Customer Reviews

Johann Sebastian Bach: Concertos for 3 & 4 Harpsichords (BWV 1063-1065) - The English Concert / Trevor Pinnock

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Concertos for 3 or 4 Harpsichords. Performed by Trevor Pinnock, Kenneth Gilbert, Lars Ulrik Mortensen and Nicholas Kraemer, harpsichords, The English Concert, directed from the harpsichord by Trevor Pinnock. Recorded at the Henry Wood Hall in London in February 1981. Released by Deutsche Grammophon Archiv on LP (2534 001), on cassette (3311 001) and on CD (400 041-2). The recording has since been re-released as part of a 3 CD set containing all of Bach's harpsichord concertos (Complete Harpsichord Concertos). The total playing time of the original disc is a mere 39'32".

If you are looking for this recording, I recommend going for the 3CD set with all of Bach's harpsichord concertos as indicated above, because there the CDs are filled, and the price is also attractive.

The English Concert recordings made as of 1979 for Deutsche Grammophon's early music label Archiv are and always will be something very special. They breathe the very spirit of discovery and excitement about period instrument playing which has made the movement for historical performance practice so popular over the past 30 years or so. It is true that Bach's harpsichord concertos have been recorded untold times since then, and there are some really excellent verions among these newer ones, but personally I still come back to Trevor Pinnock and his team if I really want to "get in" to this music with its mixture of delicate harpsichord sounds and beautifully energetic string tutti (here there are four each of first and second violins, three violas, two celli and a violone - unfortunately, the booklet gives neither names nor details of the instruments used). The recording is, as one has come to expect from Deutsche Grammophon, spacious, clean and expertly miked, enabling anyone who is that way inclined to figure out who is playing what and when. This is music that I can still get excited about after all these years!

..which is both a heartfelt compliment on the quality of the recording and playing and a minor complaint against the length of the recording.

This is not the tangle of furiously hammered strings that I had anticipated, but a wonderfully complex musical tapestry that takes a good deal of careful listening to to sort out what is happening. A trio of full-blown masterpieces by 'the master', directed by Pinnock - you can't go wrong.

If I'd reviewed this performance a few years ago, I would have given it five stars without hesitation. The concerti for two and three harpsichords are splendidly exuberant music, Bach in the same mood as the Brandenburgs, and would surely be better known if they weren't so difficult to perform in concert halls. Miked recordings have made them more plausible for listeners, to our great benefit. The performance here, by Trevor Pinnock and friends, is very artful. However, I've just discovered the recordings by Pieter-Jan Belder and Musica Amphion, which are included in the Brilliant Classics Complete Bach Edition. Belder brings more than artful control to his performance; he brings fire and passion. By comparison, my old standard, this disk by Trevor Pinnock, seems overly cautious and a trifle dry. But in either performance, Bach's Concerto for Three Harpsichords in C minor is, for the moment, the music I would choose for my own death and resurrection, or for a sojourn on a desert isle. But don't misunderstand me; the Trevor Pinnock performances of these concerti and of the Goldberg variations are still treasures not to be missed.