Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 6

Timespan

Monday, July 15 at 7:30PM, Sunset Center Theater

Peter Hanson, conductor; Festival Orchestra

Monday night’s concert opens with Hildegard’s antiphon, O virtus Sapientie (Oh Strength of Wisdom). 

Dazzling virtuosity awaits in Vivaldi’s Concerto in G for Two Violins and Two Cellos, which is followed by French Baroque composer Rameau’s Opera Suite. The practice of excerpting suites from the orchestral music in operas began with Rameau, who remarked that people seemed to enjoy the orchestral music more than the opera! 

No violins? The absence of violins is unusual, but they are indeed absent in Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, composed in 1721. Scored for two viole da braccio (the normal viola), two viole da gamba, cello, bass, and harpsichord, it might be subtitled, Violists Revenge! 

Pete describes his Monday concert as “a span of time, from the 12th century of Hildegard Von Bingen through the great Baroque era of Vivaldi, Bach, and Rameau, concluding with the contemporary Max Richter and his cheeky but charming re-composing of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Not only crossing time but also geographically traveling from Germany to France via Italy and finally Italy in the UK!”

Program

O virtus Sapientie (5 minutes) | HILDEGARD OF BINGEN (1098-1179)

Concerto in G for Two Violins and Two Cellos, RV 575 (10 minutes) | ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678-1741)

Allegro

Largo

Allegro

Opera Suite (14 minutes) | JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU (1683-1764)

Les Sauvages from Les Indes galantes

Entrée de Polymnie from Les Boréades

Tendre Amour from Les Indes galantes

Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-flat Major, BWV 1051 (16 minutes) | JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)

I. [Allegro]

II. Adagio ma non tanto

III. Allegro

Recomposed: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons (10 minutes) | MAX RICHTER (1966-)

Spring 0

Spring 1

Spring 2

Spring 3