Bach Violin Concertos

View record and artist details

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Johann Sebastian Bach

Label: Novalis

Magazine Review Date: 5/1988

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 65

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: 150 017-2

Tracks:

Composition	Artist Credit
Concerto for Violin and Strings	Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Dimitry Sitkovetsky, Violin English Chamber Orchestra Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Concerto for 2 Violins and Strings	Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Dimitry Sitkovetsky, Violin English Chamber Orchestra Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer José-Luis Garcia, Violin
Concerto for Oboe, Violin and Strings	Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Dimitry Sitkovetsky, Violin English Chamber Orchestra Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Neil Black, Oboe

Composer or Director: Johann Sebastian Bach

Label: Novalis

Magazine Review Date: 5/1988

Media Format: Vinyl

Media Runtime: 0

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: 150 017-1

Tracks:

Composition	Artist Credit
Concerto for Violin and Strings	Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Dimitry Sitkovetsky, Violin English Chamber Orchestra Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Concerto for 2 Violins and Strings	Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Dimitry Sitkovetsky, Violin English Chamber Orchestra Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer José-Luis Garcia, Violin
Concerto for Oboe, Violin and Strings	Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Dimitry Sitkovetsky, Violin English Chamber Orchestra Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Neil Black, Oboe

Composer or Director: Johann Sebastian Bach

Label: Novalis

Magazine Review Date: 5/1988

Media Format: Cassette

Media Runtime: 0

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: 150 017-4

Tracks:

Composition	Artist Credit
Concerto for Violin and Strings	Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Dimitry Sitkovetsky, Violin English Chamber Orchestra Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Concerto for 2 Violins and Strings	Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Dimitry Sitkovetsky, Violin English Chamber Orchestra Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer José-Luis Garcia, Violin
Concerto for Oboe, Violin and Strings	Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Dimitry Sitkovetsky, Violin English Chamber Orchestra Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Neil Black, Oboe

Author: John Duarte

I've commented before that the three 'basic' violin concertos of Bach leave a good deal of unused time on a CD, and that BWV1060 would provide a good way to make use of it; Sitkovetsky et al., appear to agree. As a recording without period-instrument pretensions this disc faces the competition of those by Anne-Sophie Mutter (EMI), Gidon Kremer (Philips) and Jaime Laredo (Pickwick), each of which contains only BWV1041-3 a confrontation from which it emerges with credit. On the whole Sitkovetsky favours easygoing tempos but it is the metronome, rather than a sense of the passage of time, which draws attention to the fact; lightness of spirit and touch in the faster movements, and poetry in the slow ones, make mensuration unimportant—and the differences are small in any case, with nothing so extreme as Mutter's 8'15'' for BWV1042/II (6'59'' for Sitkovetsky). His tone is transparent, with something of 'authentic' edginess, and so hushed is the lower end of his dynamic range that, particularly in the slow movements, the orchestral strings sometimes come close to covering the solo line (balanced in the middle- rather than the foreground), but the ear remains focused in following his tenderly shaped lines.
Jose-Luis Garda makes an admirable companion in the Double Concerto and his slightly warmer tone adds to the effect of a genuine conversation, lost in Kremer's dubbed version. Neil Black is, too, an excellent partner in BWV1060, though his occasional detachment of auxiliary notes sits uncomfortably in these ears. Each of the above mentioned sets has positive virtues but I find Sitkovetsky's the most satisfying, not only technically but, even more to the point, in the baroque spirit of its energy and expressiveness, the ECO, a model of adaptability, rise to the occasion in matching him, and the music is recorded with real clarity.'