Best Brandenburg Concerto recording CD

Get thee a Musica Florea CD set (Marek Stryncl). It is available on Amazon as an import only, about $40. BRAVO horns!

Second best recommendation: Academy of Ancient Music, Richard Egarr (Harmonia Mundi) SACD set reviewed in Stereophile several months ago. Also really, really good; some tempos are not quite as agressive. Sound is spectacular. Bravo horns!

Agree with Don about the horns on the Academy of Ancient Music SACD, they are quite distinct from any I have heard on other recordings. An excellent addition to a collection even if you have another recording of the piece.

AAMC/Egarr on HM is outstanding as is I Barrochisti/Fasolis on ArtsMusic. Both are beautifully recorded on mch SACDs. The latter is quicker and more dramatic, imo, but a bit too bracing for some. Both winners.

Kal

I'll probably appear to many to be off-base here. But quality of the recording is paramount to me. Acoustic instruments loose so much through recording. The Brandenburg concertos is my favourite baroque piece and I've spent much time trying to find the perfect version. I didn't fint it. But I did find a version that was just as good as the any others in its execution and deisgn, while being superior in the quality of its recording AND the quality of the instruments used. This version is the MAK (Musica Antika Kölln) version with Reinhardt Goebel. After listening so many times to such version as the harnoncourt or the Pinnock (or actually any other versions that I know of)it first struck me as being much too fast at times. But I was intrigued and gave it its chance. After a few other attempts I was hooked, and it is now my de facto brandenburg of choice. The pace works just fine, at times being beneficial to certain scenes. I strongly advice anyone to try and go over this first disconfort.

Anyone heard the Apollo's Fire recording of the Brandenburgs?