J.S. Bach: The *New* Brandenburg Concertos? • Concerto Copenhagen
No, this album is not a new recording of Bach’s storied Brandenburg Concertos. The marketing ploy aside—and I’d argue it’s a shitty one—this album is yet another arrangement of Bach’s organ sonatas, BWV 525-530.
Clearly these pieces—written supposedly for his son, Wilhelm Friedemann—are trio sonatas, a form that we don’t have much of, from Bach’s pen. The most famous and authenticated example is from the Musical Offering, BWV 1079, for flute and violin, a pretty standard setup. Concertos, by contrast, are defined not by the texture of writing but by the use of ripieno-solo structures, something that is missing from the originals.
There is conjecture as to whether these pieces for organ are the only version (for instance, did Bach arrange real sonatas for the keyboard?). My very favorite rendition in arranged form was the original recording made on Hyperion by The King’s Consort. What a delicious chamber recording!
These arrangements are more colorful, having been made by Antoine Torunczyk, the ensemble’s oboist. The ensemble’s playing is good, as we might well expect. The arrangements, while colorful, don’t at first hit me as befitting Bach’s own command of orchestration.
For instance, the horn parts that come in the third movement of the E-flat sonata, BWV 525, give the enterprise a clearly “Brandenburg” feel, insofar that you may well associate that collection with hunting horns and a festive mood. I get the sense the horns are struggling a bit, I can’t say. It works, but it’s a bit extra.
I found the opening of the C minor sonata, BWV 526, interesting for its texture, bassoon in the continuo and a flute as another wind instrument. (No problem with a bassoon in the continuo, but the counterpart on the top would be an oboe, no?)
My favorite of the sonatas, BWV 527, here is a bit mismatched in terms of balance; I also am not a fan of the way the melody lines get passed from one voice to another.
What I think would have been more interesting if the arranger here wanted to create Bachian concertos would have been to use Bach’s already strong melodies and harmonic progressions and used these in a wholesale new development. That said, they wouldn’t have been Bach’s any more, but well, inspired by Bach.
These pieces, as presented, one could also argue aren’t Bach anymore, but I wouldn’t be so fierce in my own appraisal. There’s something fresh about what got recorded, a trick for those already familiar with these pieces, hearing them anew, in new clothes, as one is oft to say. The music itself is profoundly beautiful, each of the six a gem.
While I have no issues trying to arrange these pieces, I think the more straightforward attempts by chamber groups might ultimately scratch my itch. These are new alternatives. Clearly not concertos—which I will state again—but these arrangements do their best to share the love of the originals in new arrangements among multiple winds and strings.
Concerto Copenhagen—no indication from the information available via Qobuz if they are being led here by Lars Ulrich Mortensen—present some nice moments despite a few spots that feel like uncomfortable compromises. The Berlin Classics production does benefit from a clean recording that offers pin-point staging of the different orchestra members, offering an audiophile experience with ample but appropriate reverb.
