Era: Baroque
Year: 1721-1730
Form: Orchestral Suites (or as Bach called them Overtures, even if that's just the first movement) and Concertos
Score: 90
Thoughts: This is a fantastic HIP recording of both the orchestral suites (1724-1730) and the Brandenburg Concertos (published 1721). I often got the impression this could be considered a mold upon which the symphony and other modern works built upon. I heard lots of early classical music in this, especially Mozart and Haydn. Also this whole thing is an explosion of beautiful melodies and harmonies. Form and beauty.
Few musical works are as loved--and as often performed--as the six "Brandenburg" Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach. These six works display a lighter side of Bach's imperishable genius. Yet they came into being as an unexpected gift. That's what happened in 1721 when Bach presented the Margrave of Brandenburg with a bound manuscript containing six lively concertos for chamber orchestra, works based on an Italian Concerto Grosso style. The Margrave never thanked Bach for his work--or paid him. There's no way he could have known that this gift--later named the Brandenburg Concertos--would become a benchmark of Baroque music and still have the power to move people almost three centuries later. On this edition of Performance Today's Milestones of the Millennium, we explore how Bach's genius opened up a vivid new world of music for chamber orchestra.
The Brandenburg Concertos are a highlight of one of the happiest and most productive periods in Bach's life. At the time he wrote them, Bach was the Kapellmeister--the music director--in the small town of Coethen, where he was composing music for the court. Since the Margrave of Brandenburg seems to have ignored Bach's gift of concertos, it's likely that Bach himself presided over the first performances at home in Coethen. They didn't have a name then; that didn't come until 150 years later, when Bach's biographer Philipp Spitta called them "Brandenburg" Concertos for the very first time, and the name stuck.
Even though he didn't call them the "Brandenburgs," Bach still thought of them as a set. What he did was compile them from short instrumental sinfonias and concerto movements he had already written. Then he re-worked the old music, often re-writing and elaborating where he saw fit. In doing so, Bach created something of a dramatic arc from the brilliant first concerto to the last, which evokes a spirited chase.
Each of the six concertos requires a different combination of instruments as well as some highly skilled soloists. The Margrave had his own small court orchestra in Berlin, but it was a group of mostly mediocre players. All the evidence suggests that these virtuosic Brandenburg concertos perfectly matched the talents of the musicians on hand in Coethen. So how did a provincial town get so many excellent musicians? Just before Johann Sebastian arrived in Coethen in 1717, a new king inherited the throne in Prussia. Friedrich Wilhelm I became known as the "Soldier King" because he was interested in the military strength of his kingdom, not in refined artistic pursuits. One of his first royal acts was to disband the prestigious Berlin court orchestra. That threw many musicians out of work, and as luck would have it, seven of the best ones were snatched up to work in Coethen by its music-loving Prince Leopold. That's why Bach found such a rich music scene when he started to work there. It gave him the luxury of writing for virtuosos and they let him push the boundraries of his creativity. Concerto No. 2, for example, has the trumpeter play high flourishes. No. 4 allows the solo violin to soar.
When Bach played chamber music, he usually took the viola part so he could sit--as he wrote in a letter--"in the middle of the harmony." But for the Concerto No. 5 he had a real inspiration. He switched to harpsichord, gave it a knock-out part and, in the process, invented the modern keyboard concerto. The writing is so advanced and so intricate for its time that scholars assume the Fifth Concerto is actually the last Brandenburg Concerto Bach wrote.
If the dazzling writing style of the Fifth Concerto points to a late composition date, the Sixth Concerto probably came first in chronological order. It's got a simple part for the viola da gamba, a forerunner of the cello, which Bach probably put there for his employer, Prince Leopold, to play. The Prince was wealthy man and a serious music lover but probably a performer of only modest talent. The Sixth is also unique in the set because Bach omitted the violins from the ensemble; the violas take the highest string part. All six Brandenburg Concertos reveal the ebullient side of Bach, and they're one of the most welcome gifts he left us.
