Search - Johann Sebastian Bach, Malcolm Proud, John Toll :: J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos

Period instrument feminism?

Leslie Richford | Selsingen, Lower Saxony | 08/12/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"All the concertos contained on these four CDs are directed by women: Monica Huggett, Elizabeth Wallfisch, Alison Bury, Catherine Mackintosh. Having found the time to sit down and listen to the whole set really carefully, what I heard pleased me, on the whole, very much indeed, with only the fourth Brandenburg Concerto seeming a little "weak-kneed". The Brandenburg Concertos here cannot, perhaps, quite compete with Trevor Pinnock's legendary recording for Deutsche Grammophon Archiv, but the female directors have all obviously taken a good deal of trouble over the individual concerti and I was able to hear a good deal of detail, some of which I had not noticed on other recordings (and I own six or seven "Brandenburgs"). The playing is really excellent, the soloists are all quite remarkable for their competence and skill. Just listen to Catherine Mackintosh on the violino piccolo in the first Brandenburg Concerto, for example, or to the oboe, trumpet and harpsichord solos in some of the other concertos - this is all wonderful stuff!



The additional two CDs in the box contain Bach's Violin Concertos, the Triple Concerto BWV 144 and four reconstructed violin concertos (one with an additional oboe solo part), all played and directed from the violin by female Australian period-instrument specialist Elizabeth Wallfisch. I must say that here, too, I enjoyed the performances very much, although in the end I felt that BWV 1044 was rather weaker than on competing recordings by La Stravaganza Hamburg/Siegbert Rampe (Virgin Veritas) or by Le Concert francais/Pierre Hantai (Naive-Astrée). Of course, the reconstructed concertos are speculative, but it is quite fascinating to hear them in these versions instead of the much better-known harpsichord versions.



The documentation corresponds to the price and is kept to an absolute minimum."