Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, BWV 1049

Very early on in this series, we featured Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 filmed in Köthen’s Hall of Mirrors. It was an occasion to discuss Bach’s time in Köthen (from 1717-1723), where Bach lived and worked when he sent these concertos to the Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt. Carol and I filmed a segment in Köthen, including the Hall of Mirrors, courtesy of the town’s press relations spokesman, Christian Ratzel. Christian then took us, along with our friend and cameraman Pass Bass, on an amazing dive into the Cathedral crypt, which will have to be a story for another day. Probably several stories, in fact.

All that is to say it was tempting to feature another video from Köthen for Brandenburg Concerto No. 4. But I like the energy of this performance by the Netherlands Bach Society.

Bach wrote six Brandenburg Concerti. They are mostly in the form of the Baroque concerto grosso in which a small group of instruments (the concertino) is contrasted with a larger ensemble (the ripieno). In this Brandenburg, the violin and two flutes form the concertino, but the violin steals the show in the outer movements with extremely virtuosic passages. Perhaps to balance that out somewhat, it takes a clearly accompanimental role.

The final movement has been described as a successful fusion of two radically different forms —

the contrapuntal rigor of the fugue and the virtuoso display of the concerto, a combination of gravitas and high spirits that shifts the focus from the first to the last movement. Rifkin agrees and salutes it as the most complex movement in the Brandenburgs and a stunning monument to Bach’s virtuosity, as the fugal exposition and episodes align with the concerto’s tutti and solo runs even as the contrasts among instruments reflect distinctions between free and subject-derived thematic material.