Bach, J S: Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 1-6 BWV1046-1051

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The playing is ravishing in the chamber-music slow-movement textures. …a recording you must hear, if only to hear how the boundaries of these extraordinary concertos can be stretched. — BBC Music Magazine, March 2009, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 2nd Mar 2009
Catalogue No: HMU807461/62
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Length: 96 minutes

Presto Recording of the Week

9th March 2009

Bach, J S: Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major, BWV1046

Work length21:39

$4.20

$5.25

I. Allegro

Track length4:10

$1.00

$1.25

II. Adagio

Track length3:09

$1.00

$1.25

III. Allegro

Track length4:29

$1.00

$1.25

IV. Menuet - Trio - Poloinesse - Menuet

Track length9:51

$1.20

$1.50

Bach, J S: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major, BWV1047

Work length11:17

$3.00

$3.75

I. Allegro

Track length5:11

$1.00

$1.25

II. Andante

Track length3:20

$1.00

$1.25

III. Allegro assai

Track length2:46

$1.00

$1.25

Bach, J S: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV1048

Work length10:59

$2.00

$2.50

I. Allegro - Adagio

Track length5:55

$1.00

$1.25

II. Allegro

Track length5:04

$1.00

$1.25

Bach, J S: Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major, BWV1049

Work length14:46

$3.20

$4.00

I. Allegro

Track length7:07

$1.20

$1.50

II. Andante

Track length3:23

$1.00

$1.25

III. Presto

Track length4:16

$1.00

$1.25

Bach, J S: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV1050

Work length21:18

$3.40

$4.25

I. Allegro

Track length10:36

$1.40

$1.75

II. Affettuoso

Track length5:28

$1.00

$1.25

III. Allegro

Track length5:14

$1.00

$1.25

Bach, J S: Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B flat major, BWV1051

Work length16:04

$3.00

$3.75

I. Allegro

Track length5:39

$1.00

$1.25

II. Adagio ma non tanto

Track length4:48

$1.00

$1.25

III. Allegro

Track length5:37

$1.00

$1.25

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Recording of the Week, Bach's Brandenburg Concertos

9th March 2009

Richard Egarr and The Academy of Ancient Music record Bach’s six concerti grossi at French baroque pitch (A = 392Hz), which has ‘a remarkable effect on the richness of the sound’.

Long neglected on a library shelf in Brandenburg Castle, these six 'Concertos for several instruments' have since become some of the best-known works in the classical repertoire for their musical inventiveness and their games of mathematical symmetry. Richard Egarr and the Academy of Ancient Music have endeavoured to return to the original 'chamber' conception of the works, with one player per part.

"The 'Brandenburgs' have been recorded from the earliest days of the industry by the greatest performers: the first complete set, and one of my personal favourites, was made in 1932 by Alfred Cortot and his Orchestre de l'École Normale de Musique in Paris. Of the two recordings by Casals, the first from 1950 with the Prades Festival Orchestra has a dazzling array of soloists, and the music is delivered with extraordinary vitality and colour - including the use of soprano saxophone instead of the high trumpet. I am very pleased and proud to present our 'Brandenburgs' in this astonishing company. It has been a great journey exploring this wonderful set of concertos with my AAM colleagues, many of whom have recorded these works a number of times. Particular thanks must go to Pavlo, Rodolfo and Joe for their amazing contributions. Also to Trevor Jones (his fifth recording…) who is one of the true pioneers of early music, and has been with AAM since its earliest days. If this set of 'Brandenburgs' becomes the 464th 'hit' on the search engine, it might illicit a slight numerological smile from Bach in e-heaven." RICHARD EGARR

Reviews

March 2009

The playing is ravishing in the chamber-music slow-movement textures. …a recording you must hear, if only to hear how the boundaries of these extraordinary concertos can be stretched.

June 2009

…it is noticeable that these performances have moved away from the clipped articulate gestures of recent decades to embrace something of the older tradition of shapely long lines and smooth phrases. It gives the music an easy feel, relaxed and friendly as befits its chamber status...

September 2012

I can’t recommend them highly enough. I’ve listened to the Boston Baroque/Marin Pearlman collaboration as well as the famous Marriner/Academy recordings. They don’t hold a candle to the finesse and flavor of the Egarr set … This set of concertos has moved to the head of the class and I wouldn’t want to be without it. Extremely infectious music, most highly recommended.

March 2009

Notably [Egarr] chooses to use what is generally referred to as ‘French’ Baroque pitch (A = 392Hz). It is the first time that these concertos have been recorded at such a low pitch and it has a remarkable effect on the richness of the sound. As Richard Egarr says himself ‘it sounds like the whole music which the ensemble performs has been given a very large glass of claret’. It also has the added benefit of making some of the very high solo parts (such as the trumpet in the 2nd Concerto) slightly more playable. At this slightly lower pitch, these instruments (which often sound like they're blasting) are able to give a much gentler and more flexible performance and the balance of the ensemble is also better.

6th March 2009

Though there are already CD versions of the Brandenburg Concertos to suit every taste, Richard Egarr's recordings still manage to carve out a distinctive niche of their own. Anyone with perfect pitch will soon notice that the concertos are delivered at a pitch significantly lower even than the baroque pitch often used for period-instrument performances: the Academy of Ancient Music tunes to A=392 Hz, effectively a whole tone lower than modern concert pitch, which enables them to use the French-model wind instruments that were widely played in Germany in Bach's time, and with just one instrument to a part throughout the orchestra, the textures have a warm, chamber-style intensity. The stratospherically high trumpet part in the second concerto loses all its glare (though the recorder in the same concerto gets swamped), while the solo violin in the fourth and fifth concertos can weave its delicate tracery with perfect naturalness. Though Egarr adds a guitar and theorbo to the continuo, the harmony still lacks definition, while the sheer loving detail of the performances sometimes blunts their edge.

Bach, J S: Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 1-6 BWV1046-1051

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Recording of the Week, Bach's Brandenburg Concertos

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