Bach: Brandenburg Concertos & Suites
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Johann Sebastian Bach
Label: EMI
Magazine Review Date: 3/1987
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 191
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 747881-8
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (6) Brandenburg Concertos |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Academy of St Martin in the Fields Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Neville Marriner, Conductor |
| (4) Orchestral Suites |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Academy of St Martin in the Fields Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Neville Marriner, Conductor |
Author:
It was a cunning idea of EMI's to link Marriner's latest Academy recordings of the Bach Brandenburgs and Suites. This means they can be offered together on three CDs which is more economical than the usual four, if they are issued separately. But, alas, I cannot report that the end result is a bargain. The Brandenburgs are frankly disappointing. Nicholas Anderson described them as ''urbane'' and with jog-a-long rhythms they are seldom very involving. Indeed, NA thought the Third and Fourth Concertos ''little more than dutiful'' though he made an exception for George Malcolm's harpsichord link in No. 3. Indeed, the continuo playing is always fresh throughout. But the sparkle and sense of enjoyment that make Marriner's earlier set for Philips so rewarding and invigorating (and George Malcolm participates there also) are missing. Even the EMI recording is not an improvement on the digitally remastered Philips analogue discs. In fact, the EMI focus is not always absolutely clean.
In the Suites the recording seems much firmer and generally very good indeed, if essentially forward and robust. Here the new performances are much closer in feeling to the earlier LP set, made in 1971 for Decca and they are generally rewarding. But again, there is undoubtedly a greater sense of spontaneity in the earlier recording, plus a special kind of baroque exuberance which must be partly associated with Thurston Dart who had a strong influence on the proceedings. The result—in NA's words— ''is a lightness and sparkle in the Decca set which I found only intermittently in the new issue''. But the vividness of the EMI recording, obviously more modern and fuller in texture (without loss of transparency), results in considerable compensation and these new performances are easy to enjoy. Readers will note that Decca have now issued the earlier accounts of Suites Nos. 2 and 3 (most listeners' favourites) on a mid-price Ovation CD, with two other concertos offered as a bonus (CD 417 715-2DM—reviewed on page 173).IM
In the Suites the recording seems much firmer and generally very good indeed, if essentially forward and robust. Here the new performances are much closer in feeling to the earlier LP set, made in 1971 for Decca and they are generally rewarding. But again, there is undoubtedly a greater sense of spontaneity in the earlier recording, plus a special kind of baroque exuberance which must be partly associated with Thurston Dart who had a strong influence on the proceedings. The result—in NA's words— ''is a lightness and sparkle in the Decca set which I found only intermittently in the new issue''. But the vividness of the EMI recording, obviously more modern and fuller in texture (without loss of transparency), results in considerable compensation and these new performances are easy to enjoy. Readers will note that Decca have now issued the earlier accounts of Suites Nos. 2 and 3 (most listeners' favourites) on a mid-price Ovation CD, with two other concertos offered as a bonus (CD 417 715-2DM—reviewed on page 173).
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos & Suites
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