Bach: Concertos for Two and Three Pianos

Advantages: A definite easy listen
Disadvantages: Maybe too easy

...- Romance Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis Elgar - Chanson de matin Beethoven - Pastoral Symphony CD 2 Mozart - 'Elvira Madigan' Piano Concerto JS Bach - Sheep may safely graze JS Bach - Keyboard Concerto No 5 in F minor Handel - Water Music Vivaldi - Concerto for lute and two violins JS Bach - Aria Grieg - Piano Concerto JS Bach - Double Violin Concerto Monteverdi - Beatus vir Chopin - Etude in E 'Tristesse' Elgar - Serenade in E minor Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No 2 Barber - Adagio for String Faure - In paradisum - Schubert - String Quintet Faure - Berceuse x-x-x... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Romantic orchestral music
Disadvantages: Only 1 hour - eat quickly for a romantic dinner

...of the exquisite music composed by Bach. Each of three concertos on the album complies with the standard concerto form favored by Bach of three contrasting movements – fast, slow, fast. The first piece, Concerto in E minor, has a fast opening movement in which the solo violin, played by Anne-Sophie Mutter, flirts with the larger orchestral group with an infectious cheerfulness. The second movement is quieter, slower and more reflective where the violin sings out day-dreamily. The piece ends with a fast, happy dance-like movement. Salvatore Accardo joins Anne-Sophie Mutter for the second piece, Concerto for two violins in D minor. This is probably the best known of Bach’s concertos. In the opening Vivace (lively) movement, the two soloists converse together in a quasi fugue. The first violin making a statement answered by the second in an alternating... Read review

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

...are best heard (in my opinion) on the period instruments for which they were originally intended. Whilst Menuhin and his Bath Festival orchestra do not entirely use period instruments, the continuo is performed on the harpsichord and Menuhin uses a piccolo violin in the first. Before I go on to say a little about the individual concertos, I think maybe I should just describe what a concerto actually involves. A concerto is a form of music in which a solo instrument or instruments are contrasted with a larger body of instruments. The main body of instruments of the baroque period is the string section and a continuo instrument usually a harpsichord or organ plays the underlying harmony. The usual format for a concerto is three movements (a fast tempo movement followed firstly by a slow movement and then by another fast movement). Bach... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful