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This handsomely packaged reissue captures two major stars in the early stages of their careers: conductor James Levine leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in three popular Bach works, the Brandenburg Concertos No. 2 and No. 5 and the "Wedding" Cantata, No. 202. The cantata features Kathleen Battle as soloist. This 1977 recording has the big names, and to an extent they deliver the goods. Levine's handling of the orchestra is masterful. He achieves the kind of transparency of texture that authentic-instrument ensembles strive for, and that virtually nobody else has achieved with an old-line group like the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. If his outer movements in the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 have a bit of the shapeless quality that inevitably used to call forth the sewing-machine metaphor in connection with Baroque music, he provides admirable breathing room for the work's striking harpsichord parts -- and then fills it with very strong playing of his own. It's a virtuoso performance all around.
But the rest of the CD is an incoherent mess. Battle's voice was in fine form here, but she gives the kind of performance that calls attention to itself too much. That's fatal with Bach, who more than almost any other composer demands a certain self-effacement on the part of performers. The disc is rounded out with a completely unrelated performance, from years later, by the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn of the Suite No. 2 in B minor for orchestra, BWV 1067, under conductor Jörg Faerber. Made in 1991, it's not a terrible reading, but it doesn't connect with Levine's performances at any level. Surely there were other Bach performances by Levine, or by the Chicago Symphony, or even by Kathleen Battle that might have been considered. And why, unless it was simply to capitalize on the popularity of the Chicago Symphony's summer performance venue, is this disc designated as "Music from Ravinia"? None of the music came from Ravinia; the two Chicago Symphony selections were recorded at the Medinah Temple in downtown Chicago. As classical music struggles to get a foothold in a fragmented arts marketplace, what's needed are unified performances with a strong point of view that the performers care about putting across. Despite the strong points of this album, it doesn't hang together in the way that a self-proclaimed "essential" recording should.
© TiVo
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Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major, BWV 1047 (Johann Sebastian Bach)
Ray Still, Oboe - Samuel Magad, Violin - Adolph Herseth, Trumpet - Paul Goodman, Recording Engineer - Jay David Saks, Producer - Donald Peck, Flute - James Levine, Conductor - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(P) 1978 BMG Music
Ray Still, Oboe - Samuel Magad, Violin - Adolph Herseth, Trumpet - Paul Goodman, Recording Engineer - Jay David Saks, Producer - Donald Peck, Flute - James Levine, Conductor - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(P) 1978 BMG Music
Ray Still, Oboe - Samuel Magad, Violin - Adolph Herseth, Trumpet - Paul Goodman, Recording Engineer - Jay David Saks, Producer - Donald Peck, Flute - James Levine, Conductor - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(P) 1978 BMG Music
Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050 (Johann Sebastian Bach)
Samuel Magad, Violin - Paul Goodman, Recording Engineer - Jay David Saks, Producer - Donald Peck, Flute - James Levine, Conductor - James Levine, Harpsichord - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(P) 1978 BMG Music
Samuel Magad, Violin - Paul Goodman, Recording Engineer - Jay David Saks, Producer - Donald Peck, Flute - James Levine, Conductor - James Levine, Harpsichord - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(P) 1978 BMG Music
Samuel Magad, Violin - Paul Goodman, Recording Engineer - Jay David Saks, Producer - Donald Peck, Flute - James Levine, Conductor - James Levine, Harpsichord - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(P) 1978 BMG Music
Cantata No. 202 "Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten" (Wedding Cantata) (Johann Sebastian Bach)
Edgar Muenzer, Violin - James Levine, Conductor - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer - Joseph Golan, Violin - Paul Goodman, Recording Engineer - Mary Sauer, Harpsichord - Frank Miller, Acoustic Cello - Joseph Guastafeste, Bass - Kathleen Battle, Soprano - Ray Still, Oboe - Milton Preves, Viola - Jay David Saks, Producer - Samuel Magad, Violin
(P) 1978 BMG Music
Edgar Muenzer, Violin - James Levine, Conductor - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer - Joseph Golan, Violin - Paul Goodman, Recording Engineer - Mary Sauer, Harpsichord - Frank Miller, Acoustic Cello - Joseph Guastafeste, Bass - Kathleen Battle, Soprano - Ray Still, Oboe - Milton Preves, Viola - Jay David Saks, Producer - Samuel Magad, Violin
(P) 1978 BMG Music
Edgar Muenzer, Violin - James Levine, Conductor - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer - Joseph Golan, Violin - Paul Goodman, Recording Engineer - Mary Sauer, Harpsichord - Frank Miller, Acoustic Cello - Joseph Guastafeste, Bass - Kathleen Battle, Soprano - Ray Still, Oboe - Milton Preves, Viola - Jay David Saks, Producer - Samuel Magad, Violin
(P) 1978 BMG Music
Edgar Muenzer, Violin - James Levine, Conductor - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer - Joseph Golan, Violin - Paul Goodman, Recording Engineer - Mary Sauer, Harpsichord - Frank Miller, Acoustic Cello - Joseph Guastafeste, Bass - Kathleen Battle, Soprano - Ray Still, Oboe - Milton Preves, Viola - Jay David Saks, Producer - Samuel Magad, Violin
(P) 1978 BMG Music
Edgar Muenzer, Violin - James Levine, Conductor - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer - Joseph Golan, Violin - Paul Goodman, Recording Engineer - Mary Sauer, Harpsichord - Frank Miller, Acoustic Cello - Joseph Guastafeste, Bass - Kathleen Battle, Soprano - Ray Still, Oboe - Milton Preves, Viola - Jay David Saks, Producer - Samuel Magad, Violin
(P) 1978 BMG Music
