Emmanuel Pahud, Berliner Barock Solisten - Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, Orchestral Suite No. 2, Trio Sonata, Partita (2001)

I bought this CD recently, struck by its great cover. The photographer was Sheila Rock, whose photos of artists I have always admired. But aside from the cover, the music here is just stunning to say the least. The Berliner Barock Solisten are drawn from members and former menbers of the Berlin Philharmonic, so I expected that this was going to be a good CD. Well, I was in for a big surprise, not because the CD was bad - it was really great - but the style of playing was very much a la Baroque, with gut strings and lower tuning methods etc. I am not a huge authentic instruments fan but this was somewhat out of the ordinary. It was stylistically very correct -I never imagined that Berlin Phil members could adapt to that kind of style of playing after performing such Romantic masters:Brahms, Schumann etc for most of their orchestral life. Pahud is in top form, of course. This performer is born to play. Not only is his playing superb, he has the discipline and freedom of a great artist. And to top it all off, he is very very good-looking(!). It starts with the 5th Brandenburg Concerto, which is played with finesse. I loved the Affetuoso movement especially. The Trio Sonata is played with a sense of ensemble that is typical of the Berlin Phil players- they listen to each other which makes this music even more alive and affecting. I didn't know that Bach wrote solo flute music, so I was surprised to find the solo partita for flute included here. It was a first for me of a very moving piece of unaccompanied Bach, with just the right amount of "prettiness" to it. To top the glorious disc off, the 2nd Orchestral Suite. Again, the sense of ensemble was well caught on disc, and this was a real authentic performance: hardly any vibrato, cool style, and very transparent timbre. I loved every minute of this disc. This is a very relaxing record to listen to without any of the heaviness of modern performances. I got more for my money than the great cover!