JAVS Summer 2011

Example 2. J. S. Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, BWV 1051, movt. I, mm. 40–43.

• The continuo, second movement: mm. 40–47. With the violas da gamba tacet, there is a particular drama in hearing the cello and the continuo take on a shared solo role in the return of the head motive in the second movement (ex. 3). Sir Neville Marriner’s use of an organ in this movement, in the first of the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields’s recordings of the Brandenburg Concertos in 1971, was likely intended to emphasize this—and to better match the sustained tones of the motive when first played by the violas. It was the only recording from 1935 to 1982 to attempt this experiment. The second recording in 1979 did not opt for the return of the organ, 14 but a third in 1984 reverted to the original decision. 15

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