There are pieces of music such as the Brandenburg Concertos that you inherit as part of the cultural landscape, everyone agrees they are masterpieces, you buy them, listen to them, nod & give your assent. Superb, you say, & yet in a funny way they don't touch you as - say - early Stravinsky or a Schubert sonata - or a song by Julia Holter for that matter.

You shrug & accept that your taste (& ears) are second rate or 'uneducated' or whatever snobbery you wish to submit to.

& then you happen upon a recording which lifts the composition into another dimension. Yesterday I was once again in the CD shop on the Sablon & saw this version by Cafe Zimmerman. The name plus the cover photo made me think this must be some jazz combo interpretation. How wrong could I be?

So far I have only listened to the first two concertos but it has been nothing short of a revelation. The first Concerto features a raw brass sound which is downright shocking. Suddenly all sorts of preconceptions are thrown out of the window. Lines that have been embedded in the mix in previous recordings now glisten forth. These are truly wonderful interpretations. I cannot recommend them highly enough.