Music and Vinyl: J.S.Bach - Brandenburg Concerto No.6

Eighteen months ago I posted a recording of J.S. Bach's 3rd Brandenburg Concerto played on modern instruments, but for a long time Baroque music has been the subject of historically informed performances on instruments of the period (or copies of such instruments). Generally such performances utilise smaller groups of players giving clear textures stripped of modern playing techniques that can be very revealing - or annoying depending on your point of view!

One of the first period-instrument outfits was Concentus Musicus of Vienna, founded by Nikolaus Harnoncourt in 1953. From this 1967 set of the Concertos, here is No.6 - unusual in omitting violins, giving it a rather dark-hued texture. Harnoncourt's notes on the concertos (click on the scan below to enlarge) comment on how the viola was Bach's own instrument and thus no doubt behind the satisfying solo viola parts.