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

This 6-CD set features many of the most well-loved 18th century concertos in the repertoire, including the group that make up Vivaldi’s ever popular The Four Seasons as well as J.S. Bach’s six Brandenburg Concertos. The collection also includes, Bach’s ‘Alla Manera Italiana’ and other concertos in the Italian style by Bach, Marcello, and Vivaldi. The works are performed by one of the leading period instrument groups of today, Concerto Italiano and its renowned musical director Rinaldo Alessandrini.

This complete set of instrumental works for large forces by J. S. Bach represents, for the ensemble Café Zimmermann and for Alpha, the fruit of ten years’ work and research. The great care taken over each volume – in the choice of musicians and instruments, of recording venue and acoustics, with the fullness and balance of sound perfectly controlled by Hughes Deschaux and Aline Blondiau so that each instrument can be heard clearly – has made this six-volume set into an absolute reference. It is presented here at a reasonable price, but without sacrificing the editorial quality of the project. The CDs come with full liner notes, and the booklets are now available in three languages, English, French and German.

Cries of ‘Vive Kl’empereur’ rang out in the Kroll Opera House after Klemperer’s first appointment as its director, conducting a concert of Bach and Mozart. This collection provides a wealth of the celebrated conductor’s Baroque and Classical repertoire, showcasing – at the forefront of the selection – Klemperer’s characteristically ‘unadorned’ Bach as well as his fiery interpretations of Haydn’s late symphonies. The set also includes Rameau’s Gavotte with Six Variations, Handel’s A minor Concerto Grosso and Gluck’s Overture to Iphigénie en Auilde.

Otto Klemperer was born on 14th May 1885 in Breslau, Silesia (now Wroclaw, Poland) and died on 6th July 1973 in Zurich, hence 2013 marks 40 years since his passing. He had had a remarkable career as a young man but it was at the age of 70 that he started a series of recordings that would not only establish him as an internationally renowned conductor but provide EMI with a catalogue of recordings that became and remain touchstones.

This collection contains the solo orchestral recordings that Klemperer undertook of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. He recorded the Bach Orchestral Suites twice, the first in 1954, these appear on CD for the first time, and in 1969 whilst the recording of the Brandenburg Concertos date from 1960. Of Handel, he recorded No, 4 of the set of six Concerti Grossi Op. 6 in 1956.

The Classical period is represented in this collection by Franz Josef Haydn. In all Klemperer recorded 8 of his symphonies – 6 from the set written for Salomon’s London concerts, the once-called “Oxford”, supposedly written for the time he received an honorary degree from its university and the delightful No. 88. These recordings were made over the period from 1960 to 1971.

The works by the other two composers contained in this box are arrangements. Gluck composed his opera Iphigenia in Aulis in 1774 inspired by Euripedes’s last play written between 408 and 406BC, the year of his death. Richard Wagner made his arrangement at the end of 1846/beginning of 1847 in Dresden and it was this that Klemperer heard when Gustav Mahler conducted it in 1907 just a few weeks short of his 22nd birthday and this would serve as an inspiration for his entire career.

The work by Rameau was transcribed by Klemperer himself in 1967 and is a Gavotte in A minor with six doubles – or variations – taken from his Nouvelles suites de pieces de clavecin (c.1728). It was first performed with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in June 1968.

All of the classic English Concert recordings in a single box for the first time, including the 6 Brandenburgs, the 4 Orchestral Suites, the 13 keyboard concertos, the 3 authenticated violin concertos and multiple instrument concertos. With soloists including Simon Standage, Philip Pickett, Lisa Beznosiuk and David Reichenberg.

Liner notes by Michael Talbot.

The English Concert’s recordings of Bach from the late 1970s and early 1980s have remained benchmarks of early music authentic-style performance.” These performances represent the peak of Pinnock’s achievement as an advocate of authentic performance, with sounds that are clear and refreshing … from first to last there is no routine…Soloists are outstanding.” The Penguin Guide.