About 25.3 billion kilometres from Earth, travelling at 61,000 km per hour, Voyager 1 contains a gold record that includes recordings of Barnumbirr (Morning Star) and Moikoi Song played by Tom Djäwa, Mudpo, and Waliparu, Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry, and Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major.
When asked what message humans should send to alien civilisations, the biologist Lewis Thomas replied: “I would send the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach… but that would be boasting.”
The Brandenburg Concertos are exquisite, like gems, cut precisely and polished so they sparkle.
Imagine you are 36 years old. Your wife had died, you have four children and you need a better paying job. In 1721, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote six concertos in an attempt to convince the Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt to hire him. It didn’t work. The manuscript was discovered, tucked away in a library cupboard, in 1849. It appears that the Margrave never saw them.
Miraculously, the original manuscript survived the bombing of the train they were being carried on during World War II. A librarian, transporting the manuscript, fled the train, running out into a forest with Bach’s concertos hidden under his coat.
Madeleine Easton, the artistic director of Bach Akademie Australia, was captivated by the concertos when she first heard them as a child. The music “bubbled” joyfully. She was transfixed and determined that one day she would learn to play them herself.
Easton has more than realised that artistic dream. She is one of Australia’s most celebrated violinists, performing to acclaim internationally, and leading the Bach Akademie Australia.
Bach Akademie Australia are a remarkable group. The promo spoke of “unbridled joy”, a promise kept in the performance of the Brandenburg Concertos tonight. Technical skill is present in abundance in this group of accomplished musicians, but it is the balance of that skill with the dynamic interpretations and the sheer joy of performing that makes Bach Akademie’s music memorable.
It is delightful to see the communication between the musicians as they play: a glance here, the synchronised breathing, the physical uplift of the body to initialise the tempo, or a call and response between instruments in the concerto. The travelling solo in Brandenburg Concerto number three was a pleasurable highlight.
I found odd moments of real magic, not just during the performances but during the interval, when Nathan Cox tuned the harpsichord.
To a certain extent recordings have spoiled us. There is an unspoked expectation of perfection that can only be achieved by editing and the best of hi-fi equipment. With this in mind, there is a wonderment in hearing original and acoustic instruments without amplification, especially in a chamber music setting.
Madeleine Easton plays a 1682 Giovanni Grancino violin, an instrument with a wealth of experience in its wood. Her colleagues are similarly equipped, and we the audience benefit greatly from the wood, the breath, the brass, the experience and the joy.
To book tickets to The Brandenburg Concertos, please visit https://www.bachakademieaustralia.com.au/events.
