Bach, the Brandenburgs (Part 2)

J.-S. BACH
Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 3, 4 & 5

The second instalment of this Baroque monument. Bach upends hierarchies: here the strings intertwine, there the harpsichord takes centre stage. A lesson in inventiveness carried by the excellence of the Freiburger Barockorchester.

The Freiburger Barockorchester continues its journey with a second programme devoted to Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. In this now-legendary collection, Bach explores the art of dialogue without ever yielding to ostentation. Each work thus invents a new configuration. The Third Concerto, written for strings alone, subverts the concerto model into a play of massed sonorities that answer and intertwine with one another.

The Fifth Concerto then shifts the listener’s attention: flute, violin, and harpsichord form a solo trio, but the harpsichord spectacularly breaks free from its subordinate role. Finally, the Fourth Concerto dares to combine a violin with two flutes—the ultimate demonstration of Bach’s endlessly renewed inventiveness.

This concert is performed on period instruments.