Along with the double violin concerto, the Brandenbergs were some of the first classical pieces I fell in love with. They all blow me away, but I find #5 to be extra astonishing.
I didn't take to the orchestral suites quite as well, and now I know why: my recording is a relative dud. It certainly lacks the lively, good natured warmth this music is capable of expressing.
Thanks! I'm glad you are enjoying it. I'm a total novice and so I wanted to get a better understanding and what better way than trying to submerse myself into it. I just got back from a business trip... so much to reply to (on many threads) and so little time. But I was able to listen to a couple albums (one of which was longer) on the plane.
I didn't take to the orchestral suites quite as well, and now I know why: my recording is a relative dud. It certainly lacks the lively, good natured warmth this music is capable of expressing.
For sure - this is the toughest part, imo, about getting into classical music... the recordings. Bringing the music to life and the interpretations of the music is so key. Sometimes a modern twist is necessary to bring something to life and other times it defiles it. Other times an old recording kills it and then sometimes it is invigorating.
J.S. Bach: The 6 Unaccompanied Cello Suites by Yo-Yo Ma [/url]
I hear genius... indeed perfection, in most Bach, even his relatively neglected works. But with all that great music in so many, often complex forms, the cello suites sometimes seem the most amazing of all. A single, solo cello... all alone... hardly a recipe for stirring music! But Bach makes these the very essence of sublime perfection. It's an even more extreme example of how the same guy who wrote the massively epic Choral 9th symphony also wrote the delicate little Fur Elise and they both rule.
I stumbled onto Zelinka early in my exploration of baroque music and instantly took to him. Maybe this foreshadowed my innate love of Czech composers.
Thanks for the link as well. I think I like Zelinka even more now having heard this one; it is livelier and more expressive than the Zelinka in my collection.
Era: Baroque
Year: 1726-1730
Form: Partita or Suite (solo instrument) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitas_...ard_(Bach)
Score: 83.5
Thoughts: I'm not sure if this was the choice of the performer or Bach, but thought it was really interesting to hear a muted harpsichord. It has a unique sound to it that I really liked. There were times when I felt like this was amazing, well put together and other times when I felt like it was a math problem.
Era: Baroque
Year: 1720
Form: Sonata
Score: 84
Thoughts: This was a nice dance between instruments (counterpoint). It flowed very nicely. Sometimes counterpoint is just showing off, and this flowed very well. It was a bit long imo - and that in of itself isn't bad - rather what I mean with that is I didn't feel there was enough variation that mattered to be this long. Having said that, the album's point is to be all the works in one CD. The sonatas themselves were well formed.
In first grade music class, they handed us all plastic recorder... that was for most, the first introduction to playing a musical instrument.
Because it was someone I was thought to play in a mass setting at age 6, I never thought of the recorder as a legitimately instrument, more like a kids toy just one step above a kazoo in sophistication.
Imagine my surprise when I started exploring classical music and started seeing recorder music! Of course, my first grade recorder wasn't the same thing as the pros were playing!
In the right hands and playing the right music, a recorder can be a delight to listen to. But I agree, a full disc of nonstop recorder all by the same composer is a little much.
I do have a rather delightful disc of recorder concertos with Michala Petri playin the music of Italian baroque composer Tomaso Albinoni. I generally only listen to one of the concertos at a time.
In first grade music class, they handed us all plastic recorder... that was for most, the first introduction to playing a musical instrument.
Because it was someone I was thought to play in a mass setting at age 6, I never thought of the recorder as a legitimately instrument, more like a kids toy just one step above a kazoo in sophistication.
Imagine my surprise when I started exploring classical music and started seeing recorder music! Of course, my first grade recorder wasn't the same thing as the pros were playing!
In the right hands and playing the right music, a recorder can be a delight to listen to. But I agree, a full disc of nonstop recorder all by the same composer is a little much.
I do have a rather delightful disc of recorder concertos with Michala Petri playin the music of Italian baroque composer Tomaso Albinoni. I generally only listen to one of the concertos at a time.
Right - these recorder pieces were with basically flute sized recorder.
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