Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini - J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos (2005) CD-Rip

Finding out what the daring and flashy Rinaldo Alessandrini and his Concerto Italiano would do with the very familiar Brandenburg Concertos of Bach might qualify as a major event in the field of historically authentic recordings of Baroque music, and, right from the lovely if rather mysterious cover photo of a deer wandering up a parking ramp, this set of the six concerti grossi does not disappoint. Alessandrini announces his attentions in the liner notes: he seeks to display "the unbelievable variety of instrumental combinations," in these works, "the incredible energy released by the sonorities, and the unstoppable flow of ideas (arguments, phrases, commentaries)." What this means in general is that the Concerto Italiano's already small string section (there are usually two or three violinists) is reined in, and a wonderland of sound from the rest of Bach's instrumentarium is unveiled. The players use original instruments such as the corno di caccia and the hunting horn, and they sound fabulous. Bach turns the concerto grosso into a kind of all-star field of competition between players, writing difficult parts for every instrument and notating the ornaments so that every detail is specified. His intent, Alessandrini seems to say, was to flatter the orchestra of the Margrave of Brandenburg with a set of works that were virtuoso showpieces for every player in the orchestra -- and what a dense parade of colorful details emerges, even for those who know these works from back to front! The keyboard cadenza in the Concerto No. 5 doesn't come off as unexpected in these works in the way that it usually does; instead, it simply seems like the harpsichordist's turn to show off. One result of Alessandrini's marvelously transparent textures is that the grinding dissonances with which Bach spiced up his slow movements are revealed for all to hear; listeners who studied music theory with an instructor who loved to pick apart the really radical things in Bach's chorale harmonizations may be reminded of those moments here, for Alessandrini instructs us in the wild harmonic details that Bach devised to go along with his instrumental displays. The Adagio movement of the Concerto No. 1 is especially impressive in this regard. If there is one feature that proves unsettling here, it is that Alessandrini, intent on extracting maximum virtuosity, sometimes but not always pushes tempos far enough beyond the usual that some listeners may experience only startlement. "Allegro" for Alessandrini here can mean anything from Presto (the second movement of the Concerto No. 3) to Allegro moderato. Generally, though, he remains inside the border of comprehensibility. And he delivers a set of Brandenburg Concertos that may come to be seen as a standard.