Bach, Brandenburg Concerto #6, Third Movement, Allegro

FAQ

The last movement of Bach's sixth (and last) Brandenburg Concerto, BWV 1051, accompanied by a scrolling, bar-graph score. This concerto is unusual in that the highest-pitched instruments in the ensemble are two solo violas.

Q: Where can I see the score for this piece?
A: The score that the bar-graph score is based on is here:
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/brand6m3.pdf

Q: Who is playing this piece?
A: The violists are Elias Goldstein & Elizabeth Choi, and the solo violoncellist is Anna Steinhoff; they are playing with the Advent Chamber Orchestra. I got this recording from the Wikimedia Commons:
http://tinyurl.com/brand6m3
This recording is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Q: Is there a way I could make the bar-graph scores myself?
A: The Music Animation Machine MIDI file player will generate this display; you can get the (Windows) software here:
http://www.musanim.com/player/
There are lots of places on the web where you can get MIDI files; I usually go to the Classical Archives site first:
http://www.classicalarchives.com/

Q: Could you please do a MAM video of _________?
A: First, check my "to do" list:
http://www.musanim.com/all/MAMToDoList.html ...
If the piece isn't listed, read the "Could you please do a MAM video of _________?" item on my main FAQ:
http://www.musanim.com/mam/mamfaq.html#copyright ...
and if you think I'd consider doing it, email me (stephen at musanim dot com).

Q: Can I get a DVD with pieces like this?
A: Yes:
http://www.musanim.com/mam/video.html
.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• bach
• brandenburg
• chamber
• baroque
• viola
• da
• gamba
• counterpoint
• animation
• classical

[Reinbucsten]

You missed an ornament around 3:57 from the upper viola (or did you not include it because it was improvised?)

[smalin]

@Reinbucsten That's right --- I start with the score of the piece, which I then adjust to match the timings of the recording. Sometimes, I change it to match other things (like ornaments), but at some point I say "close enough" and leave the smaller discrepancies.

[CengalLut]

I notice at least twice references to the melody from the toccata and fugue in D minor. is this intentional, or does the melody has other meaning?

[smalin]

@CengalLut No, it's just a common pattern. It's like somebody saying "I notice there are a lot of words in English with 'ough' in them."

[Crazyrobster]

love it

[TheDodobird15]

WOW. I want to put this on my iPod.

[smalin]

@DaveMoustache My degree was in music theory and composition.

[DaveMoustache]

@smalin Not only do you have a great taste in music, you're also intelligent (I choose to believe that one implies the other ;). It's refreshing to meet someone on the internet who I'd actually could talk to for more than 5 minutes without feeling the urge to smack them in the face. Do you have a degree in this kind of stuff? I'm a chemist, so this isn't really my field of expertise.

[smalin]

@DaveMoustache Right, on both counts. There are only three kinds of color receptors in the eye, but there are thousands of frequency receptors in the ear, so we can resolve multiple frequencies with hearing, but not with vision. With hearing, the nervous system has various "tricks" to determine position (differences in level and arrival time between the two ears, spectral shaping due to pinnae, etc.), but it's nothing like having true, full 2D hearing.

[DaveMoustache]

@smalin Oops, I meant sounds/light at different frequencies. As in "yellow+red=orange". You're right about the hearing being 0D, while vision is 2D. But that's because of how the eyes are set up. There are lot's of vision nerves inside each eye, so you can distinguish two lightsources in space (not if they're emmited very close to each other, but that's just because of the eye's "resolution"). There's only one eardrum in each ear, so you can't position sound in space. (right?)