This is a pretty quirky interpretation, but not all bad. The tempo, bordering on “bat out of…” (you know where), *almost* works, but certainly not in the B section, where things aren’t quite together. Then there are those dramatic “slam on the brakes” ritardandi at the end of each section of the movement, which I find to be unstylistic and excessive, but that’s subjective. While the speed does add urgency and therefore supports the rather dramatic nature of Bach’s St. John, that can still happen at a slightly less frantic clip in my opinion.
If you read the comments on the version on YouTube (http://youtu.be/QIGy2x2KhCg), you’ll see that the user who posted this “ripped” it off the archival recording of the performance in the library of the Trinity College of Music using rather low-fi settings.
David Topping says