Andrei Jorza wrote:

>In Bach's Brandenburg Concert 1 in the second Allegro but especially in the
>first allegro from Brandenburg Concert 2 there is a very queerly sounding
>instrument.  It is definitely some kind of a blowing instrument yet I
>couldn't figure it out what.

I don't have the score at hand at this very moment, but I remember that
the concertante group in the BC 1 includes 2 horns oboe and a "violino
piccolo" (a smaller violin, tuned a minor third above the normal), and
the second BC includes oboe, violin (normal), recorder and a trumpet (it's
not yet established what kind of "trumpet" of those days was intended for
this part).  The "queer" sound that you hear is, perhaps, the occasional
combination of oboe+violino piccolo in unison at the second allegro of BC1
and oboe+trumpet at the first movement of BC2.

>P.S. I have a version of all Brandenburg Concerts. My Concert 3 has only
>two parts. Is this normal or did they just cut it off.

There's no central movement at BC#3.  The outer movements are linked just
by cadence (two chords:  a minor- B major), on which some melodic ornaments
are often improvised by the solo violin.  In a 60's recording by Neville
Marriner with the Academy of SM in the Fields, the cadence was replaced by
an andante of another work (a violin or viola sonata in a minor).  I think
it was Thurston Dart who suggested it to Marriner.

Pablo Massa
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