Opinions please: which Bach's Brandenburg Concertos LP has best sonics?

RE: Opinions please: which Bach's Brandenburg Concertos LP has best sonics?, posted on October 29, 2010 at 15:42:54
HotStamper	Aston Magna on Smithsonian Records. Wonderful performance, superb sound, hard to find.

RE: Opinions please: which Bach's Brandenburg Concertos LP has best sonics?, posted on October 29, 2010 at 15:44:03
bajawisconsin Audiophile Posts: 131 Location: Chicago Joined: October 29, 2010	I like the version by Aston Magna, on original instruments from the Smithsonian Institution, released on the Smithsonian Collection (Columbia Special Products)in 1978.

RE: Opinions please: which Bach's Brandenburg Concertos LP has best sonics?, posted on October 29, 2010 at 16:19:32

risabet
Audiophile

Posts: 3197
Location: SoCal
Joined: January 10, 2005

Without question the Smithsonian disc is the best. Superb sonics and the proper order spread over five sides. I've got versions by Munchinger, Hogwood, and Harnoncourt and I almost always reach for this one.

Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.

Adam Smith

I haven't heard the Smithsonian ...., posted on October 29, 2010 at 18:06:19
Pivo Audiophile Posts: 344 Location: MidWest Joined: May 6, 2004	But I have two I like. On Pro-Arte Gustav Leonhardt/Kuiken/Bruggen. I think that later they were called Le Petite Band. 2PAL-2022 On London, Britten CSA-2225 Britten conducts English Chamber Orch. at the Maltings Snape. ( Google it!) Bob

Munchinger/SGO, Decca-London box set FFSS, posted on October 29, 2010 at 20:12:01
user510	London cat# CSA2301 early sixties recording excellent sonics with nice warm tones. Beautiful pressings. Munchinger and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra are first rate, (in my completely unqualified humble opinion). -Steve

The one on RCA Seon, single point stereo miking at its best, posted on October 29, 2010 at 22:59:07
Timbo in Oz Audiophile Posts: 23221 Location: Canberra - in the ACT - SE Australia Joined: January 30, 2002	also issued on Pro Arte. Excellent playing, great notes, lovely sound. Warmest Tim Bailey Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger

Sounds good... Now how about the details?, posted on October 30, 2010 at 08:18:58
Stephen Murphy Audiophile Posts: 1333 Joined: April 17, 2002	How about some names, country of manufacture and catalog numbers? Just trying to get more info so I might get a copy off the net somewhere. :)

RE: Sounds good... Now how about the details?, posted on October 30, 2010 at 10:25:18
bajawisconsin Audiophile Posts: 131 Location: Chicago Joined: October 29, 2010	Aston Magna, The Six Brandenburg Concerti, recorded during the Aston Magna Summer Festival in Massachusetts, June-July 1977. Three-record set released in 1978 on Smithsonian Collection, N3016/P3-14834. Also released in a mega-box set with Six Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord and Six Partitas for Solo Harpsichord, P9-14825.

Thanks! nt, posted on October 30, 2010 at 10:44:10
Stephen Murphy Audiophile Posts: 1333 Joined: April 17, 2002	nt

The Munchinger/SGO is good. . . ., posted on October 30, 2010 at 13:40:11

risabet
Audiophile

Posts: 3197
Location: SoCal
Joined: January 10, 2005

but in a head-to-head comparison I still go for the Smithsonian. I find it has better dynamics and color, both are excellent performances. Being in the order that one might assume Bach intended them to be heard in is the icing on the cake.

Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.

Adam Smith

RE: I'll keep an eye open..., posted on October 30, 2010 at 14:48:47
user510	most of my classical collection has been acquired 'pot luck' at my local thrift stores, Half Price Books, etc. I have several other Brandenburg Concerti by various different groups. But not the Smithsonian. -Steve

RE: Opinions please: which Bach's Brandenburg Concertos LP has best sonics?, posted on October 30, 2010 at 15:00:18

banpuku
Audiophile

Posts: 1010
Joined: January 19, 2006

Believe it or not, I went to my basement where I store LPs that I have deemed "not primary" either due to sonics or I don't like the music. After ready the posts about the Brandenburg recommendations, something clicked in my mind about "smithsonian". I went down to the records and discovered that I have the full box set of Bach and Handel.

So, I do have UNPLAYED, MINT condition 2 box sets including Brandenburg Concertos.

How lucky is that. Thank the good Lord and my Grandparents for saving these LPs and passing them down to me.

