In Fred Hoyle’s The Black Cloud, IIRC, the titular sentient Black Cloud enjoyed Bach. In Harry turtledove’s “WorldWar: Colonization” series, the aliens don’t care much for Earth music, but they find the patterns in Bach interesting.
I was pleasantly surprised to open this thread and see so many references to Brandenburg 3, because I’ve been listening to it a lot lately.
Please help me by recommending a recording of the Brandenburgs that’s available on CD.
I only have one CD of the Brandeburgs. It combines recordings by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields conduicted by Neville Mariner and the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Britten. I don’t really like it. For one thing it’s just a CD transfer of what must be a relatively old recording (given that Britten died in 1975). Also, I think it’s one of these attempts to recreate the ‘authentic baroque sound’, which might be fine for the connoissueur but I have simple tastes and to me the strings sound thin and scratchy and the whole recording (especially number 3) doesn’t sound like it has the warmth and vitality that it should have.
So, any recommendations? I want a good-quality modern recording of all 6 Brandenburgs, although I will be listening to number 3 more than the others combined, and I’m looking for a warm, rich, joyous sound full of life and brio and one that celebrates the sheer awesome, impressive creative brilliance of these works.
I highly recommend the Apollo’s Fire (a Cleveland-area baroque orchestra) recording of the Brandenburgs:
Let me know how you like it.
For Bach, there’s jsbach.org’s reviews.