The idea behind this recording, that of assembling concertos which, to a greater or lesser extent probably provided Bach with his earliest models, is an interesting one. Bach's first exposure to the Italian concertos of Vivaldi and doubtless of other Italians, too, almost certainly occurred at Weimar between 1708 and 1713. This was the period during which he arranged several of Vivaldi's concertos for solo harpsichord and organ as well as those by others such as Alessandro Marcello, Telemann and the nephew of Bach's own employer, Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar. The present disc contains concertos by Vivaldi, Telemann, the gifted Prince and Bach himself. In an extended note, Joshua Rifkin, the director of the Bach Ensemble, provides details of the sources used for each work as well as giving helpful background information.
Musically speaking the chief interest lies in the Bach and Vivaldi concertos though the other two are attractive if comparatively unambitious works. Vivaldi's Concerto in D minor, RV208, Il grosso Mogul, exists in several versions; Bach, you may recall, transcribed it for solo keyboard (BWV594). Rifkin uses a version based on two sets of parts which differ from other sources in the inclusion of extended violin cadenzas in both the outer movements. Bach, too, must have encountered the work in a similar version since he included the cadenzas in his transcription. The reconstruction of the Bach Concerto in D minor is more complex, drawing on material from two church cantatas (BWV146 and 188) and two later sources of the concerto itself, BWV1052 (Bach's autograph score of the Concerto in D minor for harpsichord and strings) and BWV1052a (parts copied by C. P. E. Bach of the same work). Both the Telemann Concerto in G minor and the Concerto in B flat by Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar were transcribed by Bach at Weimar for solo keyboard (BWV985 and 982 respectively); Telemann in fact undertook the publication of six of the Prince's concertos, including the present one, after his untimely death in 1715. Telemann's edition is used for this performance.
The soloist in each of the four concertos is Stanley Ritchie, whose playing I have admired for many years. He gives a dazzling account of the Vivaldi concertos with secure intonation, crisp articulation and considerable panache. Ritchie is no stranger to baroque instrumental practice and his performances are those of a seasoned virtuoso. For the most part the Bach Ensemble play cleanly, providing Ritchie with lively and sympathetic support. The Bach concerto is of considerable fascination; not all of it is entirely convincing, perhaps, in its present appearance and, in this work more than in the others, the players turn in less polished performances; Ritchie, himself, provides the third movement cadenza as well as giving a delicately expressive and beautifully shaped account of the Adagio middle movement.
In short, a stimulating issue which no Bach lover will wish to pass by. Well recorded and, as I have implied, well documented. Some of the ripieno playing, one to a part, is a little undernourished and lustreless in sound but there is plenty to enjoy none the less and the performances are assisted by a sympathetic acoustic.'