From Bach to Handel with the Concertgebouw Orchestra

Jan willem de Vriend

A groundbreaking ballet suite about the elements, a lost Bach violin concerto, a symphonic rollercoaster ride, an orchestra battle by Handel that puts wind instruments in the spotlights... The eighteenth century produced quite a few remarkable compositions. The passionate specialist Jan Willem de Vriend takes us on an adventure.

Rebel, Bach and Handel

In 1721, Jean-Féry Rebel wrote a ballet about the four elements. Together, earth, water, air and fire form a resounding chaos at the sensational beginning of the first part. The subsequent short dances are more conventional and prepare us for Johann Sebastian Bach’s fiery Violin Concerto in D minor which rivalled the concertos of Bach’s idol, Vivaldi. The score was lost, but it was reconstructed centuries later. The violinist Alena Baeva is the ideal soloist for this virtuoso concerto. Bach also composed a remarkable Sinfonia, adding a multitude of wind parts to a movement from the Third Brandenburg Concerto, with spectacular results. Fifty years later, his son Carl Philipp Emanuel was one of the most important and innovative composers of his generation. His Symphony in D major is a rollercoaster ride full of sharp twists and turns along quirky rhythms and strange harmonic twists. As if that weren't enough, we conclude with a work in which Handel achieves remarkable spatial effects by placing two wind sections (cori) opposite each other.