Bach: Organ and Harpsichord Music

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

Advantages: Light, clear, could be played over and again
Disadvantages: Perhaps lacks a bit of magic or sparkle

...If I was to think of performers I would choose to play my favourite pieces of music, then I would not readily think of the Oregon Bach Festival Chamber Orchestra. But a friend of mine who played in the orchestra tipped me off that this was a good one. So I got hold of the CD, opened a bottle of red and sat back with an open mind. Surprise surprise, it's good. Enthusiastic playing for sure, with plenty of joie de vivre. The typical American attention to detail slightly grates with my British sense of spontaneity, but the flawless phrasing, breathing (and no doubt bowing too) and dynamics work in the overall performances because of the lack of indulgence in the tempi. Bach can all too easily sound like a mathematical exercise written out in notes, but there is a lightness and deftness of touch here in the conducting that lifts this out... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

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

...superb musicians, the chamber works become ensemble pieces of Baroque perfection. Ms Balsom’s partners in crime include Colm Carey on the organ, Alistair Ross on the harpsichord and chamber organ, Alina Ibragimova on the violin (herself a member, like Alison Balsom, of the BBC's 'New Generation Artists' - see below), and Mark Caudle on the viola da gamba (forerunner of the modern violoncello). Be it on the open, airy and colourful organ, the raspy violin, or the crystalline, chime-like harpsichord, the music is perfectly counterbalanced by the bold, metallic trumpet providing contrapuntal melody. Truth to tell, I’m usually ready to commit a few small murders if forced to listen to more than a few minutes of purely organ or harpsichord music. The addition of trumpets changes all that – especially when they're played... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful