JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)

 

Brandenburg Concertos

 

CD1

Concerto No.1 BWV 1046 in F major

Concerto No.2 BWV 1047 in F major

Concerto No.3 BWV 1048 in G major

 

CD2

Sinfonia: Cantata BWV 174

Concerto No.4 BWV 1049 in G major

Concerto No.5 BWV 1050 in D major

Concerto No.6 BWV 1051 in B flat major

 

Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini

 

In recent years Rinaldo Alessandrini and Concerto Italiano have added sparkling new performances of key classical works to the catalogue to clamouring critical acclaim with high sales figures to match. Recent examples include Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (Gramophone Recording of the Month) and Monteverdi’s Vespers (Gramophone Editor’s Choice). 

 

This new performance of Bach’s six Brandenburg Concertos is eagerly awaited, and Alessandrini’s interpretation is as fresh and vibrant as one has come to expect.

  

Possibly not since the days when I Musici were the Philips label’s “house” band for baroque music has an Italian ensemble recorded such enjoyable and recommendable accounts of Bach’s great orchestral works. The Brandenburg Concertos are usually regarded as a high-water mark of the German baroque, but Alessandrini and his musicians argue the case forcefully and convincingly for considering them as Bach’s bid to outdo any contemporary Italian’s achievement in the concerto grosso form. Each of the six concertos is differently and innovatively scored — which Italian composer would use three solo violins, violas and cellos, or drop violins in favour of pairs of solo viole da braccia (conventional arm-held violas) and viole da gamba, as in Bach’s Nos 3 and 6? — and these are bracing, occasionally quirky but fresh-sounding versions of much-recorded works. In the allegro of No 3, Alessandrini challenges the tempo of Reinhard Goebel’s controversial Musica Antiqua Köln set (Archiv), and his lilting rhythms in the dancelike presto of No 4 and the final allegro of No 6 are a delight.

Four stars, Times

 

It's a while since we had a new set of the Brandenburgs and certainly a long time since one as invigorating and imaginative as this one. Rinaldo Alessandrini and his superb Italian ensemble don't mess around with the music as some other performers have been tempted to do; instead they clarify textures, point rhythms and focus on intriguing harmonic shifts, but all with scrupulous attention to the score. Really exhilarating stuff!

Gramophone

 

Naïve 2cds OP30412