Dunedin Consort, John Butt – J.S. Bach: Six Brandenburg Concertos (2013) [LINN FLAC 24bit/192kHz]

Dunedin Consort – JS Bach: Six Brandenburg Concertos (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24bit/192 kHz | Time – 93:14 minutes | 4,01 GB | Genre: Classical
Official Digital Download – Source: LinnRecords.com | Covers & Digital Booklet

Bach’s Six Brandenburg Concertos are essential and enduringly popular works in the Baroque orchestral repertory, full of interesting instrumentation choices and dancing melodies. Under the direction of prize-winning Bach specialist John Butt O.B.E., the ensemble has become particularly acclaimed for its inquisitive approach, shining new light into some of the best known pieces of the Baroque repertoire. Dunedin Consort, the team that brought you ‘John Passion’, is back with its first instrumental release: ‘J.S. Bach: Six Brandenburg Concertos’. Under the direction of Bach specialist John Butt, Dunedin Consort demonstrates its collective experience and historical knowledge in an exceptionally insightful and fresh performance.

While we know that Bach finished a sumptuous manuscript of six concertos (for ‘plusieurs instruments’, as he titled it) in March 1721 for presentation to the Margrave of Brandenburg, it is not certain when Bach actually composed these works. The survival of early versions of some pieces suggests that Bach adapted these from a pool of existing works but others might have been freshly written. His aims in revision and compilation seem to have been to present six entirely disparate examples of the instrumental concerto, a genre which was by no means fixed and which could imply many instrumental combinations. Bach’s tendency to produce encyclopaedic surveys of multiple musical genres was becoming a major compositional habit and his Brandenburg collection was closely followed by the first volume of the Well-Tempered Clavier.

The term ‘concerto’ was rather widely used in Bach’s day; he employed it most frequently on the title pages to most of the works we now call ‘cantatas’, as a way of denoting those sacred works in which instruments and voices participated (‘concerted’) together. Early definitions of the concerto genre alternatively (and ambiguously) translated the term as ‘agreement’ and ‘disputation’. Nevertheless this contradiction does give a useful sense of the dynamics of concerto writing: the very differentiation of forces into ‘tutti’ and ‘solo’ groups generates an immediate sense of opposition, but the composer’s task is to render this opposition productive and ‘agreeable’. Thus, although some concertos veer towards the ‘agreement’ model (e.g. Nos. 3 and 6) and others towards the ‘disputation’ model (Nos. 4 and, especially 5), it is perhaps most useful to see both concepts working simultaneously. What gives these concertos their particular fascination is the sense that they are highly structured but, paradoxically, also among the most carefree, joyous and spontaneous works that Bach ever produced. Somehow he manages to evoke a ‘norm’ for each movement – as if the modern Italian concerto genre were more standardized than it actually was – and immediately subverts any expectations that the norm was meant to bring. In all, the genres of Bach’s oeuvre show a fluidity and subtlety that we are still only just appreciating as we come to realise that the textbook is not necessarily the best route to musical appreciation.

Tracklist:

01 – Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major, BWV 1046 – I. […] 02 – Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major, BWV 1046 – II. Adagio
03 – Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major, BWV 1046 – III. Allegro
04 – Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major, BWV 1046 – IV. Menuet Trio Polonaise
05 – Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major, BWV 1047 – I. […] 06 – Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major, BWV 1047 – II. Andante
07 – Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major, BWV 1047 – III. Allegro
08 – Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048 – I. […] 09 – Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048 – II. Adagio
10 – Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048 – III. Allegro
11 – Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major, BWV 1049 – I. Allegro
12 – Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major, BWV 1049 – II. Andante
13 – Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major, BWV 1049 – III. Presto
14 – Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050 – I. Allegro
15 – Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050 – II. Afettuoso
16 – Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050 – III. Allegro
17 – Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-flat Major, BWV 1051 – I. […] 18 – Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-flat Major, BWV 1051 – II. Adagio ma non tanto
19 – Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-flat Major, BWV 1051 – III. Allegro

Dunedin Consort & Players:
John Butt – Director and Harpsichord
Cecilia Bernardini – Violin
Pamela Thorby – Recorder
David Blackadder – Trumpet
Alexandra Bellamy – Oboe
Catherine Latham – Recorder
Katy Bircher – Flute
Jane Rogers – Viola
Alfonso Leal del Ojo – Viola
Jonathan Manson – Violoncello

Download:

mqs.link_DunedinCnsrtJSBach.SixBrandenburgCncerts2013LINN24192.part1.rar
mqs.link_DunedinCnsrtJSBach.SixBrandenburgCncerts2013LINN24192.part2.rar
mqs.link_DunedinCnsrtJSBach.SixBrandenburgCncerts2013LINN24192.part3.rar
mqs.link_DunedinCnsrtJSBach.SixBrandenburgCncerts2013LINN24192.part4.rar
mqs.link_DunedinCnsrtJSBach.SixBrandenburgCncerts2013LINN24192.part5.rar