Five out of six times, this set of the Brandenburg Concertos by the Combattimento Consort Amsterdam is first-rate. As soloists, the players are almost all superb. Violinist Jan Willem de Vriend is graceful and charming in the Second, Fourth, and Fifth concertos and simply dazzling as the violino di piccolo player in the First. Recorder player Marion Verbruggen is airy and joyful alone in the Second and doubly joyful together with Anneke Boeke in the Fourth. Flutist Jacques Zoon is suave and sweet in the Fifth, oboist ...
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Five out of six times, this set of the Brandenburg Concertos by the Combattimento Consort Amsterdam is first-rate. As soloists, the players are almost all superb. Violinist Jan Willem de Vriend is graceful and charming in the Second, Fourth, and Fifth concertos and simply dazzling as the violino di piccolo player in the First. Recorder player Marion Verbruggen is airy and joyful alone in the Second and doubly joyful together with Anneke Boeke in the Fourth. Flutist Jacques Zoon is suave and sweet in the Fifth, oboist Remco de Vries is plangent and poignant in the Second, harpsichordist Patrick Ayrton is clear and deep in the Fifth, and hornists Paul van Zelm and Christian Boers are bucolic but not bumptious in the First. And as an orchestra, the Combattimento is superlative. The ensemble is light and elegant; the colors are bright and shining; and the tempos are right on the sweet spot. Best of all, the interplay balances challenge and cooperation. In the Third, for example, the three groups of...
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