Bach, Concerto for Oboe, Violin and Orchestra in D minor, BWV 1060

In spite of its popularity, Johann Sebastian Bach's Concerto for Oboe, Violin and String Orchestra in D minor BWV 1060 is actually a reconstruction, since the original version was lost. Our work was reconstructed by Max Schneider from Bach's Concerto for two harpsichords in C minor. Besides the key change, the transcription primarily involved the transposition of both right-hand harpsichord parts to the violin and oboe respectively. The original work was possibly written in Köthen or in Bach's early Leipzig years. Its virtuoso solo writing and three-movement fast-slow-fast structure reflect the influence of Antonio Vivaldi. In a typically Baroque manner, the tutti opening theme of the first movement provides the material out of which the episodes are spun. In the elegiac slow movement, the two solo instruments dialogue lovingly over a discreet pizzicato bass. The closing Allegro, with its aggressive jagged theme, is still more ebullient and energetic than the first movement. Nikolaus Harnoncourt was born in Berlin in 1929. His dissatisfaction with conventional interpretations of early music led him to found the Concentus Musicus with his wife Alice in 1953. The unusual, radically different musical style of the ensemble, combined with its insistence on using only historical instruments, quickly earned it a prominent reputation. Its international concert tours met with triumphal acclaim. In addition to leading his ensemble, Harnoncourt regularly conducts such prestigious orchestras as the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, the Concertgebouw Orkest Amsterdam, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and others. Together with Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, he produced a universally acclaimed cycle of operas by Mozart and Monteverdi at the Zurich Opera House.