Customer Reviews

Panorama: Johann Sebastian Bach, Vol. 1

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I've been so many years listenig to baroque music; in fact now I enjoy performing it. As a baroque 'listener', I always pretend to find the best performance of the works I'm looking for. I had listened to many preformances of the Brandenburg Concerti, but I was never happy whith them: sometimes it was the tempo, the instruments were not ancient ones, or even I could find really boring ways of performing them! One day I found By chance Goebel's version, and I knew that it was going to be the performance I had been looking for it since many years ago. I strongly recomend them to anyone interested in this kind of music, and specially, in German baroque.

Quite simply, the best recording of the Brandenburgs out there. The solos are stunning (especially Goebel's violin solo in Concertos 1 and 4), the sound of the ensemble is warm and full (unlike the thin, bland sound of most British groups such as the English Concert or the Academy of Ancient Music), and the recording quality is spectacular. This CD has become famous among early music aficionados for its rather unorthodox choices for tempi; I once read a review which referred to this recording as "Punk Barock." Admittedly, the tempi are considerably faster than most other recordings of this work, but where is it written that Baroque music has to be played in a standard, plodding, unoriginal, and unexciting way? Goebel and his group bring these pieces alive and the music sparkles. But in spite of the brisk tempi, it never seems as if it is fast just for the sake of being fast--Goebel never loses the musical lines within each piece. Even in the last movement of Brandenburg 3--probably the most "over-the-top" movement in the set--the group still brings out the little intricacies which make the Brandenburgs a masterpiece. And hey, as I've always said: if you've got it, flaunt it. Just because other ensembles can't play as fast doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with Goebel's interpretation. And don't be fooled by the large number groups in recent years who have tried to imitate Goebel's "go-for-broke" approach--Il Giardino Armonico comes to mind, for example. Musica Antiqua Koln did it first and it did it much better. So if you want a typical boring and uninspired version of the Brandenburg Concerti, then go out and buy the versions of Boston Baroque or the English Concert. If you want an exciting version of these works, buy the Giardino or the Camarata of the 18th Century version. But if you want to be taken into a completely different realm of music-making, buy the Musica Antiqua Koln recording. It is as perfect a performance of music as you will ever find.

I think this is my favorite copy.

This is my fourth copy of the Brandenburg contertos. The other ones are by conducted by Christopher Hogwood (good), Benjanmin Britten (also good), and a version by Boston Baroque (which was just pathetic, I had to throw that away not to subject anybody else to it!).

If you're tired of sappy, long winded, boring, and vibrato-rich romantic interpertations of baroque music, you'll like this version. But just so you get a feel for the speed, they did fit 5 concetos on one cd. The extra concertos on the second cd were also good (and didn't feel so fast).

Concerto #2 is my favorite and they do a really good job. The trumpet was not predominant but rather a part of the team. There were a lot of lines that you normally don't pay attention to in other versions (probably because the trumpet dominates). These are highlighted here. Play it loud though because the flute is very sweet sounding and soft and so it can easily be lost in the background.

Number five had a few spots which were uncomfortably fast though. I didn't know someone can play the harpsichord that fast. It's still expressive.

Number six felt like it was the fastest but it was really good.

Don't let the speed fool you, the performes were very expressive.

So far this is my favorite version.

Bracing Bach! Bouyant and breezy, with lots of air. Tempi are quite rapid, but the secret to their success, I believe, is that Goebel et_al. give a strong beat at the beginnings of measures and are much lighter on the secondary beats, creating the illusion of cutting the pulse of the music "in half", as when shifting to a higher gear a car moves faster but the engine noise lowers to a more relaxed pitch. What might seem at first breathless, as one grows more aware of its charms, feels absolutely right, and as observed in earlier appraisals, the results are "breathtaking", and "very expressive" indeed.

The energy, passion and virtuosity of these performances are truly beyond compare. I don't know how many recordings and live performances of these Bach favorites I've been exposed to over the years - but I fell in love with these from first hearing. Nothing else like them - buy, buy, buy!!!!