C. Perelli-Minetti | Old Greenwich, CT USA | 06/10/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"In addition to the other reasons to own this Brandenburg set, brass players should consider the first rate clarino (valveless trumpet) playing of Thomas Freas in the Brandenburg Concerto No.2. A baroque specialist with his own early group, Fanfare Consort, he is one of the few really good clarino players around. The 2nd is usually played on a piccolo trumpet, half the size of a modern trumpet, because the high register is so difficult. A clarino is almost twice the size of a modern trumpet, yet plays in the very high range, and few modern players have mastered clarino work."
As usual, Newman's tempo's are fast, but not sloppy.
C. Perelli-Minetti | 12/02/1998
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I bought these CD's to hear Alex Klein play the oboe, and was rewarded with one of the most energetic performances of the Brandenburgs that I've ever heard. If you've never heard Newman on the keyboard before, you might think the guy has gone berserk with speed, but listen again, and again. He's not reckless, just supercharged. And don't forget the oboe stuff. Alex is superb. I gave my son these CD's and can't get them back, so I intend to buy another set for myself."
Anthony newman and the continuo on jsb brandenburgs
hugo_1950 | 06/17/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"note that mr. newman uses the so called bach cembalo and also organ for the continuo. i do not know of any other recording as these. hugo s"
I got this CD back in 1997
Adam Chen | Mercer Island, WA USA | 02/12/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Right when it was first published. I was 12 years old at the time and I just wanted to find some good relaxation music (plus I played some bach on my tiny 1/2 violin). I mentioned my age cause frankly I didn't have much of a clue about classical music (or music in general) other than the fact that I liked Bach because his music was very logical and helped me to think (isn't that what all the fugues and stuff are for?). Well surprise! I loved it. Eventually I opened up my eyes wider and realized, wow there are like 500 editions of the brandenburgs. So I looked at a lot, listened to some, but I still like this one. This music is a great start on the road to real musical bliss. Achieving a balance between pop that seems to ALWAYS get you in your groove (it's short for popular anyway), and the local artists, the people who really touch your heart but sometimes get on your nerves.I know a lot of people don't want to admit it, but classical music ain't so classical anymore. It's been modernized. I am even thinking of getting the yamaha silent electric violin (which I'm not quite sure amazon.com has in stock yet.. if so get it!). Music has been broken down into a science. We have several different versions of strings, but they all use machine crafted metal. Some computerized (MIDI) music even sounds almost as if it's real or even better than real playing if you use the right SoundFont. And then we have winamp/sonique and other players/plugins that can change tempo and pitch, rather than just speed, and, add echo, bass and treble effects with equalizers and echo effects, choral effects, fidelity, the headphones you listen to have a range of x-xxxx hertz (the human cochlea can hear from approximately 20-20,000 hz)... the sound drivers in your speakers are so important to sound reproduction and very prone to fault, there's treble, woofer, subwoofer, crossfire between speakers, surround sound, equal sound distribution, sound distortion, magnetic distortion, mid-channels, 5.1 systems... THE LIST GOES ON FOREVER! With all of my knowledge and experience with music I'd have to say that I think this CD is just as much a technological achievement as it is a musical achievement. The way the violin is played, the kinds of violins they chose to play on, the strings, the exact distance from the recording mics these guys were from (some brandenburg concertos merely have this problem of awesome playing not being recorded correctly)... it all deliers very crisp sound. How do I know? Well, if you record these songs into MP3 using ASPI (instead of recording analog) you'll be able to preserve the song digitally on your computer. Since the computer doesn't have problems reproducing sounds exactly, try cranking the volume up on a high bit rate MP3 or just a plain WAV file (around 320kbps-760kpbs dual channel stereo), you'll notice the other recording start getting fuzzy but these recordings are just great. It's especially noteworthy to say that when adding equalizer effects and sound effects (like with the sound blaster audigy/live card or with your portable mp3/minidisc/cd players nowadays) the hissing also gets equalized or echoed.I know most people out there aren't as much into the sound quality as I am, but the reason why I'm almost fanatical about music started back when my family got our first surround system. Listening to all of the speakers, it was an awakening of near-religious magnitude! Don't settle for those "[composer] for [babies, adults, relaxation, kids, teenagers, study]" CD's! I even buy CD's from foreign countries with people you've never heard of. Hopefully you too can buy music by people I've never heard of! Stick with what works and perhaps big monopolies like Sony will realize that it's the music that counts, not gimmicks!"
No one does it like Anthony Newman.
Jeff Smith | New York, New York | 03/12/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"First off The Brandenburg Concertos are the greatest thing ever. If you want your mind blown by the ahead of its times sound of Bach at his near mightiest then go Brandenburg. Then, let me say that no one does these concertos better then Anthony Newman. He is awesome! He'll kick anything into overdrive and add his own flavor to it. Which is exactly how it should be done. If there is already a recording of a certain piece then what is the point of recording another just like it. Change it up people. Come on, let's reinvent this stuff, let's be as innovative as the master composers who wrote this stuff would try to be. Do you think if they were in our shoes that they would just be doing the same old recordings over and over. No, they would add originality to it. This here is an original interpretation and I think you should hear it."
Track Listings (16) - Disc #1