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

Official Website

8 Surprising Ways Classical Music Can Help You Focus and Study

by Emily E. Hogstad  November 20th, 2025

Many people, when they’re trying to focus or study, turn to music to help them concentrate.

The right music selection can help you by boosting your mood, lowering your stress, and even improving your mental health.

What genre is the best for this purpose, though?

The science is still coming in, but classical music is an especially promising option.

Here are eight surprising ways that classical music can help you focus and study.

1. Music can alter your brain chemicals in helpful ways.

© psychologistworld.com

When listening to music that you enjoy, your brain releases a neurotransmitter and hormone known as dopamine.

According to the Cleveland Clinic’s website:

Dopamine is known as the “feel-good” hormone. It gives you a sense of pleasure. It also gives you the motivation to do something when you’re feeling pleasure…

If you have the right balance of dopamine, you feel happy, motivated, alert, and focused.

In addition to encouraging the release of dopamine, listening to music can help suppress the production of the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol spikes during stressful situations, and extended exposure to it can lead to anxiety, insomnia, and other symptoms.

Increasing dopamine levels and decreasing cortisol levels can help make it easier for your brain to focus.

2. Music helps us reach a balanced energy state.

Everyone knows how difficult it is to focus when you’re tired…or wired.

There’s a happy middle ground here, and the right kind of music can help you reach it.

Every classical music lover has listened to recordings that have calmed us down, and others that have pumped us up.

Using that fact to our advantage in our listening means that we can impact our energy levels as we’re trying to focus.

3. Music masks distractions.

Even if we manage to stay off our phones while working, there are still distractions all around us.

A dog might be barking down the street. Maybe you’re working in a coffee shop next to a loud espresso machine. Maybe you’re in your dorm or apartment, and you can hear your neighbours talking or fighting.

Even if you can work while these things are going on, just noticing them and anticipating them takes up a portion of your brain’s processing power.

Not only does listening to music help to obscure the most common distractions, it also creates a predictable kind of soundscape that frees up space to focus.

4. Genres with lyrics are distracting…and a lot of classical music doesn’t have them.

© theconversation.com

Many people claim that it’s difficult to concentrate on a task if they’re listening to music with lyrics.

Scientists are still learning about this phenomenon, but one 2023 study suggests that this might be true, depending on the task.

The abstract of “Should We Turn off the Music? Music with Lyrics Interferes with Cognitive Tasks” reads:

Music with lyrics hindered verbal memory, visual memory, and reading comprehension…whereas its negative effect on arithmetic was not credible.

The other genre the scientists tested – hip-hop lo-fi – was an instrumental one.

While listening to lo-fi didn’t improve participants’ performance, it also didn’t hinder it in the way music with lyrics did.

This is a preliminary study, and more research needs to be done about which genres and types of music might be helpful for specific kinds of tasks.

But it’s worth noting that a lot of classical music doesn’t employ singers or lyrics…making it an especially intriguing option for people who are experimenting with using music to improve their concentration.

5. Classical music can impact your brain waves. (Or at least some classical music can.)

According to one study:

The term “brain (or neural) oscillations” refers to the rhythmic and/or repetitive electrical activity generated spontaneously and in response to stimuli by neural tissue in the central nervous system.

(Another term for these oscillations is “brain waves.”)

Alpha waves are a type of brain wave associated with a relaxed but alert frame of mind: perfect for inducing focus.

Some music has been shown to encourage alpha waves.

One study in Rome was recently published in Consciousness and Cognition. It followed thirty participants who listened to Beethoven’s Für Elise and an excerpt from Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D-major, KV 448.   

According to the researchers:

The results of our study show an increase in the alpha power and MF frequency index of background activity in both adults and in the healthy elderly after listening to the Mozart sonata.

Interestingly, Beethoven’s Für Elise did not elicit the same response, suggesting that not all classical music might be equal when it comes to encouraging alpha waves.

6. The tempo of classical music can encourage a calm heart rate.

© onlymyhealth.com

It can be hard to concentrate if you’re stressed out and have a fast pulse.

One technique to bring a pulse down to resting rate is to listen to music with the pulse rate you’re aiming for.

A healthy resting heart rate can vary widely depending on a person’s age, fitness, and gender, but a standard number to shoot for is around 60 beats per minute.

Interestingly, this is a common tempo for a wide variety of classical music. It’s especially common in slow movements from the Baroque era.   

7. The structure of a lot of classical music is very predictable, which enables our brains to focus more easily on other things.

A lot of classical music was composed by using formulas, especially in the Baroque era. These formulas and conventions have to do with tempo, dynamics, and structure generally.

The patterns that make up these formulas mean that the music is just predictable enough to give your brain something to latch onto, without distracting it.

8. Silence can be lonely. Classical music can provide companionship…and make tasks requiring concentration more appealing.

Many people prefer completing overwhelming tasks with supportive company.

Listening to classical music while completing a task can improve your working experience, especially if you are feeling isolated, overwhelmed, or unmotivated.

Most classical music is unamplified and non-electronic, enhancing its human qualities and making listeners feel especially close to the performer.   

Conclusion

There is a lot that scientists don’t know about how music affects people’s concentration. Hopefully, more studies will be undertaken in the years to come so that we can understand both its limitations and its power.

But until all of the science is in, one thing is for sure: classical music is one of the most promising genres to experiment with when you’re deciding what music will help you focus.

10 Greatest Violin Concertos (And the Most Popular Performance of Each)

by Emily E. Hogstad 

Composers have been writing violin concertos since the beginning of the eighteenth century.

