Red Dot Baroque presents Bach's Complete Brandenburgs on Historical Instruments
Lianhe Zaobao 联合早报, 24 Aug 2023
(Translation)
Singapore’s premier early music ensemble, Red Dot Baroque, turns 5 this year. The ensemble will present Bach’s complete Brandenburg Concertos as they celebrate their 5th birthday, a performance of historical significance in the local music scene.
Written in 1721, the Brandenburg Concertos consist of 6 concertos, and is regarded as one of Bach’s most celebrated masterpieces. Many historical instruments that were popular during Bach’s time have since evolved into the modern instruments audiences are familiar with today, but Red Dot Baroque will be presenting this complete performance of all 6 concertos on period instruments for the first time in Singapore.
Historically informed performance is a movement that began after World War 2 in Europe, where musicians pay special attention to performance conventions and instruments that were present when a piece of music was composed in order to present a piece in a historically informed style. Red Dot Baroque is the first local ensemble that specialises in this historically informed approach in music.
Alan Choo, Founder and Artistic Director of Red Dot Baroque, says that Bach’s complete Brandenburg Concertos was a perfect choice for the ensemble’s 5th birthday celebrations. “It is a well-known piece with many familiar melodies, and it was recorded widely in the 20th century. This piece features many of the popular instruments used during Bach’s time, and can almost certainly be used as an exhibition for baroque instruments.”
Other than featuring historical instruments like the harpsichord and viola da gamba, Red Dot Baroque will also be inviting 4 guest artists from Europe to play natural horns, the baroque trumpet and the recorder. “Bach intentionally wrote for this variety of instruments to showcase each of their unique qualities,” says Choo, “and most of these instruments are also featured in solo parts in the concertos. One can experience the full sound world of Baroque music in this one monumental work”.
Due to its varied instrumental nature, it is such a rarity to hear the complete concertos in Singapore. “Bach thoroughly experiments with different combinations of instruments in this work; for example, the natural horns only appear in the first concerto, the baroque trumpet only in the second concerto and the viola da gambas only in the sixth concerto”, says Choo.
It is a huge expense to bring in guest artists from Europe, and each of the concertos have a different set of instrumentation, which expands the budget further. “However, if we want to present Bach’s genius in its original form and do justice to the work, we have to present all six concertos together. It is not only a display of baroque instruments, but also an exhibition of his musical creativity. For example, the sixth concerto only consists of alto and bass voices, with the treble being omitted altogether. This is very uncommon writing in the baroque period.”
Red Dot Baroque presents an abbreviated version of the Brandenburg concertos on 2nd September, and the complete Brandenburg concertos on 3rd September at the Victoria Concert Hall.