Dunedin Consort - J.S. Bach: Six Brandenburg Concertos - The Sunday Times

Butt's Bach has made the strongest possible case for the 'one voice to a part' theory propounded by Joshua Rifkin (in relation to the choral works) in the early 1980s. Here, the Edinburgh harpsichordist/director applies the same approach to Bach's most familiar 'orchestral' works. He has enriched the sound by adopting a very low pitch (tief Cammerton), even by Baroque standards. The results are most compelling in the concertos for virtuoso soloists, No.s 2, 4 and 5, less so in the gruff-sounding B-flat Major (No. 6), for violas, viole da gamba, cello and violone - but, given the extraordinary instrumentation of this piece, a Stygian, more lugubrious sound may well have been Bach's intention