DESCRIPTION:
A highlight from the Gala Concert at the Göttingen International Handel Festival, 2016: the opening allegro of Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major, performed by the FestspielOrchester Göttingen, Laurence Cummings, director.
The Göttingen Handel Festival is one of the oldest and most prestigious festivals in Europe. Every year, musicians from around the world celebrate the music of Handel and his contemporaries with performances of operas, oratorios and many other concerts. Visit the Handel Festival on the web at:
https://www.haendel-festspiele.de
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In March of 1721, Johann Sebastian Bach carefully inked six of his best concertos into a book for the Margrave of Brandenburg, Christian Ludwig. These concertos were originally titled "Six Concerts à plusieurs instruments," but they are now known as the "Brandenburg" Concertos in English or "die Brandenburgischen Konzerte" in German.
These six concertos represent a high point in the music of the baroque period. The title of the fifth concerto (BWV 1050) in Bach's original manuscript is as follows:
Concerto 5to à une Traversiere, une Violino principale, une Violino è una Viola in ripieno, Violoncello, Violone è Cembalo concertato
The term "concertato" in this case means that much of the harpsichord part is written out; this work, along with many of Bach's violin sonatas, established the keyboard as a virtuosic solo instrument in an ensemble context.
This performance follows Bach's original orchestration and is performed on original instruments: the performers are Laurence Cummings, harpsichord and director, Kate Clark, baroque flute (traverso); Elizabeth Blumenstock, solo baroque violin, Wolfgang von Kessinger, baroque violin; Klaus Bundies, baroque viola, Kathrin Sutor, baroque cello, and Paolo Zuccheri, violone.
Filmed in 4K ultra-high definition video.
Daniel Fuchs, Hanneke van Proosdij & David Tayler, 4K video; audio courtesy of NDR (Rita Hermeyer, producer, (p) NDR Kultur 2016); post production of audio and video by David Tayler, Hanneke van Proosdij & Adaiha MacAdam-Somer.