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The Brandenburg Concertos On Tour in Saffron Walden

Bach's groundbreaking 'Concertos for several instruments' puts the collective virtuosity of the OAE in the spotlight as the tour comes to Saffron Hall.
Saffron Walden, Saffron Hall £14 - £36 Info & Tickets

MUSIC & SOLOISTS


JS BACH

Brandenburg Concerto No. 2
Brandenburg Concerto No. 6

~interval~

Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
Brandenburg Concerto No. 4

 

Huw Daniel violin/director
Margaret Faultless violin/director
Rodolfo Richter violin/director
Oliver Wilson viola/director

Rachel Beckett recorder
Catherine Latham recorder
Leo Duarte oboe
David Blackadder trumpet

The Brandenburg Concertos present one of music’s great riddles. Bach sent them to Christian Ludwig, the Margrave of Brandenburg and brother of King Frederick I of Prussia, as a gift in 1721. For reasons unknown, he seems to have quietly filed them away after which they changed hands several times before being ‘lost’ until around 1850 when they were eventually published as a set. 

It is music of endless inventiveness – from the intricate silken passage-work for strings in Nos. 3 and 6 to the dazzling virtuosity of the trumpet in No. 2 – which demands a supergroup ensemble of virtuosos.