And lets not forget the atmospheric and wonderful string section of St. Martin in the Fields backing up Ms. Fischer on this recording.

Just hearing this CD for the first time tonight...yes, I'm squarely in the Bach mood here for whatever reason...perhaps a yearning for the colder Minnesotan winters that are only a illusion of a previous life now it seems...

I have a tendency to take Bach for granted and let him sit on my shelf here, and forget what power his music becomes unleashed if I just take the chance.  The solo violin concerti are two separate journeys through one universe, like two different lifetimes and how I could forget these works for a couple of years now leaves me puzzled, except perhaps the reality I didn't have the maturity to stay with them, and hopefully I'm a little more understanding to embrace them with more certainity.  Perhaps a year of graveyard shifts is the only thing that could've brought me back to all of Bach's violin concerti as presented here on this disk.

My first musical education was learning the violin from my Grandfather, so perhaps he's in there somewhere in these sounds as I listen again, back at his farm within a harsh Minnesotan winter, surrounded by Bach's Lutheran kin throughout the small farming communites where I traveled to visit my grandfather to learn violin.

Fischer plans her playing very straightforwardly, but her tone is luminous and her pacing effortless, a perfect combination for Bach's constructions here.  Bach only used strings for the accompaniments and the texture St. Martin in the Fields achieves here is the sound equivelant of Stradivari's varnish; velvety plush and light, not too dark, with just enough transparency to let the sun shine though on a cloudy fall morning.

A nice surprise was the Concerti for two violins in D minor, which I didn't realize I had heard before, perhaps in a Woody Allen film somewhere I just can't remember, but yet that too brings me back to my youth where I constantly watched Anne Hall while it snowed outside.

Yep, hard to separate memory and music, but thats why it's so enchanting too.

[Antoine Marchand]

Yep, hard to separate memory and music, but thats why it's so enchanting too.

That recalls me Plato's doctrine of recollection, where to know is to remember -to recall- what is already within one... "To know is to recall"... nice, no? 

[Renfield]

That recalls me Plato's doctrine of recollection, where to know is to remember -to recall- what is already within one... "To know is to recall"... nice, no? 

Well, yes, only Plato would think this applies to everything we learn. Meaning it's not quite as magical to reminisce, if that's all we do!

[Antoine Marchand]

Well, yes, only Plato would think this applies to everything we learn. Meaning it's not quite as magical to reminisce, if that's all we do!

Very magical indeed... because most of us just recall chairs and tables, material things or prosaic events; but it is also possible "to recall" the beauty, the goodness, our relation with God... For that reason sometimes I have thought that people as Bach, Haydn or Mozart, it is just people with more vivid memories.     

[Leo K.]

Very magical indeed... because most of us just recall chairs and tables, material things or prosaic events; but it is also possible "to recall" the beauty, the goodness, our relation with God... For that reason sometimes I have thought that people as Bach, Haydn or Mozart, it is just people with more vivid memories. 

Amen!

[Renfield]

Very magical indeed... because most of us just recall chairs and tables, material things or prosaic events; but it is also possible "to recall" the beauty, the goodness, our relation with God... For that reason sometimes I have thought that people as Bach, Haydn or Mozart, it is just people with more vivid memories. 

I don't think Plato had that in mind, but it's certainly an interesting extension to the concept.