It is now 15 years since Trevor Pinnock and his English Concert first recorded Bach's four Orchestral Suites for Archiv. When there is so much still waiting to be given a new lease of performance life, when their older existing set still occupies a place of eminence among its rivals, and when the current catalogues are brimming over with recordings of Bach's orchestral music we may wonder, with some weight of evidence to support our doubt, whether yet another set of these suites is justified. Ah well, having got that off my chest I must say, right away, that the new set, if not of a concept or performing standard to eclipse the excellence of the earlier one, is hugely enjoyable. The playing in general is more relaxed and more refined in tone than in the 1979-89 recordings; and, for me, a welcome feature is that tempos are in many instances more moderate than those of the earlier set. There is a far greater degree of elegance, of poise, in the C major Suite (No. 1), and we are given time to breathe between dances which, in an almost unbroken C major tonal sequence, is essential. The chief difference between the two sets, however, is that whereas in the earlier one Pinnock observed only the repeat of the opening dotted section of each ''Ouverture'' proper, in the recent one he repeats the subsequent allegro section too, as indicated in the score.
For the seasoned Bach collector, however, it may not be so much the Suites that provide the lure of the new set as the miscellaneous items that also feature on each disc. There are five altogether, all of them drawn from Bach's sacred vocal music. In the context of the Suites themselves the most interesting movement is the opening chorus of the Cantata, Unsert Mund sei voll Lachens (No. 110). This is a superlatively crafted 'parody' of the French overture belonging to the second of the two D major Suites (BWV1069), in which the vitally energetic 9/8 fugal allegro is taken up by a four-part vocal texture, further strikingly diversified, at least in later performance, by alternating sections of solo and ripieno texture. And that is not all for there are, exceptionally, some 18 or so bars for bass solo in which the Christmas text is forcefully emphasized ''For the Lord has achieved great things for us''. Pinnock and his English Concert forces, vocal and choral, make the music spring to life in a naturally expressive way, free from affectation and exaggerated mannerism. What a pity we were not allowed to have the entire cantata.
Two other cantata movements here have close affinities with Bach's Brandenburg Concertos rather than his Orchestral Suites. One of them, the Sinfonia to No. 52, is better known in its role as the opening movement of Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F. In the cantata version the two horns, three oboes, strings and continuo with bassoon are retained, but the violino piccolo of the Brandenburg is dropped. The other Sinfonia is, from reorchestrating point of view, more interesting. The music in question is the opening movement of Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G, scored for strings and continuo. For the Cantata (No. 174), however, Bach transformed an already richly textured harmony by adding independent parts for two oboes, an oboe de caccia, and two hunting horns, further adding a bassoon to the continuo, a logical and traditional element where two- or three-part oboe texture prevails.
The remaining pieces are known only in the form in which they are heard here. One of them is the Sinfonia to Bach's Easter Oratorio, constructed in two strongly contrasting parts. Pinnock, alas, only gives us the first of them since the second leads into the chorus. But, since The English Concerto Choir were evidently there, why on earth not use them? The performance is slightly marred by insecure oboe playing. Finally, there is the beautiful movement, perhaps once upon a time part of a concerto, with which Bach introduced his Eastertide cantata, No. 42. It's scored for a concertino group of two oboes and a bassoon, with strings and continuo with organ. This da capo movement has an immensely expressive B section, a cantabile whose woodwind parts are tenderly and lyrically interwoven. The performance somewhat underplays the magic of this passage and the string sound is uncharacteristically astringent.
The set is enjoyable and unusually interesting for its 'fillers'. Clean recorded sound.'