Gardiner and the Brandenburg Concertos

John Eliot Gardiner will record the Brandenburgs early in 2009. The BBC has a series of short films on the preparations.

http://www.monteverdi.co.uk/news/index.cfm?news_id=55

 

Thank you for posting, Tones. It is good news, and the excerpts whetted my appetite.

 

Brandenburg concertos

Thanks for the link, Tones.

Knowing about 140 versions of these works I would say, that Gardiner judged from these clips -from a stylistical point of view- falls between the Parrott's recording (EMI) and Pinnocks second recording (Avie), but imbued with enough individuality to be interesting in its own right, so I shall await its release eagerly. Another upcoming release I await in tension, is the recording on HM by Academy of Ancient Music (the English group) led by R. Egarr.

 

Golly! I didn't know Bach wrote that many versions of these works! He certainly was a workaholic!

 

He,he, Bach left so few instructions concerning how his music was to be played, that it seems justified to name any interpretation or recording of his music "a version".
Or maybe you would be so kind to tell me, which "version" represents the music per se.

 

Mmm, I think that's a statement I like!

If I had JSB's heavenly phone number, I'd ask him and share his answer with you (and the rest of the forum). But since I haven't, we have to leave the answer up to the Lord God Almighty, if existing.
Soli Deo Gloria, n'est-ce pas?

 

The same can be said about Handel's Op. 6 -- just when I thought this is the way the music sounds, here comes Il Giardino armonico's recent new recording of the complete set, which really catches me off guard interpretatively.

 

Very true, and for the same reason this recording is on my wishlist. I suppose it adds some Italian zest to the music??

 

Certainly it would be interesting to ask JSB a few questions. BTW I am convinced that his answers would allow for at least some freedom as to interpretation.

 

Italian zest yes, although I must say Antonini really interprets this music by insisting on utilising every single license that this music grants (or, for some people, does not grant) its performers: heightened contrasts in phrasing, dynamics and tempi, continuo colours, extended ad lib cadenzas, variety in instrumental textures.... He certainly has tried very hard to make this music sound surprising, something that he also did (but to a much less degree) with Bach's Brandenburgs.

 

Thanks for this, Masolino. I become more and more convinced, that I have to acquire this Händel/Antonioni recording ASAP, even if I do not find any real surprises in their Brandenburgs.

BTW nice to meet you here in this peaceful place.

 

Must be an Italian thing. I'm still trying to get my head around this one:



The playing is good, even outstanding (sometimes far, far too fast, so that the violins have difficulty in articulating the last movement of No.3), but the odd tempi seem all over the place.

 

Alessandrini's Brandenburg for me is rather conservative compared to Antonini's. Unlike you I find some of the playing in the former a bit sloppy (but pleasantly so) and none of the tempi extreme.

 

Indeed the Handel is bold but very convincing (that these 12 Grand Concertos require a bit of dramatisation in order to reveal their true value.) Bach's Brandenburgs don't strike me the same way at all.

Two excerpts from Op. 6 No. 7 -- note how Antonini adds extra impact and sonority to the Adagio introduction and how the following fugue sounds more interesting with each of its contrapuntal strands finely and independently crafted. No doubt some would find the little harpsichord cadenza after the pause (Handel indicates no fermata here I think?) to be appalling, but it is really far from being randomly inserted.

http://www.mediafire.com/?iniqmvzovzi
http://www.mediafire.com/?yzjncntzmje

Thank you for the warm welcome back, too. I like the peaceful atmosphere here so much better.

EDIT. Handel apparently does indicate a fermata where Antonini has decided to unleash a harpsichord solo

 

Hmm, might give Antonini's a miss then.

 

Indeed - I personally find a musical discourse mixing different articulations (and non-articulations ie legatos) to be more interesting, but this is, of course, subjective.

 

I also like the Handel Grotty Concerti very much, Pinnock's old Archiv versions being particular favourites. I notice that the sole reviewer on amazon.de gave the Antonini version a severe slating (on the other hand the sole amazon.uk reviewer thought they were the greatest thing since sliced bread).

 

The Amazon.de reviewer thinks Antonini's interpretation is too harsh and too strange, and that is an understandable response - not everyone sincerely believes that this is ensemble music at its most dramatic and deserves an all-out reading. Indeed his preferred versions all sound too reverential to me, too much confined to the pleasant and polite "drawing room" sensibilities as compared to the more daring renditions by Antonini and by Thomas Fey (only 4 out of 12, Accent). There is simply more fantasy and imagination in the IGA Handel than all the British interpretations I have owned -- Pinnock, Hogwood, Manze included.

 

Latest news from the Monteverdis:

As for the Bach Cantatas project, we are planning on completing the release of the recordings made in 2000 by the end of 2010: it seems incredible but we are down to the last 8 volumes! The first release this year will be in March, followed by one in July and two in the Autumn. For those of you who were wondering why the Ascension cantatas did not figure in the release summary we sent out, the answer is that we could not record them in 2000, but we are trying to plan concerts and record them in the near future.

We have also recorded the Brandenburg Concertos following the Spitalfields project that took place over Christmas and the New Year, and we are hoping to release them this Autumn.

 

Without much fanfare, Egarr's recording of Brandenburg Concertos is out (SACD).



Beautiful sound - recorded at the lower Kammerton, with one player to a part throughout, apart from the continuo, which has harpsichord and sometimes a theorbo, too.