Wait a minute… Concertos for Recorder? Is this a recorder player suffering from ‘arrangitis’ [1]? Well, interestingly enough most of the harpsichord concertos by Bach are in fact arrangements made by and for himself as a soloist.[2] The concertos were performed by the collegium musicum in informal settings like Zimmermann’s coffee house in Leipzig. In those works, Bach elegantly transformed instrumental and vocal movements from cantatas into movements for his own use. He also used movements from now lost concertos for unknown instruments most likely from his period in Cöthen. The lack of information about the pieces Bach used for his reworkings has led to a lot of speculation. The concerto BWV 1055 (known as the harpsichord concerto BWV 1057) is claimed by oboists[3] to be for the oboe d’amore. However, substantial evidence to support this has not been found. Bach has never written similar demanding material for this instrument in his cantatas, making it hard to believe that it was ever intended for that instrument. All movements of concerto BWV 1053 can be traced back to aria’s and sinfonie from cantatas but the original tonality and instrumentation remains in shadows. And BWV 1059, known in its most common disguise as an oboe concerto, survives as a harpsichord concerto only in the first 20 bars.

But why then play them on the recorder?

Well, first of all because, just like Bach, I love to have great music for my own instrument. Apart from that, Bach as a composer, was very familiar with the recorder using it extensively in numerous cantatas, two concertos for multiple instruments[4] and the Matthew Passion (very briefly though). In addition, it is widely assumed that many of his orchestral and chamber works have been lost. So what if Bach had a recorder player available which ignited his fantasy so much as to make a version for recorder?[5] This hypothesis has been taken one step further by Thiemo Wind in producing a fully new concerto based on cantata movements with a likely instrumental origin or a real potential for successful reworking. Who said musicology was boring?

The small sample on BBT’s YouTube channel here is a recording the BBT made during the ceremonial concert for the Dutch Music Prize. It is an arrangement of Bach’s ornamental organ choral BWV 622.

Listen to excerpts from the Bach Concertos CD on the BBT website.

[1] Arran’gitis (noun) chronic disease. Patients suffering from this syndrome are not able to control the urge to arrange every single piece they can lay their hands on. Although single cases have been reported as to have miraculously cured from the syndrome, most never fully recover from the symptoms.

[2] Bach single-handedly invented the form of Harpsichord Concerto, in a similar way Handel invented the Organ Concerto. Not surprising Handel also composed them to be played by himself.

[3] And the Neue Bach Ausgabe, Bärenreiter.

[4] Of which one is actually another reworking by Bach for his own instrument. I am talking about his reworking of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G for solo violin, two recorders and orchestra into the Concerto for harpsichord, two recorders in F BWV 1057.

[5] Not only that, brief browsing over the internet showed that musicians recorded concerto versions for oboe, oboe d’amore, traverso, bassoon, trumpet, piano, organ, harpsichord (BWV 1059), viola but not for recorder!

Playing with Gordan became absolutely magical in the double concerto for recorder and violin that was especially written for the occasion by Matijs de Roo, a very talented Dutch composer. I remember one instance where in the second rehearsal Gordan asked Matijs to explain a little about the piece. Until then we mainly had been busy with playing the notes but when Matijs explained that he wrote the piece in a period of mourning over the death of his father, we all felt what was to be done with the notes. It suddenly made one thing very clear for all of us: the need of artists of our time expressing timeless emotions in the music of today. And when that is done with a combination of honesty and craftsmanship, the music’s relevance will become timeless by consequence.

Since there is not an official ceremony where the prize was awarded, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Trust for awarding me the prize. To get the confidence of an artistic committee consisting of such great names stimulates me to move on with the path that I have chosen. To be able to successfully convey musical emotion through my instrument across geographical and artistic borders continues to make me happy! That the support of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust will help me to take this to higher levels is a blessing!

What follows now is a personal introduction to my instrument, the recorder. Since the ‘rediscovery’ of the instrument in the twentieth century the playing technique has undergone great changes. This has led to better performances of historical pieces but has also ignited the inspiration of a vast number of composers from all over the world such as Luciano Berio and John Cage. The consequences of performance of such a wide span of music is that a professional performer on the world stage needs not only first class instruments but also a wide variety of:

- sizes (sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, bass up until contrabass!)

- pitches (444 Hz for contemporary music, 415 Hz for most baroque music, 460 Hz for renaissance music)

- types (renaissance; cylindrical bore, baroque: reversed conical bore, contemporary; many types)

It should be clear that the number of instruments to be used can thus easily reach between thirty and fifty handmade recorders! The player’s position in the 21st century can thus more readily be compared with that of a percussionist than that of a violinist. At the moment, I am the grateful recipient of instruments lent to me. Although I am filled with gratitude to these mecenae, I am aware that the generosity of these people cannot continue forever. The BBT will help me to expand my collection.

In addition it is time for the instrument to be taken to the larger stages in the world through the help of new media such as amplification and electronic modification of the sound. Therefore contemporary concertos are being written as we speak. The BBT will help me to expand the repertoire.

You can have a look and listen to samples and video trailers are on my website at www.erikbosgraaf.com/media_audiosamples.html