Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B flat major, BWV1051

The concerto unfolds in three movements, played with a brief pause between each.

I. (no tempo marking, a bright, walking pace): Two violas launch a busy, interlocking dialogue, echoing each other a beat apart, like two people finishing each other's sentences. Cellos and gambas fill in underneath, and there is no solo standout, everyone is a soloist here. Listen for the constant close overlap of the two viola lines, almost bumping into one another.

II. Adagio ma non tanto: The mood shifts to something more intimate and searching. The two violas sing a long, expressive duet over a slow, steady bass line, with the lower instruments dropping out to leave a leaner, more exposed texture. It is the emotional center of the piece, unhurried and inward.

III. Allegro: A dancing final movement in a lilting triple meter, bouncing along with the same close viola interplay from the first movement. The energy is lighter and more playful, bringing the concerto to a warm, unhurried close rather than a big finish.

Because there are no violins, the overall sound sits lower and darker than the other Brandenburg concertos, more like a consort of matched instruments talking among themselves than a soloist set against a group.

Bach assembled the six Brandenburg concertos as a set and presented the manuscript in 1721 to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg, along with a dedication in French. It is unclear whether the margrave's small musical establishment ever performed them, and the music seems to have gone unused, resting in his library until his death. The score was later found among his belongings and eventually acquired by the Berlin state library in the nineteenth century. Many of the individual concertos, including this one, are thought to have been composed or reworked earlier, during Bach's years at the court of Cöthen, where he had skilled string players on hand. Today the six concertos are performed as one of the essential landmarks of the Baroque orchestral repertoire.