Well, the DG Archiv had very few, or ever, “better moments” in term of recording quality.  With Brandenburg Concertos on LP I have the same problem as you do. I have some recordings that I more or less like on LP but I never was comfortable with sound. In fact I tend do not list the Brandenburgs on record and prefer CDs as the sound not as I would like it to be. My favorite contemporary recordings are by Boston Baroque from beginning of 90s and by Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment from end of the 80s (both on the period instruments)

Even they do not do what I feel would be ultimate take on the Brandenburg Concertos. All records that I have are studio recording but they need to be LIVE. I never heard LIVE performance of the Concertos with me in attendance (I head just a separate movement once). It was not good play that time but I have a very clear vision how they shell be played and how they shell be sound LIVE.  I head also a live-to tape broadcast from Tanglewood on FM with  Bernstein or somebody else from 70s doing Brandenburgs – it was very bad sonically – the  Tanglewood is not the best place for this music perhaps…

If someone know any interning life recording of Brandenburg Concertos, perhaps from some kind of festival, then it might be interesting if it is not even on LP…

Max Shatsky wrote:

I find the playing by Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment as the most boring, sorry, I don't get it.

In my view the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s play it not boring but rather not flashy and not overly exiting. The first feeling might be that it does hold back but they have something that very few have nowadays – the superb Culture of Sound. The way in winch that orchestra plays exemplifies for me one of the highest presentations of how Sound might be presented, the sound where everything is so pampered and balanced that it become as self-contained ethical pleasure to observer the organization of the message.

BTW, Kris, if you look for “high quality” recording on CD then you might look for Tacet recording. Tacet is a German-base high-end recording company and the Brandenburg Concertos was the very first recording that they made name (the do some very interesting recordings). It was the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra on TACET 101. I actively do not like play there (no Culture of Sound) but the sound is OK. Tacet is known to release some of their recordings on LP and sometime record analog, if you like the performance you might get from Tacet an LP album of their Brandenburg Concertos.

Max Shatsky wrote:

... however my current favorite is by Masaaki Suzuki.