A very good rendition
Douglas Cox | Palo Alto, CA USA | 04/19/2004
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I lost my previous version of the Brandenburg Concertos, and couldn't remember who did them, so thinking Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields is a safe choice (I almost always like how they perform anything), I bought this one. It's typical Marriner, orchestrated and performed as it should be. It just doesn't seem quite as exciting as I remembered my previous version was - but maybe that's just a trick of memory. I'm happy with it."
Light, Airy, Magnificent
Don | Melbourne, Vic, Australia | 05/09/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I had previously owned a vinyl set of Brandenburg recordings by the Berlin Philharmonic, with Herbert von Karajan. I had bought it thinking, Bach is German, thus the Berlin Philharmonic should have a good interpretation. When I first heard this recording and its companion, I was simply blown away at the difference in the sound.This recording of the Concertos uses sparse instrumentation to present a sound that can best be characterised as subtle. It's a completely different presentation from the full orchestration version that I had previously heard. I do not claim to be a Baroque scholar, but it seems to me that Neville Mariner has definitely got it right with these recordings.
The companion recording is : Bach: Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 4, 5, 6
I would say exactly the same things about the recording of Concertos 4, 5, & 6"