recommended recordings

·     Chamber ·     Choral ·     Concerti ·     Solo Insrumental   Bach: Brandenburg Concertos 1-3 / Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach Conductor: Ton Koopman Performer: Wilbert Hazelzet, Ton Koopman, et al. Ensemble: Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra Wea/Atlantic/Erato - #16163 / October 29, 1996 Click here for more information After about half a dozen years in limbo, Ton Koopman's marvelous 1983 readings with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra are back on the shelf at mid-price, though still on two single discs. The accent in these elegant, flowing performances is on variety--in the texture, in the ornamentation, and in matters of phrasing and articulation. The executants' voicing of the counterpoint is quite effective, as is their pointing of rhythm, which underscores the fact that so much of this music comes from the dance. Erato's sound is quite appealing, though the discs have been mastered at a rather high level. --Ted Libbey Bach: Solo & Double Violin Concertos / Manze, Podger, AAM Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach Conductor: Andrew Manze Performer: Andrew Manze, Rachel Podger Ensemble: Academy of Ancient Music Harmonia Mundi CD-Book (Fra) - #2907155 / April 13, 1999 Click here for more information It's well known that most of Bach's harpsichord concertos began their lives as violin concertos. Since only three violin originals survive--the ones designated as BWV 1041-43--and since these are among his greatest instrumental works, musical scholars and performers have been reversing the process, turning the harpsichord concertos back into violin originals. BWV 1060 is one such case, a concerto for two harpsichords, which sounds much less clangy and bangy in this reconstructed version for two...Read more J.S. & C.P.E. Bach: Harpsichord Concertos / Gustav Leonhardt Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach, Carl Philipp Emman. Bach Conductor: Gustav Leonhardt Performer: Gustav Leonhardt Ensemble: Orchestra Sony Classics - #63188 / August 19, 1997 Click here for more information The pairing on this disc is wonderful: Bach's greatest harpsichord concerto and one of his son's own works in the same key--a clear tribute to his father's masterpiece. This is also the best ever performance of Bach's greatest harpsichord concerto. Gustav Leonhardt simply sets perfect tempos--detail registers with ideal clarity, yet he keeps the music pressing inexorably forward. He has also selected an instrument with a penetrating but exceptionally lovely sound, and it's all captured on a...Read more

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