Brandenburg Concerto No. 5: movement 1

Welcome to our traditional yearly miniseries, where we take moments from the three movements of one of the six beloved Brandenburg Concerti. In this first of three episodes, we look at the grand, gallant opening movement. We explore the exuberant refrain theme (ritornello), and the wild and bizarre harpsichord solo. We also follow and hunt for a rogue C natural through this piece where we expected C sharps. 

The moment for today comes just before one ritornello, when the Netherlands Bach Society ensemble chooses to take some extra time before building back to it. 

 

Performance (with special thanks to the Netherlands Bach Society for permission to use this audio in our podcast)