Classics Explained
An Introduction to... BACH: Brandenburg Concertos Nos 4 & 5
Author and narrator: Jeremy Siepmann
2 CDs, including the complete work
148-page booklet
Naxos 8.558055-56
ISBN: 1-84379-010-6

Ever since the advent of the LP in the 1950s with its expanded capacity, the six Brandenburg Concertos have been Bach's runaway hit. They were not written as a set but form a collection. Nos. 4 and 5 are the brightest, the most buoyantly happy and the danciest, but in some ways they are also the most complex. By putting these concertos under the musical microscope we can discover how their many ingredients combine to make two of the most irresistible works in the repertoire.

This package contains 2 CDs of incredibly detailed, insightful and enlightening explanation accompanied by a booklet packed full of supplementary material. To actually hear the music as it is described would seem vital to a proper understanding, and yet this is largely unexplored territory. Here, the benefits are clear. As Siepmann tells us, 'the music is in the music'!