Concert review: Berliner Barock Solisten deliver Brandenburgs treat
This was a rare chance to hear all six of Bach's Brandenburg concertos in one evening, but at first I was puzzled as to what makes this group special.
There are many sides to Bach, and baroque performance fashion changes all the time. The more historically accurate the effort, seemingly, the more modern the result.
The Berliner Barock Solisten play with a mix of period and modernised instruments, use no conductor, and have a casual, egalitarian demeanour onstage, some sitting, some standing. Players are their own stagehands, at times with a chair in one hand and a cello in the other. They play with little vibrato and less sentimentality.
This was a rare chance to hear all six of Bach's Brandenburg concertos in one evening, but at first I was puzzled as to what makes this group special. Concerto No 1 in F Major had some inaccuracies and was not always in tight ensemble.
The instruments had a subdued colour. They did have a delightful swinging rhythm set in motion by the first violinist rising onto his toes.