Edgar Muenzer, Violin - James Levine, Conductor - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer - Joseph Golan, Violin - Paul Goodman, Recording Engineer - Mary Sauer, Harpsichord - Frank Miller, Acoustic Cello - Joseph Guastafeste, Bass - Kathleen Battle, Soprano - Ray Still, Oboe - Milton Preves, Viola - Jay David Saks, Producer - Samuel Magad, Violin
(P) 1978 BMG Music
Edgar Muenzer, Violin - James Levine, Conductor - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer - Joseph Golan, Violin - Paul Goodman, Recording Engineer - Mary Sauer, Harpsichord - Frank Miller, Acoustic Cello - Joseph Guastafeste, Bass - Kathleen Battle, Soprano - Ray Still, Oboe - Milton Preves, Viola - Jay David Saks, Producer - Samuel Magad, Violin
(P) 1978 BMG Music
Edgar Muenzer, Violin - James Levine, Conductor - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer - Joseph Golan, Violin - Paul Goodman, Recording Engineer - Mary Sauer, Harpsichord - Frank Miller, Acoustic Cello - Joseph Guastafeste, Bass - Kathleen Battle, Soprano - Ray Still, Oboe - Milton Preves, Viola - Jay David Saks, Producer - Samuel Magad, Violin
(P) 1978 BMG Music
Edgar Muenzer, Violin - James Levine, Conductor - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer - Joseph Golan, Violin - Paul Goodman, Recording Engineer - Mary Sauer, Harpsichord - Frank Miller, Acoustic Cello - Joseph Guastafeste, Bass - Kathleen Battle, Soprano - Ray Still, Oboe - Milton Preves, Viola - Jay David Saks, Producer - Samuel Magad, Violin
(P) 1978 BMG Music
Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B Minor, BWV 1067 (Johann Sebastian Bach)
Riri Nagaosa, Edited By - Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Performer - James Galway, Flute - Teije Van Geest, Producer - Teije Van Geest, Recording Engineer - Jörg Faerber, Conductor - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(P) 1992 BMG Music
Riri Nagaosa, Edited By - Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Performer - James Galway, Flute - Teije Van Geest, Producer - Teije Van Geest, Recording Engineer - Jörg Faerber, Conductor - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(P) 1992 BMG Music
Riri Nagaosa, Edited By - Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Performer - James Galway, Flute - Teije Van Geest, Producer - Teije Van Geest, Recording Engineer - Jörg Faerber, Conductor - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(P) 1992 BMG Music
Riri Nagaosa, Edited By - Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Performer - James Galway, Flute - Teije Van Geest, Producer - Teije Van Geest, Recording Engineer - Jörg Faerber, Conductor - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(P) 1992 BMG Music
Riri Nagaosa, Edited By - Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Performer - James Galway, Flute - Teije Van Geest, Producer - Teije Van Geest, Recording Engineer - Jörg Faerber, Conductor - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(P) 1992 BMG Music
Riri Nagaosa, Edited By - Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Performer - James Galway, Flute - Teije Van Geest, Producer - Teije Van Geest, Recording Engineer - Jörg Faerber, Conductor - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(P) 1992 BMG Music
Riri Nagaosa, Edited By - Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Performer - James Galway, Flute - Teije Van Geest, Producer - Teije Van Geest, Recording Engineer - Jörg Faerber, Conductor - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
(P) 1992 BMG Music
Album review
This handsomely packaged reissue captures two major stars in the early stages of their careers: conductor James Levine leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in three popular Bach works, the Brandenburg Concertos No. 2 and No. 5 and the "Wedding" Cantata, No. 202. The cantata features Kathleen Battle as soloist. This 1977 recording has the big names, and to an extent they deliver the goods. Levine's handling of the orchestra is masterful. He achieves the kind of transparency of texture that authentic-instrument ensembles strive for, and that virtually nobody else has achieved with an old-line group like the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. If his outer movements in the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 have a bit of the shapeless quality that inevitably used to call forth the sewing-machine metaphor in connection with Baroque music, he provides admirable breathing room for the work's striking harpsichord parts -- and then fills it with very strong playing of his own. It's a virtuoso performance all around.
But the rest of the CD is an incoherent mess. Battle's voice was in fine form here, but she gives the kind of performance that calls attention to itself too much. That's fatal with Bach, who more than almost any other composer demands a certain self-effacement on the part of performers. The disc is rounded out with a completely unrelated performance, from years later, by the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn of the Suite No. 2 in B minor for orchestra, BWV 1067, under conductor Jörg Faerber. Made in 1991, it's not a terrible reading, but it doesn't connect with Levine's performances at any level. Surely there were other Bach performances by Levine, or by the Chicago Symphony, or even by Kathleen Battle that might have been considered. And why, unless it was simply to capitalize on the popularity of the Chicago Symphony's summer performance venue, is this disc designated as "Music from Ravinia"? None of the music came from Ravinia; the two Chicago Symphony selections were recorded at the Medinah Temple in downtown Chicago. As classical music struggles to get a foothold in a fragmented arts marketplace, what's needed are unified performances with a strong point of view that the performers care about putting across. Despite the strong points of this album, it doesn't hang together in the way that a self-proclaimed "essential" recording should.
© TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 22 track(s)
- Total length: 01:17:54
- Main artists: James Levine
- Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
- Label: bmg music
- Genre: Classical Concertos
(P) 2006 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT / (P) 1978, 1992 BMG Music
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