Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 1-6, BWV1046-1051 (1708-21)
Philomusica of London/Thurston Dart (harpsichord and conductor)
rec. 1958-59, London
FORGOTTEN RECORDS FR 341-42 [46:19 + 55:00]
Thurston Dart’s late 1950s recording of the Brandenburg Concertos remains
an exciting, life enhancing experience. Subsequent conductors built on his
editions - Neville Marriner in particular - and made their own recordings.
Marriner’s Philips recordings with the ASMIF might indeed reasonably
be said to be homage to, and extrapolation of, Dart’s work in Bach performance
on disc. Dart’s influence has been gratifyingly extensive, and his regrettably
early death in 1971 has not dimmed admiration for his thoroughness, scholarly
application, editorial acumen, and practical musicianship.
The Philomusica of London contained a raft of outstanding instrumentalists,
among them violinists Carl Pini and Granville Jones, violist Cecil Aronowitz,
oboists Peter Graeme (who died very recently) and young Neil Black, flautist
Richard Adeney, viola da gambist Desmond Dupré, and trumpeter Dennis
Clift.
Dart favours trumpets (Clift and Sydney Ellison) in No.1, which pushes things
an octave higher. But the strikingly direct and bright sound is worth it,
not least when so enterprisingly, virtuosically and excitingly performed as
here. Carl Pini, who was many years later to make his own recording of the
Concertos - no doubt recalling Dart as he did so - is the excellent fiddler.
What emerges throughout is a lithe and compelling corporate identity, as does
purpose and precision in the finale of this concerto. We can admire the woody
recorder of Christopher Taylor in Nos. 2 and 4, the chamber intimacy in the
former concerto’s central movement, and the striking élan of
its Allegro assai finale.
Dart encourages some teaky but still tangy cello tone in No.3, and gives Granville
Jones an opportunity for solo glory in the Andante, an interpolation
from BWV1021 - but note the nicely balanced Dart harpsichord too. Jones’
interplay with the recorders of Christopher Taylor and Richard Taylor in No.4
is laudably engineered. Dart’s harpsichord is at its busiest in the
Affetuso of No.5-possibly a bit too much so-but his solo cadenza towards
the close of the movement reminds one of his outstanding solo recordings made
over the years. Viola warmth floods No.6, with Rosemary Green supporting Aronowitz,
and expression in the slow movement is quite intense, and warmly vibrated.
More than a staging post in the history of the Brandenburgs on disc, this
is an especially noteworthy and creatively alive document of performance practice
at the end of the 1950s.
Jonathan Woolf
An especially noteworthy and creatively alive document of performance practice
at the end of the 1950s.
Masterwork Index: Brandenburg concertos