Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmonikerplay J.S.Bach, Brandenburg concertos (complete) – 1965 – BWV 1046-1051
0:00 Introduction to this recording
6:08 Start of the music (full track list below)
No doubt Herbert von Karajan was on of the greatest conductors ever. Not even a discussion about that.
No doubt Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner did not play Bach in 1965 in a way I’d call ‘representative’ today. That’s not my point here (if I do have a point whatsoever: music should stand on its own and we listeners should leave it that way, which is difficult since music is emotion, even the way it is played. Embracing diversity potentially could save the movement we call the Early Music. But that’s for another time).
No, I don’t want you to think von Karajan is playing Bach here in a way I would (if I had the luxury of having an orchestra). Many aspects we’d call today ‘neo-baroque’, we do hear in this recording, probably mostly in the way articulation is done, the music -even here- would benefit from varying more in articulation, leading to accentuation etc etc etc.
But put all of this aside. It’s 1965 now and many, if not all musicians and orchestras overreacted on what was custom in the ‘classical’ performances of the time. As many of the foundation layers I believe of our HIP-approach are more related to the feeling of ‘opposing no matter what to what was common’ than experiments done from scratch in the most broad context possible. That is not a reproach, far from, it’s just a normal human thing, it is how we operate, constantly in touch with what we like, not like, or even want to change fundamentally. The context with which we are surrounded, changes so much of the way we see the context we want to study. Nothing wrong with that, exciting even, but we should remember the principles behind it all and be aware they exist. It’ll make it all so much more relaxed.
And so I present you this recording. I found it in the collection I got last year with literally hundreds of discs in mint condition, but without cover. So a mystery still today often what exactly is in there. Yes, I went through it, but of course one does not remember it all. So did von Karajan appear with Bach. With… Bach. Yes.
Curious? Of course I was. I’m old enough today to realize that the world needs to be looked at with your own eyes and not through the eyes of others. Not that that is not inspirational and can and will guide you. But at the end it need to be your eyes and your eyes only.
Von Karajan in 1965 with the Bach Brandenburg concerti. One of the greatest conductors of its time, with a power that came close to that of a world leading president, an orchestra that had only the best musicians, a machine almost, the state-of-the-art recording technology of Deutsche Grammaphon (it is way better than budget allows many labels today). So why did he think of recording Bach in a time orchestras in general, and record labels in particular were rapidly running away from the approach of the large known orchestras for baroque music?
So, curious? Of course.
How did this acquaintance turned out for me? I’d say more then interesting. They used a cembalo. Put the sound of it away as if the instrument was something they could not escape from using but not with a great enthusiasm. Berliner should not lose it’s known sound probably went through some heads.
Yes, I missed some dynamics in some parts.
But… overall I enjoyed my time listening actually a lot. It’s clear, transparent (apart from the harpsichord).
Many of the tempi von Karajan takes are in line with what others did at the same time, Harnouncours, Leonhardt, … but some exceptions are remarkable. As in the menuet of the first concerto, that’s slow in a way that is below what Bach probably meant with this piece. But in this version, it has such a grandeur, such a… movement of joy, that the morning after listening, at breakfast, it still was playing in my head. So that is …powerful.
Enjoy!
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6:08 Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 In F Major, BWV 1046
1. (Allegro)
2. Adagio
3. Allegro
4. Menuet
32:45 Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 In F Major, BWV 1047
1. (Allegro)
2. Andante
3. Allegro Assai
45:15 Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 In G Major, BWV 1048
1. (Allegro) Attacca
2. Adagio Attacca
3. Allegro
58:15 Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 In G, BWV 1049
1. Allegro
2. Andante
3. Presto
1:14:56 Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 In D, BWV 1050
1. Allegro
2. Affettuoso
3. Allegro
1:37:33 Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B Flat, BWV 1051
1. (Allegro)
2. Allegro, Ma Non Troppo
3. Allegro
Conductor – Herbert Von Karajan
Flute – Karl-Heinz Zöller/Matthias Rütters
Harpsichord [Cembalo] – Edith Picht-Axenfeld
Orchestra – Berliner Philharmoniker
Producer – Otto Gerdes
Recorded By – Hans Weber
Violin – Michel Schwalbé