Bach: Cembalo Concertos (2008)

Conductor Diego Fasolis and his ensemble I Barocchisti, from the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland, are hot new interpreters of Bach's ensemble music, and this disc of keyboard concertos will do nothing to slow their rise. The quality of their playing is a bit difficult to put into words (which is a good thing!), but consider the fact that the expressionist Egon Schiele drawing on the cover of this Swiss release, which might seem an odd choice for Bach, is mysteriously appropriate. Fasolis, using historically authentic ... Read More

Conductor Diego Fasolis and his ensemble I Barocchisti, from the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland, are hot new interpreters of Bach's ensemble music, and this disc of keyboard concertos will do nothing to slow their rise. The quality of their playing is a bit difficult to put into words (which is a good thing!), but consider the fact that the expressionist Egon Schiele drawing on the cover of this Swiss release, which might seem an odd choice for Bach, is mysteriously appropriate. Fasolis, using historically authentic instruments, creates a sound that is both dense and large, with the intricacies of Bach's contrapuntal textures circulating through the listener's mind like the murky emotions of the Schiele. In pieces like the Brandenburg Concertos he has found high levels of detail in the brass and wind parts. These keyboard concertos, mostly adapted from preexisting pieces, present different issues, and they are completely different in effect from other recordings. Here it is the harpsichord that... Read Less