Part 2: The Baroque Period

The Baroque period of music lasted roughly from 1600 to 1750. Very formal in style and quite intricate, with overlapping and intertwining melody lines, some Baroque music is thought by music therapists to aid learning. This is because many of the rhythms are very consistent and the speed of some Baroque music stimulates alpha brain waves. Apparently. So folks, learn while you listen. Sorted!

The greatest composers of the Baroque era were Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) and Georg Friederich Handel (1685-1759)

Bach was, essentially, a sod. He managed to wind up more or less anyone he had professional contact with, which was a bit unfortunate because he spent a large part of his working life in the same place, Leipzig in Germany.

As well as annoying people, Bach also managed to write some of the finest music ever. A deeply religious man, he composed hundreds of church pieces. Perhaps the greatest of these is his B Minor Mass, completed not long before he died. There’s a very good recording conducted by John Eliot Gardiner on the Deutsche Grammophon Archiv label. Be warned, it’s long and in places it’s heavy. It’s also sublime.

Bach also wrote a large number of orchestral works. For those daunted by the two-hour B Minor Mass, try Bach’s delightful Brandenburg Concertos. Like the Mass, you’re looking at two CDs worth but Bach’s writing is so varied and, well, good you’ll never notice it. I’d recommend the fantastic performances by an Italian orchestra, Il Giardino Armonico, released on Teldec records. They’ve recorded the concertos on Baroque instruments so the disc might sound a bit thin if you’re used to a full orchestra. Don’t worry, you’ll get over it and you’ll never be able to listen to Baroque music played by a modern symphony orchestra again. Which is good, because there’s nothing worse than listening to music played on the wrong instruments, at the wrong speeds, in the wrong style.

Handel could also be a bit of a dickhead. Legend records that he once hung a singer from a window by her ankles because she wasn’t performing one of his pieces correctly. He also had a habit of pinching other composers’ music and using it as his own stuff. Handel, unlike Bach, was a cosmopolitan and travelled throughout Europe, settling eventually in England.

For a taster of his orchestral music there’s an excellent, cheap two CD set on Deutsche Grammophon which contains scintillating performances of Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks and Water Music with Trevor Pinnock conducting the English Consort.

For those of a more religious bent, have a listen to the Messiah. Handel’s most famous work has had many fine recordings but I’ve never heard one better than that made by Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan on the Swedish Bis label. At around $75 it ain’t cheap but think of it as an investment in your soul, as well as your musical enlightenment.

Bluffer’s Guide Extra: Where to go Next…

If Handel and Bach have whetted your appetite, try these:

Claudio Monteverdi – Vespers. The man who pretty much invented opera, or at least wrote the first decent one. Again, more religious music on two CDs (this classical business can sure annoy the hell out of your bank manager). Simply gorgeous stuff. Once more I’d plump for John Eliot Gardiner’s recording on Deutsche Grammophon Archiv.

Henry Purcell – Dido and Aeneas: After 300 odd years it’s still the best opera written in the English language. And short, as operas go. The purchase of my favourite recording, conducted by William Christie on Erato and featuring the wondrous Veronique Gens as Dido, will provide about an hour of sheer bliss.

By Richard Betts

Thanks to Megan Johnson of Thread for the Support

Source: Thread, New Zealand's Fashion-Culture Magazine