Musica Antiqua Koeln, Reinhard Goebel - J.S.Bach - Die Brandenburgische Konzerte, Orchestral Suites, Chamber Music (8CD) (1987)

Universal has done everyone a favor by reissuing Reinhard Goebel's superb Bach recordings with Musica Antiqua Köln (MAK) in a modestly priced bargain box. The chamber music was recorded for DG/Archiv's 300th-Anniversary Bach Edition, which came out in segments from 1982-1985. The Brandenburg Concerti, Suites, and Triple Concerto came out a few years later. All proved controversial, though Goebel's and MAK's approach to this repertoire sounds less dated than many who were recording at the time. Indeed, their penchant for bracing tempos, bold expressive gestures, and virtuosic abandon foreshadows the proclivities of today's best period-performance groups. There is nothing remotely dry or academic about these performances; they are, in a word, terrifically exciting.
Goebel's Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites (including the spurious "Fifth Suite" in g-minor), and Triple Concerto never cease to astonish for their infectious rhythmic vitality, quicksilver responses to Bach's constantly shifting textures, and remarkable technical assurance. The music swings, jitterbugs, rocks, and break-dances with irrepressible vitality. This is an apotheosis of the dance; the joy of movement raised to the level of heavenly bliss. MAK's bracing, terpsichorean approach to Bach's orchestral music will prove too much of a good thing for some listeners;but for those willing to take a walk on the wild side will be amply rewarded.
The charm factor is more often on display in the chamber music than in the orchestral works. This is, I believe, the most complete set of Bach chamber works available. It includes not only the canonical sonatas featuring violin, viola da gamba and flute with harpsichord (or, in some cases, continuo), but a fair number of others whose authenticity is dubious, but whose invention is quite fetching. Goebel and Hill offer rhythmically crisp and often extravagantly expressive playing in the violin-keyboard works. Not everyone will appreciate Goebel's occasional "squeezing" of the tone; it was a fashionable expressive gesture in period-instrument performance practice of the time. But his technical address is superb, and Staier participates fully, and with tremendous flair, in the contrapuntal interplay. The flute sonatas (and solo Partita) featuring Hazelet are, in a word, ravishing. Hazelet plays the pied piper, and the listener is coaxed along hypnotically. The lesser-known duo sonatas are expertly dispatched; you will probably never encounter performances that make a better case for these "attributed" works. The three gamba sonatas are given more aptly subdued interpretations, though as ever with these artists there is plenty of rhythmic vitality and textural clarity.
The sound throughout the set is excellent: vividly immediate sense of presence, surrounded by plenty of hall ambience, yet never so much as to cloud even the most dense of polyphonic textures.
Overall, I would rank MAK/Goebel's traversal of the Brandenburgs and Suites very highly indeed;if you're not averse to Bach-with-an-attitude, this could be a first choice for both in the period performance category. The chamber music discs are a must for all Bach "completists," even if better period-instrument versions of the violin sonatas are available (try Caramigliola on Sony)--to say nothing of modern-instrument greats such as Oistrakh and Grumiaux. On the other hand, no finer version of the flute and gamba sonatas exists.