Bach Unbuttoned

ANA DE LA VEGA ALEXANDER SITKOVETSKY · RAMÓN ORTEGA QUERO CYRUS ALLYAR · JOHANNES BERGER WÜRTTEMBERGISCHES KAMMERORCHESTER HEILBRONN

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Suite No. 2 in B Minor (For Flute, Strings & Basso Continuo), BWV 1067 13 VII. Badinerie 1. 24 Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major (for Flute, Violin & Harpsichord), BWV 1050 Total playing time: 62. 26 1 I. Allegro 9. 22 2 II. Affetuoso 5. 54 3 III. Allegro 5. 11

Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major (for Violin, Flute & Oboe), BWV 1049 4 I. Allegro 6. 38 5 II. Andante 3. 43 6 III. Presto 4. 28

Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major (For Trumpet, Flute, Oboe & Violin), BWV 1047 7 I. [Allegro] 4. 35 8 II. Andante 3. 46 9 III. Allegro assai 2. 41 Ana de la Vega, flute Ramón Ortega Quero, oboe Concerto for Two Violins (Flute & Oboe) in D Minor, BWV 1043 Alexander Sitkovetsky, violin 10 I. Vivace 3. 34 Johannes Berger, harpsichord 11 II. Largo ma non tanto 6. 15 Cyrus Allyar, trumpet 12 III. Allegro 4. 38 Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn The magnificent statue of J.S. Bach outside Yet when you come closer to the statue, one of his solos (likely from a draft version St. Thomas’s Church in Leipzig is, from you see that this man’s buttons are done of Cantata BWV 150). afar, everything we expect: arresting, up incorrectly. austere, and commanding. The godfather Let’s take the case of the Brandenburg of Western classical music tradition, the Standing under the great Carl Seffner Concertos: he wrote several of them master of perfection, precision and balance, statue in Leipzig, I felt I understood for starting c. 1719 whilst employed by the towers over us and reminds us who is in the first time not only the master, but the generous Prince Leopold of Köthen. command of the ship. man. Leopold bought him the newest instruments, employed for him numerous Not only that... of who built the ship. We hail Bach as the foundation of our wonderful musicians, and spent 1/3 of musical canon, the perfector of the his wealth yearly on music! But when Leo From the start of our musical studies we tonal harmony system, the master of started to lose his dollars, J.S. bundled are taught to approach Bach with so much polyphony, but sometimes we forget to up the 6 masterworks, whipped up to respect we almost fear him. ‘The composer acknowledge Bach the Revolutionary, Brandenburg on Leopold’s credit card, of the church’, ‘the composer of purity and Bach the Pioneer. He was, by many and gushingly gave them to the Graf genius’, ‘the composer who reveals all your accounts, an emotional and passionate of Brandenburg as a job application. inadequacies because he is so perfect and man, who threw toys out of the cot when Whatever the exact circumstances of the you are not’… things didn’t go his way and frequently genesis of the Brandenburg Concertos challenged the Leipzig governmental and their dedication to the count may With Mozart you are allowed to have fun: officials who employed him, causing have been, we know this: Bach had more he was naughty and giggled a lot. With havoc and unrest in the city, and drew cheek than we allow him, and perhaps Bach you are to kneel on one knee and feel swords with a bassoonist in Arnstadt who we need to remember this when we play guilty for any ill-spoken note: he was THE wanted revenge after Bach had publicly his music. composer of the church and order. criticised the latter’s poor execution of Ana de la Vega © Günter Atteln 5 Regards to instrumentation, in those For me, Bach‘s music is indeed pure days it was usual to play a musical line perfection, balance and genius. But it is on the instruments available, depending also an expression of the crying soul of a who was among your castle staff and up father who buried half his children, of the to the job. Hence we have taken similar enthusiasm of a man who experimented licence, playing Brandenburg no.4 with with the newest instruments of his day; of flute and oboe (instead of two flutes), a cantor who wrote masses so enormous and the famous double violin concerto in their conception they weren’t even with two different melodic instruments, possible to play within Lutheran church that happened to be ‘at hand’. Ramón possibilities at that time... and finally, of Ortega and I continue to enjoy exploring an artist who didn’t have time, or care, the possibilities of flute and oboe in for doing up his buttons. combination, and so after considering the endless examples of J.S. Bach swapping instruments for one another and re-arranging concertos to suit a particular soloist, we conclude he would not have been a snob to the idea. In fact, the Brandenburg concertos celebrated on this album are essentially a darling exploration of wild and new instruments in combination.

