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J S Bach - Brandenburg Concertos

jimb0

jimb0

Jelly Roll Soul
I am a classical music ignoramus but various references have got me interested in listening to some Bach and the Brandenburg Concertos in particular. What are the recommended recordings I should look for?

J.
 
Radio 3's Building a Library came up with this suggestion in May 2007:

First Choice:
Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini (conductor)
(recorded 1996)
WARNER ELATUS 2564617732 (2-CD, mid-price) or as part of Il Giardino Armonico Artist box set WARNER CLASSICS 2564632642 (11-CD, budget)
 
If you want something slightly different, try the Decca recordings of Benjamin Britten conducting the ECO.
 
the ones i like:

- new london consort, philip pickett (oiseau lyre)

- orchestra of the age of enlightenment, no conductor! (virgin classics)


vuk.
 
Different, as in the orchestral layout, recording and interpretation by the conductor lead to a performance of the piece that 'sounds' different to most others.

As a compare and contrast there's a version on the Saga label, that is the complete antithesis of the Decca Britten version, very intimate, immediate and very playfull.

I think i now total 8 or so different versions.

The HMV £5 own label version is as good a place to start as any and remarkably nice for cheap cd.
 
It's a sort of halfway house between the now dated full orchestral Brandenburgs and the full on "authentic" ones.

Britten was hugely influenced by Bach, and I think it shows in these readings.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I picked up the Britten/ECO version, I will probably try one of the other versions if I get along with it. I also got Gould doing the Goldberg variations.
 
The 1955 version.

Listening to the Britten/ECO Brandenbergs now - there may be something to the classical music malarkey after all.
 
I love Bach , the Brandenberg is wonderful , now your next stop has to be the Master ....Beethoven , his music , especially the later symphonies , will get stuck inside your head , I cant get the 6th out of my head ...sorry for going off topic.
 
zener.

beethoven is quite possibly my favourite composer and i despise the 6th symphony. one day i shall publish a paper and demonstrate that it was the composer's "musical joke."

vuk.
 
That's what I think of the Missa Solemnis :p. I have really tried but to this day it sounds like a succession of errors to my young ears.
 
BTW--i much prefer these works in the harpsichord, which is what they were intended to be played on.


vuk.
Click to expand...

I just can't take the harpsichord and so for me it will always have to be piano. One can take this authentic lark too far. Now what was that Benjamin Britten quote re the harpsichord? Something about skeleton wasn't it?

Peter
 
Cheese said:
That's what I think of the Missa Solemnis :p. I have really tried but to this day it sounds like a succession of errors to my young ears.
Click to expand...

I used to agree with this statement until I heard Bernstein's NYPO account of it.
 
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