FREE UK SHIPPING OVER £30!

J S Bach - Double & Triple Concertos

Label: Channel Classics

Cat No: CCSSA34113

Barcode: 0723385341130

Format: Hybrid SACD

Number of Discs: 1

Release Date: 13th May 2013

This product has now been deleted. Information is for reference only.

Works

Bach, Johann Sebastian

Concerto for 2 violins in D minor, BWV1043
Concerto for 3 violins, BWV1064R
Concerto for flute, violin and harpsichord in A minor, BWV1044
Concerto for oboe and violin in C minor, BWV1060

Artists

Rachel Podger (violin)
Brecon Baroque

Works

Bach, Johann Sebastian

Concerto for 2 violins in D minor, BWV1043
Concerto for 3 violins, BWV1064R
Concerto for flute, violin and harpsichord in A minor, BWV1044
Concerto for oboe and violin in C minor, BWV1060

Artists

Rachel Podger (violin)
Brecon Baroque

About

The dynamic ensemble Brecon Baroque was founded in 2007 by violinist and director Rachel Podger as resident ensemble at her annual Brecon Baroque Festival. The international line-up consists of some of the leading lights in the period-instrument world, such as cellist Alison McGillivray, flautist Katy Bircher, oboist Alexandra Bellamy and violist Jane Rogers, as well as some of Rachel's former students who now occupy leading positions in many of Europe's finest ensembles: violinists Bojan Čičić and Johannes Pramsohler.

Brecon Baroque specialises in the music of J S Bach and his contemporaries, mostly as a one-to-a-part ensemble based on the Cafe Zimmerman ensemble which Bach himself directed. They also appear as a small baroque orchestra for Vivaldi, Telemann, Purcell and Handel.

More than any other composer of his period, J S Bach realised the possibilities of the concerto avec plusieurs instruments. Drawing on the precedents of Vivaldi and others, Bach’s probing musical intellect led him down novel paths of invention where the collaborative and antagonistic features of the genre reached unprecedented levels of complexity.

The state of the surviving musical sources for Bach’s concertos suggests that he produced them for a variety of contexts, whether the courtly milieu of Köthen, the urban setting of the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig, or even for his own domestic entertainment. This was music that he was willing to rework for different occasions, and each of the concertos on this disc existed in more than one version.

(from liner notes by Tim Jones)

Sound/Video

Paused

1

Concerto for 2 violins in D minor BWV1043 - I.Vivace
2

Concerto for 2 violins in D minor BWV1043 - II.Largo
3

Concerto for 2 violins in D minor BWV1043 - III.Allegro
4

Concerto for harpsichord, flute and violin in A minor BWV1044 - I.Allegro
5

Concerto for harpsichord, flute and violin in A minor BWV1044 - II.Adagio
6

Concerto for harpsichord, flute and violin in A minor BWV1044 - III.Alla Breve
7

Concerto for violin and oboe in C minor BWV1060 - I.Allegro
8

Concerto for violin and oboe in C minor BWV1060 - II.Adagio
9

Concerto for violin and oboe in C minor BWV1060 - III.Allegro
10

Concerto for 3 violins in D major BWV1064 - I.Allegro
11

Concerto for 3 violins in D major BWV1064 - II.Adagio
12

Concerto for 3 violins in D major BWV1064 - III.Allegro

Europadisc Review

In her introduction to Brecon Baroque’s latest disc of Bach concertos, Rachel Podger writes that that ‘all parts [play] a crucial part in the colour and richness of the ensemble. Performing these pieces with just single players on each part rather than an orchestra makes the roles of each particularly pronounced, all of us “concerto-ing”, not just the conventional “soloists”.’

This one-player-per-part approach pays handsome dividends in Bach’s richly textured music. Each strand emerges with admirable clarity without overwhelming the others, and the vitality of the inner parts — so often lost in more ‘conventional’ performances — plays a key part in animating the whole. The focus is as much on collective as on individual virtuosity.

The differences made by such an approach are perhaps most strikingly evident in the ever-popular D minor Concerto for two violins. Usually this is played with the emphasis firmly on the lyrical, taking the lead from the sublime central Largo. Yet this is only one facet of what is surely one of Bach’s greatest concertos. Brecon Baroque’s performance brings alive the fizzing detail of the opening Vivace, the Largo takes time to dwell on unexpected dissonances, and the concluding Allegro is full of life whilst never sounding rushed. Speeds and balance throughout are beautifully judged.

In the C minor Concerto for violin and oboe, there’s a deliciously sour edge to Alexandra Bellamy’s oboe tone which gives the music, especially the central Adagio, a bittersweet quality that is most affecting. The opening movement has poise and gravity without the least hint of heaviness, and the concluding Allegro has a wonderful sense of momentum, once again driven by commendably lively inner textures.

The D major Concerto for three violins is a reconstruction of the lost original model for the Concerto in C major for three harpsichords. Unjustly neglected, it’s a real gem of a work. Here, the first movement is taken at what initially seems to be a measured tempo, but this gives plenty of space for the lively interplay between the three soloists, an interplay which then reaches expressive heights in the gorgeous Adagio. The third movement Allegro is likewise ideally paced, the quick-fire passagework highlighted with exceptional vividness, and the cadenza leading into the final tutti enticingly shaped — a lovely ‘dovetail’ moment.

In all three of these works, the continuo playing is a joy, not least the harpsichord of Marcin Świątkiewicz: stylish, deft, imaginative, yet never too intrusive. So it’s very welcome when he also takes centre stage in the A minor Concerto for harpsichord, flute and violin. This is a work that has its origins in a Prelude and Fugue for solo keyboard, with the central movement plucked from Bach’s D minor Trio Sonata for organ. The Concerto transcription of this music is a late work, with plenty of nods to the fashionable galant idiom and ‘special effects’ including frequent string pizzicati. To work well in performance, it needs a judicious balance of attention to local detail and awareness of the larger-scale form, and that’s exactly what it receives here. With a slow movement for the three soloists alone, and all the stylistic challenges skilfully handled, this is an ideal vehicle for Brecon Baroque’s distinctive talents.

All in all, a tremendously rewarding disc, combining favourites with the less familiar, and sure to appeal to Bach lovers everywhere.