"Everyone who knows the second Brandenburg Concerto thinks: 'Oh great, a
Baroque trumpet concerto!' Hence: Baroque trumpet, physical power, high
tones, sound - and everything else is secondary. But that's just what it is
not: Bach wrote a concerto for four different but equal instruments:
trumpet, recorder, oboe, violin. The art was to create a dialogue among
these four instruments, and this is obviously only posible when the trumpet
plays as softly as the recorder and the recorder as loud as the trumpet.
The trumpet which we use is a natural trumpet, i.e. there are no technical
means such as valves and keys. The player has to do everything on his own.
How was it played in Bach's time? I think that there were exceptional
talents on specific instruments back then just as today. And we know that
there was a phenomenal trumpet player in Bach's day who could play
everything an octave higher. Bach must have had such a trumpet player at
his disposal, since the level of difficulty of this piece is unusual for
its time." (Nikolaus Harnoncourt)
Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, named after their dedicatee the Margrave
Christian Ludwig von Brandenburg, have been part of Nikolaus Harnoncourt's
permanent repertoire ever since he founded his Concentus musicus ensemble.
The ensemble has recorded them and played them on their tours throughout
the world. The impulse which led Harnoncourt to establish the Concentus
musicus in 1953 was his dissatisfaction with the traditional way of
interpreting early music. The uncommon and sometimes radically different
style of the Concentus musicus, as well as its exclusive use of historical
instruments, secured the ensemble its international reputation. Harnoncourt
introduces the concerto with a moving and fascinating analysis of the
piece. Interesting musical examples, which Harnoncourt inserts in a
humorous and relaxed manner, make this introduction an informative and
entertaining guide to this masterpiece of music. The production was filmed
in the historical Baroque monastery library in Wiblingen, Germany.
