Notes by Valerie Sly, 2026

Overview

If you’ve been following the ASO’s journey through the Brandenburg Concertos, you may by now have a different picture of Baroque-era music than you did when we began. I’ve tried hard, in previous notes, to drive home that the common view of Baroque-era art as starchy and uptight leaves much on the table. It’s true that Baroque composers viewed music more as an intricate puzzle to be pieced together than a vehicle for emotional expression—in sixteenth-century France, the term “baroco” came to refer to anything viewed as uselessly complex—but just because intricacy is the name of the game doesn’t render this music devoid of energy or affect.

For this program, however, I’m going to focus on the technological differences between the instruments for which this concerto was written, and their modern counterparts. The horn, oboe, and bassoon of Bach’s day were entirely different creatures from what we know today, and their unique qualities don’t just influence Bach’s treatment, but form the foundation of the piece itself.

As in previous years, the ASO has paired one of Bach’s exemplary concertos with works inspired in some way by him and his contemporaries. In this program, we’re treated to a Bach chorale reimagined for modern brass instruments by Samuel Barber, a choice that brilliantly highlights the evolution of instrument technology. We then hear a piece by Béla Bartók that applies the concerto grosso form to entirely modern musical material.