Ana de la Vega Name Artist 6 © Boaz Arad © Credit The connections between Johann same time, music throughout the German Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) and the flute lands revealed a growing influence of both continue to intrigue music historians and Italian and French styles. We can observe performers. In practical terms Bach himself Bach’s adoption of these national trends had only a passing familiarity with the flute. in his keyboard music, for example, though However, he met and worked with several it influenced his work in other genres as renowned flautists and flute makers, who well. The flute itself underwent numerous exposed Bach to the instrument’s evolving developments in order to manage both the design and its ability to embrace different glittering virtuosity of Italian string writing, stylistic demands. Particularly to be noted inherited above all from Corelli and Vivaldi, are Bach’s visits to the French-inspired as well as the softer strains of French vocal court at Dresden in 1717 (where he met art, which favored a lower pitch range and Pierre Buffardin, Johann Joachim Quantz, more rounded, subtle tone. and Johann Martin Blockwitz) and a famous encounter in 1747 with Frederick the In addition to several sonatas for flute and Great, an accomplished amateur flautist keyboard, Bach also featured the flute in who employed Quantz as well as Bach’s orchestral works, where timbral contrasts own son, Carl Philipp Emanuel. help illuminate oppositions in solo versus ensemble writing. These developments span Through such interactions Bach was kept his compositional career and are perhaps intimately aware of developments in best epitomized in the six Brandenburg flute construction and playing technique Concertos, BWV 1046-1051, written in as the transverse (“side-blown”) flute Cöthen around 1721. Bach’s employer, gradually superseded end-blown recorders Prince Leopold, maintained a strong in performing wind repertoire. At the chamber orchestra populated by musicians

