Brandenburg Concerto #1 in F by Bach with period instruments

[nezalrock]

a poetry for good i always enojy this music

[roberto1942]

Sounds like a mash-up.

[kresimircindric]

This is my favourite interpretation of Concerto No. 1. It's a pity audio quality isn't better.

[dglekjofg]

This is how the Brandenburg Concertos should be played. I definitely prefer baroque music played on period instruments to modern interpretations.

[vanesseveld]

hahaha watch his look on 5:46-5:47

[KufrAkbar]

And for an extra touch of authenticity, the conductor is not waving one of those little white sticks, because in Bach's day they had not yet been invented. :)

[Amiduffer]

When were batons invented and by whom?

[KufrAkbar]

I wish I knew, but I don't. I know they were in use by Lanner and Johann Strauss Sr., 1830 or so.

I'm no expert, but maybe the baton came into the orchestra from military bands; for if the players are all standing, those in the back ranks cannot see the chap at the front of the band, but they can see a baton or scepter over his head.

[TheCrazyCello]

Weber was supposedly the first to make a deliberate and consistant move away from directing from the keyboard, standing in front of the orchestra, but Mendelssohn is usually cited as being the first to conduct with a dedicated baton. There's a lot of evidence to suggest Spohr beat him to it (excuse the pun) and the actual baton had been in existance since the 16th century in choral use, although it fell out of favour in the 17th and 18th centuries.

[Amiduffer]

From a radio show I heard years ago in Boston, some conductors used to use heavy staffs to beat out the time on the floor, until one crushed his foot and died of infection. That might have had something to do with the shift.

[KufrAkbar]

Conducting can be dangerous. A few conductors have fallen off their pedestals and picked up injuries. Years ago I read of a fellow who accidentally stabbed his left hand with the baton. The handle broke off, but he finished the movement, with the white part of the baton sticking clean through his hand. Dedication!

[TheCrazyCello]

Ah yes, well staffs were often used in the C17th when batons were less popular, that would be Lully who stabbed his foot and got gangrene. Nobody really liked him anyway so I guess people weren't too bothered! Staffs, scrolls of paper, hands, sticks were all used on the occasions people did conduct in person rather than from the keyboard/violin, its curious that it took so long for the baton to return though.

[dulcissimusverus]

That happened to Jean-Baptiste Lully.

[polymath7]

@Amiduffer

The baton, much like the piano or the automobile, evolved gradually with many different designers and builders introducing features over the course of several decades; but it is generally agreed that the first fully functioning modern baton was invented in 1879 by the German engineer Otto Heilmann.

I happen, by the way, to own an authentic Guineri cedar baton (dated 1678 and much neglected) which I'm paying the lordly sum of nearly 5,000$ to have restored to performance condition.

[Amiduffer]

@polymath7 Wow. I'm slightly amused by the amounts people spend on items like retro computers, but $5000 for a piece of wood. What group do you conduct?

[polymath7]

@Amiduffer

Oh I'm no conductor. In fact I've never even worked out how the conductor's gestures correspond to the sounds the orchestra produce. I have a friend who is a gongist for the Anchorage Philharmonic, and sometimes when listening to a particularly kickass piece, I'll "air conduct" -which sends her into paroxysms of laughter.

I'm merely a collector.

I happen also to own an air baton, which I'm lending to another friend who's to conduct an upcoming performance of Cage's '4:33'.

[LordShandor]

@Amiduffer The dumbass morons orchestra.