Works by classical music giants – Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven – will fill the concert programme of the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra conducted by Joseph Swensen. We will hear the famous Harpsichord Concerto in D minor BWV 1052, arranged for piano by the Leipzig cantor, and two string quartets by the last of the Viennese Classicists.

The oldest manuscript of the score for the Harpsichord Concerto in D minor BWV 1052 is dated 1734, but the final version of the concerto was written a few years later, i.e. at the end of Johann Sebastian Bach’s life. It is assumed that the work is a transcription of a lost concerto, not intended for harpsichord, but for another instrument – probably violin or organ. Nevertheless, this concerto is an excellent example of the use of a ritornello form where the recurring sound material is interspersed with freer episodes. Apart from the structure, the concerto attracts most of all with the strength of the sound hidden behind the seemingly raw tonal twists.

String Quartet XIII in B flat major op. 130 by Ludwig van Beethoven was first performed in March 1826, a year before the composer’s death. It is a fancifully elaborate and well-thought-through piece. It consists of six movements, in which Beethoven presents a stylization of a German dance (Alla danza tedesca), a simple song with a graceful melody (Cavatina) and a Große Fuge crowning the quartet (Great fugue). The last movement aroused string emotions among the audience, and the publisher of Beethoven’s works suggested that the composer modify the ending. The new finale – Allegro – was created a little later, in November of the same year. It was Beethoven’s last work. The Große Fuge was finally published as opus 133 and for many years caused controversy – it was believed to be unplayable and written in a completely incomprehensible way. Its values were appreciated anew in the 20th century, when it caught the attention of Igor Stravinsky and Glenn Gould, who unanimously recognized the work as absolutely contemporary.