Alexander Sitkovetsky 8 © Vincy Ng who had left Berlin when that city’s musical frequency between soli and tutti forces. scene took a downward turn. This time in Cöthen offers a small window during which The central Andante presents a three- Bach could indulge Italianisms; nearly all of voice canon for flute, oboe, and violin with his instrumental concertos, including the continuo accompaniment; solo trumpet Brandenburgs, originated between 1717 and and ripieno are tacet. The D-minor tonality 1722. and defining motive, including the A to B-flat semitone, establish a dolorous Each Brandenburg Concerto explores mood. Beneath the canonic imitation in varying degrees of coordination between treble lines, Bach grounds the harmonic the soloists (“concertino”) and the full structure on a “walking bass” that moves ensemble (“ripieno”), as well as different in continuous eighth notes. As the finale combinations of solo instruments. Bach begins, the solo trumpet strides forth from didn’t always have many musicians the very first moment, as if sitting out the at his disposal in Cöthen. But those slow movement was not altogether to its few musicians—whose ability clearly liking. However, a more serious polyphonic compensated for their scant numbers— game is afoot, and Bach could not resist helped inspire fabulous, diverse scorings. the opportunity to compose a four-voice Particularly striking is Brandenburg fugue for his soloists. This brilliant finale Concerto No. 2 in F Major, in which merges two defining principles of Baroque the four soloists represent four different music, as the rich counterpoint developed timbres: brass (trumpet), reed woodwind in central and northern Germany combines (oboe), non-reed woodwind (flute), and with the sectional, solo-tutti contrasts of string (violin). Bach delights in all possible the 17th-century Italian concerto. pairings and alternates with remarkable Ramón Ortega Quero Name Artist 10 © Boaz Arad © Credit A further step is taken in Brandenburg have occurred. Flutes do eventually enter Concerto No. 4 in G Major, which and create the finale’s finest moments showcases two solo flutes (originally in episodes based on canon and free recorders, in fact) along with solo violin. counterpoint. Bach’s ability to sustain The violin receives occasional moments harmonic tension through suspension to shine and plenty of shimmering chains ensures that the dynamism passagework. But its true role is to support continues up to the final cadence. Bach’s brilliant wind writing. Their close counterpoint draws the ear, and the first Bach’s earliest use of transverse flute movement’s most appealing moments in an ensemble setting may be the come when Bach pares the texture down captivating Brandenburg Concerto No. to just flutes. The slow movement offers a 5 in D Major, a draft of which dates to study in chromatic writing and emotional 1719. Several aspects of this concerto gravitas. Bach maintains the full ensemble deserve comment. First, Bach achieves a texture, even though this would provide dovetailing of thematic heads and tails in a conventional time during which the the first movement that strongly influenced flautists could catch their breath. Instead, the “classical” concerto strategies of all instruments dwell on a theme built of Mozart and Haydn. Moreover, the slow two-note slurs, enveloping the movement in movement’s trio texture and the finale’s countless sigh gestures. A final flourish and soloistic opening are both noteworthy. a “Phrygian” half cadence complete the However, nothing grabs our attention like impression of an antique-sounding Adagio. the unaccompanied keyboard cadenza This mood is cast off by the lively, skipwise in the first movement. Indeed, some motion of the ensuing finale. At first, the listeners regard Brandenburg No. 5 as a flutes remain silent until all fugal entrances keyboard concerto in all but name. For Johannes Berger 12 © Aaron Kreidel13 ears accustomed to Mozartian cadenzas, whereas the keyboard now stays modestly Bach’s achievement will hardly sound new. in the background. After cadences in a But such a structural interruption was series of closely-related keys, Bach returns unprecedented in ensemble concertos of to the main theme in B Minor for the final the early 18th century. It is not the music phrase. It is not a full-scale recapitulation, per se that is remarkable, but the bold as will become de rigueur in the later 18th assertion of one voice above the many- century. Still, the rounded return of the voiced texture of the concerto grosso. Bach main theme/key gives a satisfying degree makes the keyboard part far more active of polish. rhythmically than the others throughout the first movement. Thus, from the start he The finale opens with counterpoint plants a seed for the keyboard’s eventual between flute and violin, joined after eight liberation from the other players. Imagine measures by the keyboard. The ripieno Bach himself directing a performance does not even come in until the first from the keyboard, simply indulging his strong cadence in a secondary key. Even improvisatory fancy at this point. Imagine, though the full ensemble plays a majority as well, the chagrin of flute and violin of the time thereafter, Bach’s opening soloists during this display, awaiting a paragraph for the soloists gives them a chance to somehow get back in, rolling marked prominence. At one point he flirts their eyes as the “old man” goes off on with another keyboard cadenza, but the another tangent. other players, by now, are wise to his tricks. They seize the first possible moment to The second movement offers a broad jump back into the action and carry the meditation in B Minor. Many phrases begin movement through to a strident, ensemble with imitation between flute and violin, finish. Cyrus Allyar Name Artist 14 © Kinga Szczurowska © Credit During the late-18th and early-19th 1043 (ca. 1730), with a particular musician In the Largo Bach spins out an better yet, falls) to the occasion with a centuries, concertos evolved into musical in mind: violinist Joseph Spiess had been endearing melody based on a simple short descending motive that hones in on dramas, pitting soloist against orchestra in recruited to Cöthen from Berlin in 1714. Yet falling line. Underneath, careful listeners the final chord. a battle for control of the tonal structure. the tradition of adaptation, of changing may pick out the same fugal relationship Composers and audiences preferred this solo parts from one instrumental family upon which Bach constructed the opening Jason Stell tension — between the one and the many to another, goes back to Bach himself, of the first movement. Of course, there is — over the Baroque idea of concerto grosso, who frequently re-scored many of his own something to be said for just attending in which a group of soloists periodically concertos. Thus the Double Concerto makes to the sheer serenity that unfolds emerge from, and recede back into, the an appealing vehicle for solo flute and oboe, here. Sustained notes are wonderfully full ensemble. Although some composers, as on the present recording. offset by the lilting meter (12/8). With a including Beethoven, Mendelssohn and full central section based upon a different Brahms, continued to create concertos for From the start we hear how Bach uses theme and a coda at the end, this slow multiple soloists, ensemble concertos were Vivaldi as both inspiration and foil. Where movement is more substantial than most essentially a thing of the past by the time Vivaldi would have opened such a piece with in this genre. Mozart died. a canon (that is, imitation between parts playing the same notes), Bach raises the Vivaldi’s spirit comes through most For Bach, writing concertos between 1720 ante by starting with a fugue (imitation at clearly in the brilliant finale, which and 1750, all options were still on the table. different pitch levels). Already during the Bach begins as a tight canon. All the He composed numerous concertos for one, first solo episode he injects a new theme Vivaldian conventions are found here two, three, and even more soloists. Decisions marked by large leaps and wonderful two- — rapid triplets, imitation between the regarding instrumentation could be dictated part counterpoint between the soloists. parts, chains of dissonant suspensions by a prominent individual performer or Bach structures his phrases so that ripieno and sequences — combined with Bach’s merely the players on hand that day. For and concertino will converse with one impeccable sense for colour via key instance, we know that Bach conceived another, creating seamless forward motion changes. It takes the right gesture to end the Double Concerto in D Minor, BWV all the way to the end. such a vigorous Allegro, and Bach rises (or

16 17 Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn 18 © Nikolaj© Nikolai Lund, Lund, ed. by Hans Hans Georg Georg Fischer Fischer Acknowledgments Also available on PENTATONE PRODUCTION TEAM Executive producer Kate Rockett Recording producer, Editing & Mixing Karel Bruggeman (Polyhymnia International B.V.) Balance & Recording engineer Jean-Marie Geijsen (Polyhymnia International B.V.)

Liner notes Jason Stell Cover photography Boaz Arad Design Marjolein Coenrady | Product management Kasper van Kooten

This album was recorded in the Aula of the Bildungscampus in Heilbronn, Germany, in November 2020, with kind support from the Dieter Schwarz Foundation.

Johannes Berger plays a harpsichord after Michael Mietke, by Matthias Griewitz

PTC 5186 723 PTC 5186 823

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