Founded by conductor
Ross Pople, the
London Festival Orchestra began performing in 1980. The small modern instrument ensemble has churned out an impressive number of albums covering centuries of repertoire, many of them for the Arte Nova label. While many of these recordings have been solid, reliable readings, this reissue of the 1995 performance of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos is not among them. At various points in the two-disc set the
LFO's playing is sloppy to the point of amateurish and
Pople's leadership of his ensemble is erratic. Tempos change at bizarre moments without being set up, particularly in the opening of the Second Concerto. Intonation in the strings is messy and inconsistent, a fact made even more obvious during concertino parts. The horn soloists in the First Concerto are surprisingly inarticulate and imprecise given that they are performing on modern horns rather than period instruments. Balance within the orchestra is often irregular with supporting instruments sometimes sticking out the texture over melodic lines. Musically,
Pople's interpretations of the six Brandenburg Concertos offer nothing new or terribly insightful. This, coupled with the
LFO's lackluster performance, makes this set one that can probably be skipped.