Italian Concerto; Brandenburg Concerto No. 5; Concerto for Flute, Violin & Piano
After playing and conducting Bach’s concertos for solo keyboard, Perahia now turns his attention to a pair of similarly scored concertos which involve a couple of excellent colleagues. Except for instrument purists who insist on harpsichords and other period instruments, no Bach lover is likely to have any trouble with the sound of these performances. They are lucidly and expressively played, and every important line is clearly audible. After his rather aggessive approach to the solo concertos, Perahia and his colleagues sound surprisingly sedate in these performances, which are lovely but occasionally seem a bit deficient in excitement and drive. The “Italian Concerto,” without the orchestra, is similarly mellow. If it suits your interests, this is a highly pleasing disc, quite well recorded, although there should have been more than 55:24 of music on it. –Leslie Gerber