Wednesday!

It is, in my opinion, a damned shame that more people don’t appreciate classical  music.   In fact, it’s worse than that: classical music is even used to repel teens.  And, again in my opinion, this comes from a simple misapprehension: that it’s “intellectual”, something that needs to be studied, rather than simply enjoyed, like The Beatles.  This is wrong on both counts: you can enjoy Bach or Mozart simply by listening and giving it a chance, and conversely, your appreciation of the work of John, Paul, George, and Ringo can be enhanced by a bit of analysis.  Our goal here is to listen to a piece by Bach (“Ah, Bach”) and see that not only is it a brilliant example of a Baroque concerto grosso, but that in addition it kicks some serious ass.

Let’s start by getting some terminology out of the way.  A concerto is a piece for two groups of instruments: the ripenio, which is the main orchestra, and the soloist(s).  If there are soloists (plural), it’s a concerto grosso (big concerto).  Today’s piece, Bach’s Fifth Brandenburg Concerto [1], has three soloists: a flute, a violin  and a harpsichord.    The ripenio consists of a group of strings (violin, viols, cello, and  bass), often with the harpsichord joining in.  The main thing to listen for is how the ripenio and soloists interact, with the melodies often moving between the two, or one playing a melody while the other plays off it.

Ready?  OK, here we go

In the first 22 seconds, the ripenio plays the main theme. It’s very pretty (in my opinion, anyway). Over the next 10 minutes, we’re going to hear it and variations on it played a lot.

Now, through 00:49, we hear a second theme played by the soloists. The flute and violin trade off the melody, with the harpsichord playing accompanimenr and keeping time, like a rhythm section.

Through 1:24, they all play together, as the first and second themes blend. Then the soloists take off again, this time with the fills from the harpsichord being equally important with the other two. At about 3:04, this turns into the flute trading riffs with the violin, against the constant, flowing rhythms of the harpsichord. And just as this gets to its most intense, the ripenio re-enters with the main theme, again blended with the soloists’ second theme (at 4:44). This is repeated, this time with the harpsichord playing a larger role.

Now, at 7:04, the other instruments bow out to let the harpsichord do its thing. Which begins as a slightly elaborated version of the first theme, then blends in the second theme, then becomes what looks like a hideously difficult combination of elaborating the second theme with the left hand while accompanying that with the right hand, which them becomes a run of notes up and down they keyboard purely for its own sake, with only the harmonies suggesting any relationship to what’s gone before, which morphs into a louder, faster version of the second theme, and finally a pounding version of the last section of the first theme. Which is the cue for the ripenio to enter and play the first theme one final time. End of movement.

Trappings aside, this has as much of what makes music fun and exciting as any rock song. It just happens to predate Jimmy Page by a few hundred years.

1. Actually, just the first movement of three. The others can be found on YouTube as well.