Bach's four orchestral suites, more properly termed Overtures ("Ouvertüren"), are among his most-recorded works, with listeners able to choose from numerous traditional and historical-performance versions with various emphases. So it may seem surprising that this double-album reading from the
Dunedin Consort and its director,
John Butt, would hit best-seller charts in the autumn of 2022. There is nothing revolutionary about
Butt's approach, which features a sizable ensemble of historical instruments, moderate tempos, and carefully executed solo passages, but that is just what makes the work of
Butt and his players distinctive: these are supremely well-balanced performances in which everything falls into place. They have the same virtue as the ensemble's recordings of large
Bach choral works, namely that the individual instrumental lines are carefully enough sculpted to reveal close details of
Bach's contrapuntal writing. Everything, even a movement as famous as the Air from the Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068 (the so-called "Air on the G string"), seems freshly and deliberately considered. Linn's sound from the Yehudi Menuhin School is solid. A strong candidate for gift lists over the 2022 holidays and beyond. ~ James Manheim