Perhaps some explanation for my concern is in order. Bach wrote a lot of music - well over a thousand works in the BWV (Bach Work Index) catalogue - but surprisingly only a handful of concertos based on wholly original material for violin(s). The three works on this disc, BWV 1041 to 1043, date from his Cöthen period (c. 1718-1723); but there is also a later (c. 1742) D major concerto, BWV 1045 - a surviving fragment from the Sinfonia of an unknown cantata - as well as adaptations/reconstructions of concertos for violin(s) from other instruments, that could have found their way into this collection.

BWV 1044, incidentally, is a triple concerto for flute, violin and harpsichord, which makes it genetically closer, in fact, to the Brandenburg Concertos than the orthodox violin concerto. Musicologists have also contended that some of the concertos for harpsichord were originally written for violin, although which ones remain the magical question.

If we were to take the works on this disc chronologically, then these three could be said, more so than Bach's later efforts, to bear the influence of Le Prete Rosso, Antonio Vivaldi. The "Red Priest" was himself also just as prolific as Bach, if not more: 250 violin concertos, 30 double violin concertos, as well as various other 40 Concerti con molti instrumenti with a violino principale part. Interestingly, Hänssler have even reproduced a portrait of Vivaldi in the sleeve booklet.

The differences between these two composers, compositional styles and musical inventiveness aside, lies in their technical approach to the concerto form. Where Vivaldi relied heavily on interplay between concertante "versus" ripieno, Bach was already striving to achieve the standard in which the solo instrument - here the violin - was primus inter pares, or first among equals.

Certainly, there is some of this ideal on these performances. Both single-instrument concertos start off very briskly, with a blue-blooded rendition of the solo part from Christoph Poppen, nobly supported by the Stuttgart musicians, that breathes new life into these sometimes hackneyed works. Placed alongside some of the other older recordings, it shaves off whole minutes from each of the individual movements.

The A minor concerto BWV 1041, is infectious in its spontaniety, so much so that one almost forgets that this is, to begin with, in the minor mode, which is more often associated with pathos and gloom and melancholy. Not even in the lyrical cantilena of the slow movement, over a darkly-coloured ostinato bass, does a hint of any Aeolian (that is, minor key) "negativity" come through, and Christoph Poppen's fine tone is to be well-savoured.

The E major concerto BWV 1042, once a famously advertising jingle for a certain uptown brand of personal lifestyle products, is no less attractive. Certainly, Bach's melodic invention is at its most potent here - who could forget those bold opening triads of the first movement - and the playing does it ample justice. In the slow movment, Poppen interrupts the bass ostinato with a melody of haunting beauty as the melody line transforms from C-sharp minor back into E major. The last movement, with its whirlwind of four solo sections interspersed between five ensemble tuttis, is also very effectively built-up as each solo iteration gets increasingly detailed, so that the conclusion, when it finally arrives, comes as a mini-apotheosis.

Rilling and the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart clearly eschew the heavily accented style so common in continental Europe in the seventies and eighties; they seem to go more for musical character in their playing. Rilling does not unduly belabour the reading into the "depth" of the music or wilfully "force" a sense of pathos, as some conductors are wont to do, but keeps everything fluent.

Isabelle Faust, who joins Poppen as the second soloist for the double violin concerto (BWV 1043), comes with impressive credentials: a string of first prizes and cultural awards to her name, not to mention - if I may digress here - being a dead ringer for the English actress Kate Beckinsale (be still my heart !) from her picture in the liner notes. Ms Faust, we are told, also plays the Sleeping Beauty Stradivarius and therefore, comes aboard with a certain promise of youthful potential.

The double concerto essentially thrives on the interplay of two musical personalities, distinct but equal: here, as before, Poppen's reading is vigorous and aristocratic. Ms Faust, on the other hand, is simply conscientious: is she guilty of trying too much, in their game of "catch me if you can", to imitate her leader's style ? Certainly, their warmly nourished violin timbres suggest as if they are trying to sound as alike as possible. Nonetheless, Ms Faust, in the final say, acquits her supporting role well - although, out of pure curiosity, I can't help wondering what it might have sounded like if their roles were swapped.

The siciliana-like largo is, as with the previous works, played at some pace. At this speed, it isn't as probing as one might would have liked, even if the easy conviction of the playing sweeps you away. This interplay carries into the last movement, but this is where the muscularity of the reading starts to grow wearisome. Not that this isn't an ebullient performance: the two soloists interweave their strands with some athelectism, with Rilling and the orchestra at their most obliging, but a bit more velvet and less iron would have been preferable here.

The final thing to be said is that the common-sensical coupling of these three popular violin concerti comes up to only forty-two minutes and thirty-five seconds, which is way under par by today's standards. I suppose this is because of the serialized format in which Hänssler are issuing the works of Bach - a similar coupling also appeared on the Koopman Edition on Erato, no doubt for the same reasons - but ultimately this simply makes the disc uncompetitive in a market with more than a few alternative performances with better content.

The Brandenburg Concertos - An Inktroduction

Brandenburg Concertos Nos.1, 2, 3 & 6. Cologne CO/Müller-Brühl (Naxos)

Brandenburg Concerti Choice recording by La Stravaganza

The Harpsichord Concerti An Inktroduction.

Harpsichord Concerti Vols.1 & 2, BWV1052-1058. Levin/Bach-Collegium Stuttgart/Rilling (Hänssler).

Violin Concertos. Wallfisch/OAE (Veritas) and Manze/Podger (Harmonia Mundi).

Violin Concertos, BWVs 1041-43. Faust, Poppen/Bach-Collegium Stuttgart/Rilling (Hänssler).

Violin Concertos, Reconstructed, BWVs 1045, 1052, 1056 & 1064R. (Hänssler)

J.S. BACH The Orchestral Suites, BWV1066-69 - An Inktroduction.

J.S. BACH The Orchestral Suites, BWV1066-69 - Recommended Recordings.

Violin & Oboe Concerti Wonderful concertos courtesy of the spirit of transcription.