RE: Opinions please: which Bach's Brandenburg Concertos LP has best sonics?, posted on November 1, 2010 at 07:40:45
JimL Audiophile Posts: 3774 Location: New Mexico Joined: November 24, 2002	One thing about the Smithsonian Brandenburgs - in No. 5, when the harpsichord solo in the first movement comes up, the harpsichord seems to jump to center stage, then jumps back to its original location after the solo. I'm not a soundstaging freak by any means but that was really noticeable. Otherwise good performances and sound IMO.

Brandenburg 4 & 5..., posted on November 2, 2010 at 13:21:44

EdAInWestOC
Audiophile

Posts: 6828
Location: Glen Burnie, MD USA
Joined: December 18, 2003

From a sonics standpoint of view the Timegate TG234 pressing of The Brandenburg 4 & 5 was simply outstanding. This was a very short lived label that belonged to DCM (makers of the Time Window speakers). They spared no expense to make this LP and everything from hardware to locale to the people employed were the best that were available.

There were very few of these pressed and I believe the actual number is between 1000-2000 LPs. I owned one for many years but it saw very little play. I ended up selling this LP to a person in Italy. I remember this well since it was the only LP I have ever sold. And I wish I didn't.

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This is the review of the LP referred to above from Arthur Salvatore's website:

***********FINEST CHAMBER ORCHESTRA LP***********
BACH-BRANDENBURG CONCERTOS 4 & 5-TIMEGATE TG 234
This may be the finest recording of any type, but I hesitate to say that because it is pointless and unfair to compare a recording of a large orchestra with a small, intimate chamber group. All I can say is that I have never heard any recording that is even more immediate and "alive" sounding. The inner detail, harmonic structure and dynamic shading are also unsurpassed.

The recording engineer was Peter McGrath, one of the most talented (and underrated) in the world. I realize that the performance of this music will not be considered "World-Class" by most experts or even amateurs, but that is irrelevant in this context.

Why haven't you heard of this LP? Well, The Absolute Sound (TAS) actually 'reviewed' it when it came out back in 1981, and it was panned, believe it or not. After that it was totally forgotten, because TAS back then had a lot of influence on audiophiles (including me).

I "discovered" this LP 10 years later by sheer accident. I then reread the TAS 'review' with a combination of shock and sadness. (Frankly, I find that it is impossible to read the TAS 'review' and listen to this LP without losing all respect for the TAS 'reviewer'. TAS reviewed it again, a few issues later, with more positive results, but the reviewer incorrectly wrote that this is a digital recording, it isn't.)

If you are wondering who "Timegate" is; they are the same people who manufactured the (once popular) DCM Time Window speakers. It is tragic that their greatest achievement, this LP, was a critical failure. I was informed, in the early 1990's, that only 1,000 to 2,000 of these LPs were ever made, so they are rare. The price of this LP was quite cheap for years, but it's now usually expensive if its found on an auction. Good hunting.

Competitor- The one Chamber Orchestra LP that "competes" with the Bach is the Vivaldi Flute Concertos on Harmonia Mundi (USA), which was also recorded by Peter McGrath a few years later. It is more "laid back" and not as "immediate". There is also less inner detail, decay and echo, but it is extremely natural and full-bodied. Some listeners may even prefer it for that reason.

This exceedingly special Vivaldi record is also within The Divinity. See the description just above.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ed
Life is analog...digital is just samples thereof

Arthur Salvatore's Divinity LPs

RE: Opinions please: which Bach's Brandenburg Concertos LP has best sonics?, posted on November 2, 2010 at 14:39:01
Mendel Audiophile Posts: 1234 Location: GTA Joined: January 17, 2009	I vote for the Phillips Sequenza Brandenburg with the RSO Berlin conducted by Lorin Maazel. Outstanding sonics and great performance. My favorite version so far! Do not have the Smithsonian to compare with it unfortunately.

Here a photo of the cover..., posted on November 2, 2010 at 18:45:47
EdAInWestOC Audiophile Posts: 6828 Location: Glen Burnie, MD USA Joined: December 18, 2003	Life is analog...digital is just samples thereof

RE: Opinions please: which Bach's Brandenburg Concertos LP has best sonics?, posted on December 13, 2010 at 16:13:51
popsy Audiophile Posts: 2718 Location: oregon Joined: March 4, 2007	Well, just bought this off ebay at a great price so will be interesting to hear how it sounds!!

RE: Opinions please: which Bach's Brandenburg Concertos LP has best sonics?, posted on December 13, 2010 at 23:05:59
Hi-Fidelity Audiophile Posts: 1500 Location: Mid-Michigan Area Joined: October 14, 2008	Here's a mono set that sounds very good. Dark blue label, 1956.

Vinyl Asylum

Opinions please: which Bach's Brandenburg Concertos LP has best sonics?

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