SONS OF BACH (C.P.E. BACH & J.C. BACH arr. by MOZART) - ENGLISH CONCERT, TREVOR PINNOCK (COMPACT DISC)

"This is, of course, wonderfully vibrant music... Apart from the unusual music itself, which clearly demonstrates the links between Bach's sons (and even Mozart) on the one hand and the Baroque with its figurehead Johann Sebastian Bach on the other hand, perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this recording is the fact that, if I am correctly informed, it is the first ever recording made by the English Concert. Here we hear an obviously excited Trevor Pinnock with some absolutely brilliant harpsichord playing (and there is a black-and-white picture of him from the mid-70's in the booklet - how time flies!), but there are also some star names in the distribution list: John Holloway, Monica Huggett, Nicholas McGegan, Anthony Pleeth, Simon Standage. The recording as a whole breathes the freshness of the first enthusiasm for period instruments in those pioneer years, I suppose one could speak of "first love". A comparison with Pinnock's Handel recordings of only seven to eight years later reveal that the English Concert made enormous strides forward in its playing technique, but that the original freshness and verve gave way to a certain nobility of expression that sounds, to my ears at any rate, rather snobbish. The Bach's Sons CD is, therefore, a historical document of period performance practice..."