Search - Johann Sebastian Bach, Tapiola Sinfonietta :: Bach: Violin Concertos

Scandinavian musicians make Bach sparkle with warmth

Dan Fee | Berkeley, CA USA | 08/31/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Backed up by the uncommonly good ensemble players of the Tapiola Sinfonietta, Pekka Kuusisto and his older brother Jaakko give utterly enchanting performances of the JS Bach violin concertos. Obviously used to brotherly fairness, they team up in two lovely double violin concertos, the second one (S./B.W.V.1060) being transcribed from the oboe/violin double concerto by using a violin in place of the oboe. There is plenty of authentic Baroque precedent for this sort of instrumental replacement, since even dear old JSB himself provides examples. If music was good, it could be played by various combinations. Thus did the Baroque era manifest its roots in the Renaissance period, when viols could stand in for missing voices in singing madrigals and other types of house music. In the two original solo violin concertos, each brother takes a starring turn. But the real star in this recording is the music. Whether clear and serene as a typically long-breathed Bach melody unfolds; or dancing with lively vigor and good humor; the brothers Kuusisto and their colleagues make the best possible case for this music. You understand that there is more to Bach than just our media-saturated image of a stern old Lutheran pater familias. Just judging from this music, you have to concede that father must have had a considerable sense of wit and good humor, along side that pious Lutheran curmudgeon who ever saw the dark and sinful ways of the Baroque world. So blended are the brothers that they seem like individualized edges of the greater ensemble; and just to ice the cake, you can even hear the harpsichord continuo tingling in the backgrounds of the harmonies, above and through and occasionally beneath the texture. If you get this Cd, and find that it appeals to you as much as to me, you may also want to investigate Pekka Kuusisto's lovely recording of the Sibelius violin concerto, on the same label. This one is a keeper, no doubt; so full of human sparkle and warmth that you want to sit back with a good cup of brewed coffee, and consider how much old JSB would have probably been sitting out there, somewhere, in one of the coffee houses so near the university. After all, he wrote a whole cantata extolling the virtues of coffee. Highly recommended."