| Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048 Title on autograph score: Concerto 3zo a tre Violini, tre Viole, è tre Violoncelli col Basso per il Cembalo. 1.Allegro moderato 2.Adagio 3.Allegro Instrumentation: three violins, three violas, three cellos, and basso continuo (including harpsichord) The second movement consists of a single measure with the two chords that make up a 'Phrygian half cadence' and — although there is no direct evidence to support it — it was likely that these chords are meant to surround or follow a cadenza improvised by a harpsichord or violin player. Modern performance approaches range from simply playing the cadence with minimal ornamentation (treating it as a sort of "musical semicolon"), to inserting movements from other works, to cadenzas varying in length from under a minute to over two minutes. Wendy Carlos's three electronic performances (from Switched-On Bach, Switched-On Brandenburgs, and Switched-On Bach 2000) have second movements that are completely different from each other. Occasionally, the third movement from Bach's "Sonata for Violin and Continuo in G , BWV. 1021" (marked Largo) is substituted for the second movement as it contains an identical 'Phrygian cadence' as the closing chords. The Largo from the Violin Sonata in G, BWV 1019, has also been used. It has a flourish of different notes. The outer movements use the ritornello form found in many instrumental and vocal works of the time. The first movement can also be found in ... |
