Bringing out older
recordings in the newer CD format is
a big business for recording companies.
There’s nothing wrong with this, per
se. Good or classic recordings made
before the invention of the CD have
a right to find their way to today’s
audience and not languish. Warner Classics
has created the series Apex in order
to accomplish this as best they can.
Given the number of
early music groups around the world
today, it is interesting to hear one
of the genre’s earlier proponents, Ton
Koopman and The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra,
make their way through Bach’s Brandenburg
Concertos 4 – 6 and Orchestral Suite
in B minor. Times change, tastes changes,
and although there is something evergreen
about these performances, there are
some questions as well. The recordings,
first brought out on Erato in 1972 and
1985, contain accounts of energetic
soloists, playing athletically. Although
this has its positive side, there’s
not much room for terracing of dynamics,
or for dynamic range period. I hate
to use the word heavy-handed but there,
I’ve now said it. If everyone involved
in these recordings had a chance to
do it over again today, and I would
include the engineers and producers
along with the performers in this "what
if?" question, would they do it
the same way now as then? These performers
were young then, and now with thousand
of miles of experience behind them it
might be a wiser, more thoughtful performance
that they turn out. There is something
relentless and hammering in the continuo
playing of these recordings, and although
the violin playing is flashy, especially
by Monica Huggett, is this what we really
need?
On the surface, these
are fine recordings. Deeper down, I’m
not sure there is a deeper down. The
slow movements are a real test, and
as performed by this group and its soloists
there are many static moments. Rests
should serve as pauses filled with tension.
Instead, they become a sort of void.
I am not sure if this is due to lack
of direction from Koopman. There are
also a few fluffed notes here and there,
and some disagreement in intonation
in the opening bars of Concerto No.
6. This particular concerto sounds as
if many people are struggling to have
their own individual opinion heard.
Despite this, there is some particular
fluid playing by cellist Jaap Ter Linden
here.
The Orchestral Suite
No. 2, as played by Rampal is also full-bloodied,
and modern. The continuo section does
an outstanding job of shadowing and
imitating him. The Rondeau sounds a
little machine-like as played by the
ensemble, more like an exercise than
an expression of an idea of phrasing.
We are spoiled these days, what with
so many sources for first-rate and in-touch
recordings by early music groups. Do
not misunderstand me. If you are, as
a listener, coming from a modern perspective
in that you love Mozart, Bach and Handel
indiscriminately, then this recording
will satisfy you. If you are someone
instead who is looking beyond that for
something that delves deeper, pulls
out new discoveries about composers
you thought you knew, then you might
look elsewhere.
The personnel credits
are incomplete, and that is unfortunate
as there is some lovely playing from
the basso continuo players in Concertos
No. 4 and 5. Perhaps it would have been
better to list everyone. It couldn’t
have been that difficult. There is also
a consistently irritating start to each
Concerto’s first movement, in that there
is no "room sound" before
the downbeat, almost as if someone had
to punch in or cut very close in the
editing room, right at the beginning.
It makes for a very sudden start, as
if no one breathes an upbeat before
playing. I could understand if this
happened in one of the concertos, but
it happens at the start of each one.
Rampal’s name is right at the top of
the credits but he only appears on a
quarter of the recording. Smart marketing,
I say, but the Amsterdam Baroque does
the lion’s share of the work. The program
notes of Raymond McGill are fully informational.
Also, Warner probably could have put
a little more effort into its mastering.
Think of that word, mastering. It implies
making it better or the best.
Chase Pamela
Morrison
Jean-Pierre Rampal, flute