Many Baroque composers wrote dozens and even lots of of concertos, however Bach managed to sum up your complete style with solely six. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos every function a distinct line-up of soloists with a variety of moods and even constructions (surprising in an period when concertos had been presupposed to have three actions: quick, sluggish, quick).
The Brandenburg Concertos (so referred to as as a result of they had been devoted to the Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt) will not be solely among the liveliest and most vibrant orchestral works of their day, they had been additionally groundbreaking, producing new sounds and new prospects that Bach’s contemporaries couldn’t ignore. In them Bach introduced collectively the widest attainable mixture of devices (completely different for every concerto), combining them in daring partnerships. Orchestral music would by no means be the identical once more as soon as the world had heard Bach’s vibrant and texture-filled Brandenburg Concertos. Discover our information to Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos uncovering the historical past behind these groundbreaking works.
Hearken to our advisable recording of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, carried out by Claudio Abbado and Orchestra Mozart, on Apple Music and Spotify.
Why the identify?
Some may consider Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, image of German disintegration and reunification, when listening to Johann Sebastian Bach’s matchless assortment of concertos. However the works’ widespread title comes from its affiliation with Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg and uncle of Prussia’s Friedrich Wilhelm I, the Soldier King. Bach travelled from Cöthen to Berlin in 1719 to gather a big harpsichord for his boss and he in all probability met the Margrave then. Two years later the composer, who knew Christian Ludwig liked the most recent Italian instrumental concertos, devoted his set of concertos with a number of devices to him. Bach’s exquisitely drafted manuscript of the Brandenburgs, most definitely supposed as a job utility, is now within the care of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. The Brandenburgs had been rediscovered in 1849 and first printed the next 12 months, a century after Bach’s demise. It took one other hundred years and extra earlier than musicians explored the works on interval devices.
Must know
Close to-supernatural in inspiration, and groundbreaking of their variety of invention, Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos stand among the many biggest inventive achievements of the 18th century. Bach transcended current concerto fashions by Vivaldi and different Italians by exploring revolutionary combos of orchestral devices. Every of the set’s 14 completely different devices, except the double-bass, options as a soloist in not less than one of many concertos, typically surpassing standard limits of virtuosity. You possibly can catch the breadth and depth of Bach’s tonal flavours by listening to the primary concerto’s searching horns, the second’s mix of death-defying trumpet solo and plaintive recorder, and the fifth’s wild harpsichord cadenza. It’s attainable that the fifth concerto was initially conceived in 1717 for Bach’s deliberate keyboard battle with Louis Marchand, described as a musical contest for superiority. The Frenchman properly withdrew earlier than a notice was fired.
The place have I heard it earlier than?
If you happen to’re sufficiently old to recollect Arthur Negus then you definately’ll recognise the opening of Brandenburg No.3 because the theme music to the unique Antiques Roadshow. The identical motion additionally seems on the soundtrack scores to Die Laborious, Moll Flanders and Ridley Scott’s Hannibal. It’s additionally used as a sonic cliché for something outdated in daytime TV programmes. Probably the most memorable film use is available in Slaughterhouse-5, George Roy Hill’s movie of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, the place the ultimate motion of Brandenburg No.4 (carried out by the good cellist Pablo Casals) accompanies a haunting cinematic montage of footage from wartime Dresden.
Really useful Recording
Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos 1 – 6 carried out by Claudio Abbado and Orchestra Mozart
“Does the world need another set of Brandenburgs? Yes when they are as freshly minted and as adventurously sonorous as this marvellous set from Abbado’s young period-style Orchestra Mozart … these are peerless highlights of baroque music.” – The Guardian
