This is the second part of the “Brandenburg Concertos" recordings by Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields.
Unlike the first one, I don’t have any problems with the tempos or with the general style of conduction in the second disc. The concertos are played, I think, at just the right pace and with just enough balance to make for a fantastic reading. There’s nothing that can be found wrong with the soloists either. Again, we are talking about modern instruments here, so people looking for that “antique” sound will not find it here. The orchestra sounds fuller and bigger due to modern playing techniques and modern instruments, and if it lacks that characteristic “baroque” sound of period-instrument recordings, it makes up for it with a greater degree of dynamic freedom and an easier display of emotion.
This set contains probably my least favorite of the six concertos, # 6 in B-flat. Written pretty much as a concert for two violas, it lacks the vitality of the rest of the pieces, in my view, in part due to the fact that it was the earliest concerto to be written, but also probably due to the dryer sound of the viola. On the other hand, we have the amazing concerto # 4, with the astonishingly original opening motif for two recorders (soft flutes), or the incredible # 5, an early keyboard-instrument concerto whose harpsichord cadenza at the end of the first movement still amazes me, for the breadth of invention that Bach packs in those several measures for the instrument playing solo.
A fantastic set. I’ll rank it higher than the first one in tempos and playing, but slightly lower because of the somewhat conventional concerto # 6. Owning these concertos, all of them, is essential nevertheless. And this is as good a place to start as any, if you’re looking for the rich sound of modern instruments.
4/5
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