V.com weekend vote: What is your favorite movement of the Bach Double?

Written by The Weekend Vote
Published: November 7, 2014 at 5:55 PM [UTC]

I still remember being a student and trying to pick out the first movement of Bach's Concerto in D minor for Two Violins by ear, before I was ready to play it. Most violin students play the first movement at some point; I was not a Suzuki student but I studied both the Violin 1 and Violin 2 first-movement parts, which also appear in Suzuki Books 4 and 5. Once I could play one part, I was always happy to find someone who could play the other, so we could launch into a duet before rehearsal, etc. It's alway fun to instigate a spontaneous Bach Double!

In the early days, that piece was a little hard to put together, and I can remember that getting to the end without a train wreck was a major victory. Many years later, after playing it with so many students on so many occasions, it's pretty solidly wired for me! But it never gets old, and I'm still game for the ride. Ask me to play that piece with you, I'll happily oblige.

What's too bad is that not everyone plays all three movements! In fact, students are sometimes surprised to learn that there is more to it than that ubiquitous first movement. The second movement is one of the most beautiful slow movements written for violin(s), and the last movement is a rollicking ride. I have a few students studying the last movement now, and playing the duet with each (so that they can play it easily with each other) is one of the most enjoyable parts of my week!

Which movement do you most enjoy, in the Bach Double? You can answer from a playing standpoint, a wanting-to-play standpoint, or a listening standpoint.

I've put together some Youtubes for your listening pleasure, to help you vote:

1. Vivace

Here we have husband-and-wife team Gil Shaham and Adele Anthony, from SWINGING BACH 2000 Live from the Marketplace in Leipzig:

2. Largo, ma non tanto

This movement would be gorgeous played on any instrument, but I thought you might enjoy this period-instrument version with Carla Moore and Cynthia Miller Freivogel, solo baroque violins, with Voices of Music:

3. Vivace

Here's a performance with a lot of spark by sister-brother team Lara St. John and Scott St. John; they are playing with the New York Bach Ensemble:

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And just for fun -- those Time for Three guys! Nick Kendall, Zach De Pue and Ranaan Meyer play their jazzed-up version of the Bach Double first movement: