# "Back to Bach" - A different take on the Brandenburgs (1st of 2)



## itywltmt (May 29, 2011)

This month on ITYWLTMT and on PTB, it is "Back to Bach" month, where we feature discussions on the music of *Johann Sebastian Bach*, "two-for" style. Later this month, we will discuss the _Well-Tempered Clavier_ on a pair of _Once Upon the Internet _posts, and for the next couple of weeks, a chance to dust up my two montages that take a "different look" at the Brandenburg Concertos (from December last year).










The intent of these montages is to provide a _twist _to the concertos, exploring things HIP and things "not so HIP". In fact, let's start with exactly that angle.

We as music listeners have come to accept as " mainstream" the concept of "historically informed performance", which for the last thirty years has become the norm when it comes to baroque works. To illustrate, let's listen to "Brandenburg 6", performed by the Gardner Chamber Orchestra under Douglas Boyd:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/gardnermuseum/bach_bwv1051.mp3

Notice the crisp, "in your face" bowings, and a truly light allegro (isn't that what allegro means?) Compare that to the version of the same concerto I used in my montage - from Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic from the 1970's. The heavy bowings, the overall sense of a freighter navigating in calm waters (as opposed to the zodiac skirting the choppy waters that the above performing evokes). Night and Day.

There is nothing "wrong" with the Karajan renditions of the Bach Brandenburgs, they just _sound _wrong. Maybe because we have grown accustomed to the HIP way, or maybe because our musicological appreciation of Bach's chamber music has grown considerably since the Karajan recording. Regardless, the Karajan approach is indicative of a style, of an approach that is very much the tradition for most of baroque performance in the 20th century. To further illustrate, I added one of Leopold Stokowski's many baroque transcriptions to the montage, this one of a *Vivaldi *concerto grosso. Again, the emphasis is on deploying all of the orchestra, sparing no single player, in the performance of what we would today readily accept as an "intimate work".

Brandeburgs no. 4 and 5 are presented today under the guise of "keyboard concertos" rather than as chamber concertos. We must remember that the Brandenburgs are contemporary to the _concerti grossi _by *Corelli *and *Handel*, and are meant as works for a small orchestra, which may or may not isolate soloists or groups of players from the rest of the orchestra.

The setting chosen to the Brandenburg 4 is in fact the long-standing Bach tradition of adapting one work into a brtand new one - common in his concertos (see my montage this week in the teaser section!). So, this isn't Bramndeburg 4 but rather Keyboard Concerto no. 6 in D, BWV 1057. The setting chosen for the 5th, which is a straight-up concerto grosso (or what *Mozart *would have called a _sinfonia concertante_) for flute, violin and keyboard, with significant segments where one or more of these instruments play off the orchestra. What was done in this recording by Angela Hewitt and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, was to recast the continuo harpsichord as a solo keyboard (here, a modern piano), and it does provide Ms. Hewitt with some choice moments to display her wares.

To complete the montage, more solo Bach keyboard music by Ms Hewitt, from her debut CD, and her insightful performance of the four _duets_ for keyboard.

Next week, our look at Brandenbergs 1 to 3.

Happy Listening!

*ITYWLTMT Podcast Montage #83 - Brandenburg Perspectives, Part 1
(Originally issued on Friday, December 7, 2012)​*
*Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)* 
Four Duets, BWV 802-805
(From Clavierübung III)
Angela Hewitt, piano

Keyboard Concerto no. 6 in D Major, BWV 1057 
(transcription of Brandenburg Concerto no. 4, BWV 1049)
Angela Hewitt, piano
Australian Chamber Orchestra
Richard Tognetti, conducting

Brandenburg Concerto no. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050
Angela Hewitt, piano
Alison Mitchell, flute
Australian Chamber Orchestra
Richard Tognetti, violin and conducting

Brandenburg Concerto no. 6 in B-Flat Major, BWV 1051	
Berliner Philharmoniker
Herbert von Karajan, conducting

*Antonio VIVALDI (1678-1741)*
Concerto grosso no. 11 in D minor, RV 565
(Arr. L. Stokowski, ca. 1934)	
BBC Philharmonic
Matthias Bamert, conducting


Original Bilingual Commentary: http://itywltmt.blogspot.com/2012/12/montage-83-brandenburg-perspectives.html

Detailed Playlist: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/136790202/pcast083--Playlist

Podcat Link (Internet Archive): http://archive.org/details/BrandenburgPerspectivesPart1

Poscast Link (Pod-O-Matic): http://itywltmt.podomatic.com/entry/2013-10-01T00_00_00-07_00 (Link valid until 31 October 2013)


*October 4 2013, "I Think You Will Love This Music Too" will feature a new podcast "Back to Bach - Violin Concertos" at its Pod-O-Matic Channel . Read more October 4 on the ITYWLTMT Blogspot blog.*


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