BACH to the Roots!

I recently auditioned this recording which was released in late September 2020: a collection of Bach’s instrumental works performed by Bremer Barockorchester), a group I often enjoy on YouTube for their fresh performances. The recording includes:

• BWV 1067,
• BWV 1050,
• BWV 1052R

I auditioned from Qobuz and no booklet was available. (Soapbox Moment: If you’re going to release music on streaming services, please include the PDF booklet. I know companies may initially have held back on these in order to encourage a physical purchase but the future of recorded music commerce is in streaming. The better informed your audience is, I really think it will encourage future listens. Future listens = more revenue per album.)

The opening overture in the second orchestral suite is what first arrested my attention. There’s an ebullience present in all the ornamentation and rather fussy style with people doing other things. It’s an extravagance we rarely are treated to with this music. And while they go off score to do this, I appreciate the spirit of HIP behind their choices. The pair of Bourées too are fascinating, starting with the quasi-Iberian flair in the start. In addition to the rather strong contribution from the plucked continuo, there’s a robust kick from the double bass as well which I really appreciated. Their re-writing of the Battinerie, the famous last movement, helps build up to the famous solo. It’s good fun.

Brandenburg Concerto #5 as far as we know was a rather fresh approach to how the harpsichord could become an equal voice in concerted music. That Bach chose to capture his rather extravagant solo in the score he prepared as part of his job application makes us all the more educated about performance practice and Bach’s art at improvising. Based on the opening work, I awaited in anticipation for how they’d bring some freshness to this popular work. It was easy to marvel in the recording’s sound; each soloist came across very clearly, kudos to the recording engineers for creating a very good sounding recording.

The harpsichord solo is played as written; there are those that attack it in very mechanical ways and those that infuse significant rubato and even pregnant pauses. My own preference is for the recordings that do infuse some human feeling into the reading. This reading is done with rubato, but it’s tasteful, it’s not overdone. I could see the solution being appetizing for all kinds.

The middle movement is presented more slowly than I like but the tone of the flute is gorgeous. It almost makes up for the slower pace. The final movement kicks things back into fast drive with the plucked continuo helping us even more to tap our feet. (Is there any better example by Bach of his happy character as a foot tapping musician?) The violinist is on form, conveying a particularly saucy style in some of their treatments of phrase.

The harpsichord concerto, BWV 1052, here is presented in its arrangement for violin. One of my reference favorites was that by Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante. This one starts with more energy and a nice flavor from the violinist. The way they project above the ensemble is a nice effect which fortifies the strong playing throughout the concerto.

My reservations about the lack of a booklet aside, you may not need another recording of these works, but they are, to my ears, set as a new reference standard. They are imaginatively played and the recorded sound is nearly ideal. In some respects I wish some of the inventive spirit from the first orchestral suite had traveled down into the two concertos more, but as presented, they are still strong and vibrant performances.