Bach: Cantata Arias for Soprano & Oboe

Advantages: Rich, creamy vocal; enveloping warmth; text, character alive; facile Baroque ornamentation; impeccable diction; fine Symphony.
Disadvantages: Only over an hour of music here; wanted more!

...If you’ll kindly pardon the gushing tone of this review, the blame for which you can lay wholly on the phenomenal British mezzo-soprano, Sarah Connolly (whom I hereby unofficially dub the operatic Anjelica Huston). Her riveting portrayal of the title character in Glyndebourne’s 2005 staging by David McVicar of Georg Frideric Händel’s ‘Giulio Cesare’ first made this writer into a very interested listener [reviewed here: http://dvd.ciao.co.uk/GiulioCesareHandelThreeDiscsReview5644748]. With this disc, she’s become a full-fledged Connolly fan. This 2004 CD comprises airs (arias) and orchestral sinfonias from four works by Händel, and any Händel/Baroque music or opera/vocal music lover will not regret its acquisition. This disc also heralds Ms Connolly’s superb turn as the aforementioned Giulio Cesare the very next year... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Beautiful relaxing music. Rich instrumentation. Played with passion.
Disadvantages: Not all instruments are from the period.

...If I was ever asked to select my "desert island discs", top of my list would be Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. (I wonder if there's a category in the ciao café?. . . ) The six Brandenburg concertos, each with their distinct quality and sound requiring a different combination of instruments, are not only a delight to listen to but exemplify the intellectual musical genius of their composer, Johann Sebastian Bach. All six are composed in major keys creating and maintaining a cheerful, vivacious collection. The modulations of key demanded by the baroque conventions are skilfully completed and Bach's predilection for numbers and ornate touches are evident. I could say more but this isn't a musical analysis . . . I am not alone in my high estimation, The Brandenburg concertos are now probably the best loved and most frequently performed... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Wonderful transcriptions of JS Bach's majestic music; sensitive, tender, vivacious, effortless and fluid playing.
Disadvantages: Nil.

...was nothing like the valved species familiar to us today. The antique version must have been hell to play, since it depended solely on lip control to create any melodic variation, especially in the upper register. All of which is totally irrelevant to Alison Balsom, who uses the modern valved trumpet (piccolo and C types) to play these works of Baroque magnificence. (Do I hear lamentation from the period instrument purists? Oh, pshaw.) The pieces on this album were arranged and transcribed, or co-arranged and co-transcribed by Ms Balsom herself from works for the keyboard, cello, oboe, flute, voice, etc. Transcription seems to come easily to her: so natural do the works of Bach sound on the trumpet, you’d think they were written especially for it. The trumpet repertoire is rather thin on the classical side of things, and surely, Bach... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful