"Here's something that hasn't come my way in decades: a set of the Brandenburgs recorded on modern instruments ... The sound of modern instruments now seems strange to ears used to period ones, but Chailly and the Leipzigers have taken on board the stylistic findings of the period movement - these are fleet, enjoyable accounts, with virtuoso playing of the solo parts"

"These new recordings from the Gewandhaus Orchestra feature a lightness that would have been almost unthinkable in a full orchestral recording not so long ago ... Not, then, a completely coherent set of performances and certainly not an unequivocal success, but there is more than enough here to make for stimulating listening and even more stimulating reflection on what Bach on orchestral instruments might mean today"