Bach: Bradenburg Concertos.

Bach: Brandenburg Concertos. Rinaldo Alessandrini, Concerto Italiano. Naive OP 30412 (Two CDs and one DVD).

Music, like most other art, affects different people in different ways. We wouldn't want it otherwise. My guess is that a majority of listeners will adore this new set of Bach's six Brandenburg Concertos. I didn't. It's what makes ball games.

In the first place, the ensemble playing from Rinaldo Alessandrini's small group of performers is not always letter perfect. Not that we might prefer it that way; I would take gusto and enthusiasm to absolute precision any day. But in the Concerto No. 1 the ensemble seems positively raggedy Annie. In No. 2 the trumpet sounds distant and rough. Moreover, the group plays every fast movement as such breakneck speeds, one can hardly appreciate what's happening. Other listeners, as I say, will interpret their quick pace as exhilarating and exciting; I simply found it fast.

Then, there's the sound, recorded in Palazzo Farnese in Rome. This should be an ideal setting because of its appropriate resonance, but the result is less than transparent and conveys almost no depth whatsoever. Not that much depth is needed when there are only six or eight players involved, but still, judging from the DVD video disc that comes with the two CDs, the players are distanced front-to-back by a few feet. Here, they sound like they're arranged in a perfectly straight line across the sound stage.

For the record, so to speak, I thought Nos. 3, 4, and 5 came off best, where the quick tempos didn't sound too rushed. But that big ensemble piece, No. 1, just sounded pretty loose to me, No. 2 was harsh and over decorated, and No. 6 seemed a touch dull. The DVD, by the way, contains a brief, thirty-minute or so film of Alessandrini and his group rehearsing and playing, with commentary from Alessandrini (subtitles in English), and extended excerpts from several of the Concertos.