MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


 REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
CD: Crotchet


Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F, BWV 1046 (1721) [16:47]
Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F, BWV 1047 (1721) [10:19]
Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G, BWV 1048 (1721) [9:26]
Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G, BWV 1049 (1721) [15:03]
I Barocchisti/Diego Fasolis
rec. Auditorium RSI, Lugano, Switzerland, 2004
ARTS 47715-8 [51:51]
Experience Classicsonline

On a first, casual listening, these brisk, generally aggressive readings sound like "period practice" gone haywire. In fact, they represent a hybrid of historical and modern performance styles. The performers frequently make unconventional choices, but the aim is always to clarify the music's structures and enhance its expressive power.

Thus, the bracing tempi that dominate BWV 1046 don't represent speed for speed's sake, but accommodate various musical details: the first movement's horn triplets, which can plod, make luminous sense here, and audible hemiolas set up the important cadences in both outer movements. The Adagio moves along forthrightly, with the oboe playing its little flourish near the close freely; the final chord, with its unexpected, unmarked swell and dramatic cutoff, skirts coarseness, but effectively propels the music into the following Allegro. In that movement's slow episode, the violin solo also has a flexible flair. The Menuetto's articulations vary on its returns, while its various alternating sections are rather interesting. The oboes fill in the repeats of the two Trios with elaborate, presumably written-out "embellishments"; those in the second Trio seemed, at first, a bit much -- inadvertently throwing focus to the pair of horns -- but they grew on me. The strings attack the Polacca's one forte phrase brusquely, especially the first time around -- old-fashioned elegance seems not to have been a high priority here -- but the move out of it is smooth enough.

After this, BWV 1047's merely brisk tempi seem almost comfortable. The central Adagio again flows smoothly, though I wasn't convinced by the consistent dotting of one of the pairs of even eighth-notes -- the rhythms among the three solo parts no longer line up. The outer movements avoid the sewing-machine effect, thanks to purposeful crescendos and diminuendos -- well-chosen, judiciously applied, but definitely not part of the "period" expressive menu. There's a joy in the sheer motor activity of the finale as it winds into its finish.

BWV 1048, for strings alone, is vigorously bowed -- alternating with odd bits of smoother articulation -- with keen rhythmic address; here and there, the basses land a cadence with an unceremonious thud. The Phrygian cadence separating the concerto's two "official" movements is unadorned, save for some discreet harpsichord scales. The finale contrives to maintain a feathery poise, even after the double-basses enter, and despite the basically driving approach.

BWV 1049 may just be the best performance on the disc. In the first movement, there's no loss of energy or involvement, yet a distinct lean into the theme's "down-bars" produces a nice lilting grace that eludes the conventional, all-bars-created-equal rendition. The Andante, like the other slow movements, is direct rather than searching in manner, while the finale moves along smartly and musically.

Significantly, I'd not thought much about the quality of the various soloists. They're all rather good -- although the trumpeter in BWV 1047 reduces a few of the trills to simple mordents -- without anyone's tone or phrasing standing out as exceptional. The unvalved horns in BWV 1046 have that familiar raw edge. The ripieno group's discipline is fine, if you don't mind the occasional bumptious moment.

The Super Audio CD plays vividly in plain frontal stereo; given the forward recorded perspective, in fact, a slight volume cut might prove beneficial, depending on your equipment. A companion Arts disc (47716-8), to be reviewed shortly, completes the set of Brandenburgs, filling it out with the Concerto for Flute, Violin, and Harpsichord.

Stephen Francis Vasta

see also review by Paul Shoemaker 


 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index