"Full of alert characterisation ... this disc gets better and better." - Gramophone "The Bach was stylistic and thrillingly performed" Norwegian Press The Norwegian Baroque Orchestra is gathered from the best players on period instruments all over Norway and the Nordic area -with international supplements. The orchestra has collaborated widely with a number of conductors -most notably the Norwegian harpsichordist Ketil Haugsand and the British conductor Andrew Parrott. JS Bach (1685-1750) has recently been at the centre of musical attention due to the 250th anniversary of his death. There have been many recent performances of his church cantatas, but this should not detract from his gifts as an orchestral composer of the greatest genius. The two orchestral suites contain some of Bach's most exuberant and attractive music. Suite no. 2 was written at a time when the new transverse flute was much in vogue. All of Bach's harpsichord concertos date from the 1730's and are transcriptions of earlier works. The E major concerto heard here may originate in a lost oboe concerto in E flat. The three movements had already been re-used in cantatas 169 and 49: the outer movements formed sinfonias while the slow movement was an aria. "The Norwegians played with brilliance, .... Ketil Haugsands tempi were throughout dreamlike" Das Musikinstrument