J.S. Bach
Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, 2nd Movement
Arranged for 7 or 8 recorders by Stan McDaniel
Continuo realization by Christian Mondrup

Technical notes by Stan McDaniel

The second movement of the Bach first Brandenburg Concerto
presented several challenges when considering arrangement for
recorders. The present arrangement is for seven recorders with an
optional great bass recorder part, as well as basso continuo (kindly
provided by Christian Mondrup). Although the latter two add to the
authenticity and the sound, the piece may be performed effectively
without the continuo or the great bass recorder. If there are more
than one on a part (for example a recorder orchestra), solo lines are
indicated on the score. The instrumentation has been selected to
match that of the first movement (arrangement by Charlton) and
the third and fourth movements (arrangements by Christian and
Annette Mondrup).

The original Bach score is for three oboes, Violino Piccolo (small
violin now usually played by standard violin), strings and bassoon.
Solo melodic lines are played by the first oboe and the violino
piccolo, and the melody is passed to the bass instruments from
time to time. The melodic material is played adagio over a drone-
like background of repeated notes. The two main problems of
arranging this movement for recorders were first, to establish
sufficient contrast between the solo instruments in the absence of
the difference in timbre found in the original between the oboe and
violino; and second, to handle the drone-like accompaniment in a
way that approximates the intent of the composer while retaining a
degree of interest for the players. Another consideration was the
choice of meter. The original is in 3/4 time, which causes the
melodic lines to display 32nd notes intermixed with 8th and 16th
notes which, while no problem for the professional, could prove
somewhat confusing (rhythmically) to the average intermediate-
level recorder player. I therefore chose to arrange the music in 3/2
time for clarity in reading the notes and understanding the rhythmic
complexity of the melody.

The drone-like accompaniment in the original specifies a slurred
bowing (portato) of the repeated notes, which when played by
strings would create the impression of a pulsating tone rather than
a series of separated notes. To approximate this effect in the
recorders, some instruments are given the repeated notes legato
while other instruments hold the same notes. To create variety for
the players, the held and repeated notes were switched between
players from time to time. 

Although at first glance the music appears to have little variety,
being an extended melodic line played against a drone
accompaniment, a closer look reveals that there is actually
considerable variety, as the melodic line is passed from the oboe to
the violino and then to the bass instruments, returning to the oboe
and violino playing in canon and counterpoint, etc. There are also
periodic respites from the drone: when the bass line takes the
melody the other instruments abandon the drone pattern and play
an overlapping imitative figure (as in bars 9-11 etc.). This figure is
passed from the oboes to the strings, so to attain the contrasting
timbres in the arrangement I chose the contrast between the high
voices (two descant recorders and high treble recorder) and the
lower voices (low treble and tenor recorders). 

Another problem was to strengthen the melody in the bass. In the
original the bass line could be very strong as played by bass strings
doubled by bassoon and/or continuo, with recorders the bass
instruments play an octave higher than written and may be weak in
the lower notes. A solution to this was to keep the "distance"
between the bass and upper instruments as clear as possible and to
double the bass recorders with the tenor recorders for support. In
one place (bar 33) the bass melody reaches the low F#, usually a
very weak note for the bass recorder. Doubling the bass recorder at
the octave by the tenor recorder provided a way of reinforcing the
F#, particularly if the ensemble does not have continuo or great
bass recorder available.

Next there was the necessity for choosing the appropriate recorders
to play the solo melodies representing the oboe and violino parts.
For the introductory oboe solo I chose to use the tenor recorder, as
the part matches the recorder's high range and would therefore
tend to stand out clearly over the other instruments (the high range
having naturally more volume). I wished also to avoid the
sometimes strident quality of the descant recorder, so rather than
select the descant for the violino piccolo solo (beginning bar 5) I
chose the treble recorder instead; again in this case the melody falls
to the very fine higher register of the treble recorder, allowing the
melody to remain prominent. 

However it was not possible to keep to this arrangement (tenor
recorder = oboe and treble recorder = violino) throughout the
arrangement, as in one place the violino goes a note below the
range of the treble recorder (bar 15). Rather than make some
awkward accommodation, I gave this line to the tenor recorder. But
in this same passage the oboe and violino are playing in a close
canonic duet which sometimes produces conflicting harmony. In
the original such conflicts would be acceptable because of the
sharp difference in timbre between the oboe and the violino, but to
have the parts played by tenor and treble recorders would produce a
confusing result. So I gave the oboe line here to the descant
recorder, which actually plays the line an octave higher than
written. As a result the two lines have sufficient contrast.

Finally, in the typically "Bach" flourish six bars before the end, it
did not seem striking enough to give the line to e.g. a solo tenor
recorder. My solution was to double the line at the octave with the
descant. This seems to have the proper dramatic effect.

In performance I believe the movement would work well for a
seven-recorder ensemble with one on a part, and even better if a
great bass could be added. For recorder orchestra or larger
ensemble performance the passages marked "solo" should be
played by a solo instrument, preferably with the soloists standing in
front of the ensemble, and the addition of the harpsichord would be
desirable if one is available. If a cello is used for basso continuo,
the conductor should be very careful not to let the cello timbre
overpower or sully the bass melody lines being played by the tenor,
bass and great bass recorders. In that case the cello should blend
very carefully with the harpsichord and not try to act as a member
of the bass section instead.

Stan McDaniel
Nov. 17, 2000
mcdaniel@sonoma.edu