The New Solo Instrument: Bach’s Brandenburg No. 5

Rising in stately spirals, J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 opens in the strings and flute before the keyboard enters. One of the most noble of the Six Brandenburgs, it uses the basic chamber music ensemble of flute, violin, and keyboard, augmenting it with a string orchestra.

by Emily E. Hogstad 

The keyboard, however, has a dual role. It performs as part of the basso continuo for the full orchestral sections and is also a solo instrument with the violin and the flute. The first movement ends with a tremendous solo cadenza for the keyboard, leaving the other two solo instruments aside. Because of Bach’s own reputation as a keyboard virtuoso, it is thought that he was the soloist for the first performance. Bach, always the innovator, created in this work the model for what would become the solo keyboard concerto. He lifted the keyboard from its subordinate position as merely part of the basso continuo (which function it still holds here) into a leading role as a solo instrument.

Lukas Foss with Leonard Bernstein at the piano, 1944

In this recording, made in 1957 in Boston’s Symphony Hall, The Zimbler Sinfonietta is under the direction of Lukas Foss, who is also the keyboard soloist. James Papoutzakis plays the flute, and George Zazofsky is the violin soloist.

Lukas Foss (1922–2009) was born in Germany and was quickly recognised as a child prodigy, beginning piano and music theory with Julius Goldstein in Berlin when he was only 6. With the rise of National Socialism, the family moved first to Paris and then, in 1937, to the US, where the family changed its name from Fuchs to Foss. He studied piano, composition, and conducting at the Curtis Institute and, in the summer, studied at Tanglewood with Serge Koussevitzky from 1939 to 1943, and also worked on composition with Paul Hindemith at Yale from 1939 to 1940. He was a lifelong friend of Leonard Bernstein, each conducting premieres of each other’s works. He followed Arnold Schoenberg as professor of Music at UCLA in 1953 and also taught at SUNY–Buffalo. As a conductor, he led the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (1963–1970), the Brooklyn Philharmonic (1972–1976, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (1972–1976), and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (1981–1986). He taught at Boston University from 1991.

James Papoutzakis backstage with the BSO

Flautist James Papoutzakis (1911–1979) played in the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops, entering the orchestra in 1937 and remaining until 1978. He taught widely through the Boston area, including at all the major music schools.

Zazofsky and his son Peter

George Zazofsky, a graduate of the Curtis Institute, joined the Boston Symphony upon graduation. As an activist, he founded the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM), which became part of the American Federation of Musicians in 1969.

The Zimbler Sinfonietta was founded in 1947 by Joseph Zimbler, cellist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It held annual concerts in Boston at Jordan Hall, and Foss, Papoutzakis, and Zazofsky were all noted soloists with the ensemble. The ensemble was one of the first string groups to perform without a conductor.

Performed by

Lukas Foss
James Papoutzakis
George Zazofsky
The Zimbler Sinfonietta

Recorded in 1957

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