Commentary: It’s been a year to rethink Bach’s ‘Brandenburg’ Concertos
No one needs to be told why “The Messiah” or “The Nutcracker” have become Christmas perennials. There are, of course, further Christmas-themed works of glory galore. It’s time we dig out Bach’s joyous “Christmas” Oratorio, Berlioz’s ravishing “L’Enfance du Christ,” Liszt’s cinematic “Christus,” Honegger’s contemplative “Christmas” Cantata, Christopher Rouse’s carousing “Karolju” and George Crumb’s adorable “Little Suite for Christmas,” for starters.
As for New Year’s, the Strausses long ago provided the waltzes. In Japan, one auld acquaintance not to be forgotten is Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. It is given ritual year-end performances throughout the country as a reminder of its message of universal union between peoples and the cosmos, increasingly a lodestar for our divided and environmentally devastated world.
But who put Bach’s “Brandenburg” Concertos in the holiday mix? These six Baroque chamber concertos for diverse instruments have happily wandered into the seasonal concert circuit. The concertos don’t have anything to do with anything, other than being
