Notes and Editorial Reviews
...In the First Concerto the two horns make a splendidly robust, grainy sound, though rhythmically the opening bars of the initial movement seemed a little stiff. The Adagio which follows it, however, is more relaxed and moves with an elegantly phrased fluency. The third movement Allegro has a pleasingly light tread... The tempos of the menuets and trios seem almost ideal, somewhat slower than some recent performances and consequently preserving much of their inherent balletic grace.
Trumpeter Friedemann Immer must have made at least half-a-dozen recordings of the Second Brandenburg. I have not always enjoyed his playing and have found his random omission of Bach's ornaments unwarranted. The present performance should rank
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among his strongest, though, since he negotiates with commendable security most of this challenging music without sacrificing the ornaments. The other elements of the concertino are secure, providing a freely but tastefully ornamented middle movement. The Third Concerto is lively and lightly articulated throughout...
The Fourth Concerto is a lively affair, crisply articulated and rhythmically buoyant. The violin solos are given plenty of shape and space to breathe, while the two recorders are chirpy and well defined if, on occasion, prey to excessive flights of fancy. This concerto, and the Fifth are, perhaps, the crowning achievements of the set. I find the phrasing and transparent textures in each of these works admirable and in many respects revelatory. Small quibbles over ensemble and tuning are easily pushed aside in performances as musicianly and sensitive as these. The Sixth Concerto, too, comes off well, intimate and rhythmically infectious...
...There is nothing routine either in the playing or the thinking behind it. It is fallible, but it is alive, it breathes, it stimulates and, for much of the time delights... Refreshing, and well recorded.
-- Gramophone [2/1999]
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Works on This Recording
1.
Brandenburg Concerto no 1 in F major, BWV 1046 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Academy for Ancient Music Berlin
Period: Baroque
Written: 1717; ?Cöthen, Germany
2.
Brandenburg Concerto no 2 in F major, BWV 1047 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Academy for Ancient Music Berlin
Period: Baroque
Written: 1717-1718; ?Cöthen, Germany
3.
Brandenburg Concerto no 3 in G major, BWV 1048 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Academy for Ancient Music Berlin
Period: Baroque
Written: 1711-1713; ?Weimar, Germany
4.
Brandenburg Concerto no 4 in G major, BWV 1049 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Academy for Ancient Music Berlin
Period: Baroque
Written: circa 1720; ?Cöthen, Germany
5.
Brandenburg Concerto no 5 in D major, BWV 1050 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Academy for Ancient Music Berlin
Period: Baroque
Written: 1720-1721; ?Cöthen, Germany
6.
Brandenburg Concerto no 6 in B flat major, BWV 1051 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Academy for Ancient Music Berlin
Period: Baroque
Written: 1708-1710; ?Weimar, Germany
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