Gratuitous Musickal Observation

I can't emphasize how happy I am that WETA-FM has gone back to the classical music format.

On the way into the metro this morning, I was listening to a performance of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto #3 performed by Musica Antiqua of Cologne under the direction of Reinhard Goebel. I've a number of their CD's of Telemann's music and would heartily endorse any of them. Although he and Bach were near exact contemporaries and knew one another, Telemann's style of composition was considerably different from ol' JS's - more theatrical and free-flowing, less consciously self-disciplined. MAoC has always served Telemann up in a very lively manner, so I was interested to hear how they would go about presenting Bach.

Well jaysus, is all I can say. The third movement Allegro is supposed to be speedy, but this rendition reminded me of the time when I was a boy when I was seriously run away with by a horse. You spend so much energy just trying to hang on that you don't have time to appreciate anything else. On the whole, I prefer my Bach fast (as opposed to the funerial slowness indulged in by some orchestras), but I really feel that this was a bit much.