Search - J.S. Bach, Pickett, New London Consort :: Orchestral Suites 1-4

The 1995 recording from Pickett and the New London Consort offers thoughtful and illuminating performances of the suites, suavely played by an assembly of the world's finest period instrumentalists. Pickett challenges some of the assumptions that have held sway among specialists for the past two decades, particularly with regard to the tempos at which dances such as the bourre and gavotte should be taken-- slower in the case of the former, faster in the latter. He also assigns just a single string instrument to each part, thereby shifting the tonal balance toward the woodwinds and, in Suites 3 and 4, the trumpets. A first-rate recording allows these refinements to be properly savored. --Ted Libbey