Word: harnoncourt
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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...
Coupled with the actual instrumentation, Harnoncourt's group has devoted great energy to proper embellishments of the parts and such details as correct bowing technique for accurate phrasing. The effect is startling. When the initial awe of hearing the new sound is overcome, more and more the conviction sinks in that this is what the baroque sound must have been like. Harnoncourt refuses to cut the length of the suites: he does not omit a single repeated section. This is an important consideration in the overtures, the first and largest movement of each suite. Standard procedure is to play...
...sensitivity and flexibility of the interpretation is astounding. The two bourrees of Suite No. 2 are usually done at one tempo. Harnoncourt easily could have selected what he considered the optimum tempo for a bourree and simply plunged through both of them with metronomical precision. Instead, he slows down the second bourree, allowing the solo flute to come out--and then returns to the opening tempo in the da capo. In the extensive program notes that come with the two discs, Harnoncourt explains this by characterizing one bouree as stuermische and the other as delikate; and he plays them accordingly...
...complements subtle shadings of tone and fine techniques with beautiful phrasing that never is broken in awkward moments for breathing. The supremely beautiful moment of the Suite is the Double of the Polonaise: the theme of the Polonaise appears in the bass (played as if a solo part by Harnoncourt himself) with an incredibly florid counterpoint in the flute part. The beauty and care taken by Harnoncourt in his accompaniment is outstanding. The usual fate of this section is to have a frantic virtuoso display by the flutist over a barely-audible figured bass...
...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...