Search - Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig Guttler, Virtuosi Saxoniae :: Virtuosi Saxoniae - Ludwig Guttler - J.S. Bach Brandenburg Concertos 1-6/Orchestral Suites 1-4

From American Record Guide

Record Collector | Mons, Belgium | 03/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The idea of combining all four of the Orchestral Suites with all six of the Brandenburg Concerti in a single 3-disc package is hardly new, but it must be said that this is one of the most effective such packages.



Guttler has already established himself as one of the finest virtuosos to come out of the old East Germany, and one of the leading trumpet players in all Europe. Since 1986, however, he has also been developing a career as leader of this chamber ensemble drawn from the Dresden Staatskapelle. They are one of the new wave of groups that have not chosen the path of period-instrument sound but are fully alert to the latest musicological and historical ideas.



These performances are polished and expert, marked by an incisive, propulsive, swinging quality at all times: above all, thoroughly reliable, guaranteed for lasting satisfaction. In the Third Brandenburg Concerto, the Adagio middle-movement-that-isn't-there is resolved by an unaccompanied violin cadenza based on the first-movement theme. For the Second Brandenburg Concerto, Guttler uses what he calls `the Leipzig version': the score made after Bach's death by the copyist Penzel, who noted the option of corno da caccia (hunting horn) in place of trumpet among the solo instruments.



That substitution was made at Thurston Dart's suggestion in the first of Sir Neville Marriner's three recordings. It makes for a strange and unfamiliar effect, bringing that part down an octave, into the middle of the other soloists instead of high above them. Guttler creates a kind of hybrid sound somewhere between trumpet and horn. (In fact, it almost recalls Pablo Casals's iconoclastic use of a saxophone in his old Prades Festival recording.)



These chamber-orchestra readings of the Brandenburgs are in vitality and polish one of the best recordings to appear for some time. The Orchestral Suites, too, are outstanding-altogether a splendid, vivacious and stylish romp.

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