Accademia Bizantina dir. Ottavio Dantone

Accademia Bizantina are now firmly established among the best period performance ensembles of our time, with their director, Ottavio Dantone, in demand in the opera house and concert hall alike.

For this recording they explore the wealth of fine instrumental music in Bach's glorious Cantatas.

A thoroughly listenable collection of Sinfonias, Sonatas and Concerti from Bach's Cantatas - all given the unique flavor of Accademia Bizantina's characterful period style.

'Although it might seem a strange idea to make a CD of the orchestral introductions to Bach's cantatas, there is sufficient variety of mood - from celebratory to contemplative - to make the programme work as a sequence...the where-have-I-heard-that-before element is part of the disc's attraction, and the superb Accademia Bizantina makes the music live and breathe.'  The Telegraph

'This is a wonderful recital, carefully chosen and assembled, and beautifully played...there are movements highlighting the group's fine oboists, bassoonists, violinists, trumpeters and, slightly less impressively, horn players. Their style is brisk and energised in the faster music and deeply expressive and spacious in the slower.' The Sunday Times