Bach: Concertos

Bach: Concertos

• BIONDI FABIO / EUROPA GALANTE
• MUSICA CLASICA
• INTERNATIONAL
• MUSIC

Bach, like most Baroque composers, regularly adapted music that he had written previously for one context to be reused in another. For example, he adapted various movements from his cantatas for the Mass in B Minor; he reworked several of his trio sonatas for viola da gamba and keyboard; and he transcribed his Violin Concerto in E Major for harpsichord and strings. It has long been presumed that most of Bach's harpsichord concertos were composed originally for other solo instruments; latter-day musicians have back transcribed, as it were, a number of those concertos. Several of these transcriptions, along with the harpsichord version of the E Major violin concerto, get delightful performances on this release from charismatic violinist Fabio Biondi and his period-instrument ensemble Europa Galante. The transcriptions of the G Minor and D Minor harpsichord concertos seem quite credible; the transcription for violin and oboe of the C Minor Concerto for two harpsichords is even better, the soloists' lines being much clearer than is the case with two harpsichords tinkling away at each other. Biondi plays with more vibrato and more legato--in a more "Romantic" style, one might say--than most Baroque violinists; in some of the slow movements, he sounds almost like... well, if not Isaac Stern, then perhaps the young Yehudi Menuhin. It's as if he's the period-instrument violinist for those who never got used to the sound of period instruments. Yet Biondi plays with imagination and charisma, and Europa Galante (which does make a period-instrument sound) plays with the sparkling energy that seems to be the trademark of Italy's best Baroque groups. The recorded sound, unfortunately, is a bit flat and constricted; while this is a real shortcoming, it's not so serious as to prevent a warm recommendation for the excellent performances. <I>--Matthew Westphal</I>