Bach: Concertos
Bach, like most Baroque composers, regularly adapted music that he had  written previously for one context to be reused in another. For example, he  adapted various movements from hiscantatasfor theMass in B Minor; he reworked  several of histrio sonatasforviola da gamba and keyboard; and  he transcribed hisViolin Concerto in E Majorfor harpsichord and strings. It has long been presumed that most  of Bach'sharpsichord concertoswere composed originally for other solo instruments; latter-day musicians have  back transcribed, as it were, a number of those concertos. Several of these  transcriptions, along with the harpsichord version of the E Major violin  concerto, get delightful performances on this release from charismatic violinist  Fabio Biondi and his period-instrument ensemble Europa Galante. The  transcriptions of the G Minor and D Minor harpsichord concertos seem quite  credible; the transcription for violin and oboe of the C Minor Concerto for two  harpsichords is even better, the soloists' lines being much clearer than is the  case with two harpsichords tinkling away at each other. Biondi plays with more  vibrato and more legato--in a more "Romantic" style, one might say--than most  Baroque violinists; in some of the slow movements, he sounds almost like...  well, if notIsaac Stern, then  perhaps the youngYehudi Menuhin. It's as if he's the period-instrument violinist for those who never  got used to the sound of period instruments. Yet Biondi plays with imagination  and charisma, and Europa Galante (which does make a period-instrument sound)  plays with the sparkling energy that seems to be the trademark of Italy's best  Baroque groups. The recorded sound, unfortunately, is a bit flat and  constricted; while this is a real shortcoming, it's not so serious as to prevent  a warm recommendation for the excellent performances.--Matthew Westphal