Bach: Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 4-6 (CD review)

Also, Triple Concerto, BWV 1044. Trevor Pinnock, the English Concert. DG Archiv 474 220-2.

The disc's excellent little accompanying booklet note mentions that these 1982 recordings were among the first Bach Brandenburg Concertos recorded using period instruments. Well, close: They were actually about the fourth or fifth period recordings, Nikolaus Haroncourt's 1960's recordings probably being among the first. Be that as it may, Pinnock and his band play the pieces as well as anybody before or since, and it's always good to see them at mid price.

The hallmarks of Pinnock's interpretations have always been their vivacity and liveliness, which at the time Pinnock made them critics attributed to the relatively fast tempos of the outer movements, tempos that have now become commonplace among not only the period-instruments crowd but with modern-instrument enthusiasts as well. Moreover, to be fair, Pinnock doesn't lead them any faster than many more-recent interpreters. In addition to just playing at lively tempos, though, Pinnock offers well-judged renderings that sound well balanced and well played. Indeed, Simon Standage's violin virtuosity alone seems worthy of the disc's price. It's also helpful to have Pinnock's 1984 reading of Bach's Triple Concerto, BWV 1044, along with the Brandenburgs Nos. 4-6, too.

The point of interest for a lot of potential buyers, however--and there must be a few people around who haven't already bought these recordings in one of their previous incarnations--may be the early digital sound. One can look at it in two ways, depending upon one's playback system. Either the sonics are wonderfully clean, light, and transparent, opening up textures never heard before; or they are bright and hard, lacking weight, and opening up textures never wanted before. I must admit that on first playing the recording it sounded a bit bright to my ears, but then by comparison everything else I put on sounded dull, clouded, and over-reverberant. Comparisons aren't always what they're cracked up to be.

I still don't think the recorded sound is as natural as that provided by Pinnock on his later recording with the European Brandenburg Ensemble on Avie, which is now my favorite set of Brandenburgs all the way around, or by Gustav Leonhardt and his all-star crew in their 1976 period-instruments performances, now remastered by Sony Seon. Nor do I think Pinnock's earlier interpretations are any more lively or loving than Jeanne Lamon's with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra on a Tafelmusik (or Sony) set, Jordi Savall's with the Le Concert des Nations on Astree, or Jeannette Sorrell's with Apollo's Fire on Avie.

Nevertheless, the earlier Pinnock discs have the advantage of coming in at a mid price, which is something, although you have to buy two CD's to get all six concertos since the folks at Archiv only offer them either separately or in a big box set with the four Bach Orchestral Suites. And to further complicate matters, since I wrote this review some years ago, DG now offer the first three and final three concertos minus anything else on separate discs they issued in 2011. Oh, well. Whatever the disc configuration, these performances are still worth investigating.

JJP

To listen to a few brief excerpts from this album, click here: