Word: concentus
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Telefunken recordings (SA WT 9059-10) of the J.S. Bach orchestral suites are a superb example of how musicological scholarship has radically transformed performance. Played by the Concentus Musicus of Vienna, the suites are led by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, an excellent viola da gambist and brilliant musicologist...
...most striking difference between the Concentus Musicus and other orchestras is the quality of sound: this group is completely different. The reason is the instruments: all are originals or reconstructions of seventeenth and eighteenth-century instruments. The strings have a far brighter sound, richer in harmonics than their modern counterparts. The string choir resembles a group of soloists rather than the modern symphony's big, anonymous cushion of sound. The woodwinds are changed from the way we know them: the oboes and bassoons, like the strings, are sharper and brighter; the flute is much softer. The brass is an entirely...
...finale of the Second Suite, a Badinerie, is described as a "ready-composed encore" by Harnoncourt. The bounce in the string accompaniment is infectious. All of Bach's brilliant counterpoint shine through because of the bright string sound. No wonder, then, that the Concentus Musicus used the Badinerie for their encore in last fall's Sanders Theatre concert...
...groups who have sought to escape charges of faulty musicianship through lame invocation of historical accuracy. The victims are innocent record-buyers. One friend of mine became so disgusted with original instruments (on an admittedly poor Fireworks recording) that he refuses to consider another purchase of the sort. The Concentus Musicus is the answer to this dilemma: they provide the technical perfection of modern instruments with the eighteenth-century sound...
...whole new world awaits you with the Harnoncourt recordings. It could easily be shocking. Though having played in the St. Matthew Passion here last spring, still I thought I had put on the wrong record when first hearing the Concentus Musicus recording of that piece. Baroque music is not musty, dense, or unreachable; it is powerful and active. The Concentus Musicus has virtually transcended their time in emotional and intellectual appreciation of the music of a different...