This excellent program of Bach concertos is organized around the two famous works in D minor–the double violin concerto, BWV 1043, and the great harpsichord concerto, BWV 1052. The famous English musical scholar Donald Francis Tovey thought this last work to be the most important keyboard concerto before the mature masterpieces of Mozart, and while this may not quite do justice to the 60-odd splendid concertos of J.S. Bach’s son, C.P.E., the point is well taken. The various members of Musica Alta Ripa give the work a driving, tense performance that rightly underlines the music’s agitation and sense of menace. In fact, these musicians characterize all four concertos extremely well, and even manage to maintain a certain amount of clarity in the unavoidably clanging C major concerto for three harpsichords, BWV 1064. In sum, this is an excellent continuation of an excellent series of recordings.
