Given its history, this set of Brandenburgs recorded by Le Concert des Nations seems destined for some sort of reissue record. For instance, it was originally recorded in 1991 and released shortly afterward, then reissued in 2000 at mid-price when Astrée was part of the French Naïve group, and in 2010 it once again surfaced in the form of a hybrid SACD set on conductor Jordi Savall’s own distinguished label Alia Vox as part of its “Heritage” series. Since the Astrée and Naïve incarnations have been long deleted, many listeners will welcome this very handsome reissue since it’s a truly great, well-considered performance that certainly deserves to be available again.
Too bad the engineers botched the sound. Compared to Michel Bernstein’s excellent original production, the significantly lower audio level here is hardly helped by adjusting the volume; if you try this, you soon discover what once was a clearly defined sound stage now has been re-mastered into comparative cacophony reminiscent of some of those disasters from the early digital age. A performance this grand deserves much better.
Listeners interested in Le Concert des Nations’ unblemished performance would do well to search for second-hand copies of the Astrée and Naïve issues. Those looking for an equally impressive rendition of these works in vastly superior SACD sound are advised to consider the Bach Collegium Japan’s set on BIS (enter Q12516 in Search Reviews), which includes similarly fine readings of Bach’s Orchestral Suites as a bonus at no extra cost.