Over the next three centuries, composers created thousands of violin concertos.

Most have since fallen into obscurity…but a handful have demonstrated their enduring appeal to both musicians and audiences.

© medium.com

Although it’s a fool’s errand to make an objective list of the ten greatest violin concertos, we’re taking a shot at making a subjective one.

So here’s our list of the ten greatest violin concertos, a brief overview of what makes each one so appealing, and a link to the most popular YouTube performance of each concerto.

10. J.S. Bach: Violin Concerto No. 1 (c. 1720)   

Johann Sebastian Bach’s first violin concerto likely dates from around 1720, when Bach was employed by Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen.

While working for Leopold, he wrote more instrumental secular music than religious music.

One of the pieces dating from this time was this violin concerto.

It has become one of the most beloved violin concertos of the Baroque era. It features a lively, emphatic first movement; a songful slow movement; and a driving, flowing third movement.

The most-viewed version of the concerto on YouTube is played by German violinist Julia Fischer. It’s light and lovely.

The YouTube heatmap indicates that the most popular part of the performance is at the start of the slow movement at 4:30. Fischer’s playing here is especially luminous.   

Max Bruch was a prolific German Romantic composer. Unfortunately, he ended up becoming a bit of a one-hit wonder…but that one hit ended up becoming one of the pillars of the Romantic violin repertoire.

After a while, Bruch became exasperated at the concerto’s popularity, which eclipsed so many of his other works:

Max Bruch

“Every fortnight, another [violinist] comes to me wanting to play the first concerto. I have now become rude, and have told them: ‘I cannot listen to this concerto any more – did I perhaps write just this one? Go away and once and for all play the other concertos, which are just as good, if not better.”

The concerto begins with a slow, theatrical opening marked Vorspiel, the German word for “prelude” or “overture.”

The body of the first movement moves without a break into a warm and placid second movement.

The finale features a triumphant and hummable dance-like theme.

The most popular recording on YouTube is American violinist Hilary Hahn’s performance with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony. The most popular moment in her performance is the stormy second half of the first movement, beginning around 4:45.   

Dark, brooding, and painfully personal, Shostakovich’s first violin concerto reflects the composer’s struggles under the oppression of the Soviet rule.

The concerto was written between 1947 and 1948, but Shostakovich knew its style wouldn’t appeal to the conservative tastes of Soviet authorities, so he suppressed it.

It was only able to safely premiere in 1955, two years after the death of Stalin.

It includes a haunting Nocturne, a desperately virtuosic cadenza linking the third and fourth movements, and a fiery finale.

Hilary Hahn once again has the most popular YouTube recording of this repertoire.

7. Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2 (1937-38)    

Bartók’s second violin concerto is a tour de force of thrilling rhythms and striking colours. It is also one of the most technically demanding violin concertos in the standard repertoire.

Written between 1937 and 1938, this concerto draws heavily on the traditions of Hungarian folk music, while also sounding contemporary and cutting-edge.

Béla Bartók, 1927

Violinist Augustin Hadelich’s performance of this concerto is the most-viewed one on YouTube.

According to the YouTube heatmap, the most popular part of the video is the concerto’s breathless final moments, beginning at 36:00 in this performance. The music sounds like an unhinged folk fiddler has been dropped into the middle of a symphony orchestra.    

6. Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5 (1775)

Unbelievably, Mozart composed all five of his violin concertos while still a teenager. He wrote the first when he was seventeen and the rest when he was nineteen.

Each one shows his musicality growing by leaps and bounds. By the time he wrote the fifth, his technique was completely assured.

This concerto is known for its contrasts and shifts in character. For instance, the opening begins with a cheery tune in the orchestra, but the soloist then enters with a slow, heavenly, operatic sequence of notes before bustling off.

It is nicknamed the “Turkish” concerto due to the percussive segments in the finale, a remnant of the craze for all things Turkish that swept Vienna and western Europe during the late eighteenth century.

The most popular performance of the concerto on YouTube is a 2015 performance by Korean violinist Bomsori Kim at the Queen Elisabeth Competition.   

5. Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto (1878)

Tchaikovsky wrote his violin concerto shortly after the breakdown of his six-week-long marriage. (The relationship was doomed because he was gay, and his new wife clearly didn’t understand what she’d gotten herself into.) He fled to Switzerland with a former student/love interest, violinist Yosif Kotek.

Inspired by escaping his traumatic marriage and refreshed by the new surroundings (and company), he wrote his violin concerto in just two weeks.

Although the reaction to the work was initially cool, it has since become one of the most beloved violin concertos ever written.

Yosif Kotek and Tchaikovsky

Violinist Alena Baeva and the Düsseldorf Symphony have created the most-viewed version of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto on YouTube.

The Sibelius concerto is icy, intense, and utterly unique. It is the only violin concerto that Sibelius ever wrote, and is a passionate love letter to his beloved instrument.

He once wrote:

“My tragedy was that I wanted to be a celebrated violinist at any price. Since the age of 15, I played my violin practically from morning to night… My love for the violin lasted quite long, and it was a very painful awakening when I had to admit that I had begun my training for the exacting career of a virtuoso too late.”

Jean Sibelius, 1923

He poured all of his regrets into a deeply emotional violin concerto with a haunting opening, a wistful slow movement, and a finale that has been described as a dance for polar bears.

The most popular performance of the Sibelius concerto on YouTube is one given by Hilary Hahn and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in May 2019.

According to the YouTube heatmap, the moment that listeners keep returning to is the final two minutes of the first movement, starting at 17:00. Sibelius’s passion combined with Hahn’s virtuosity is jaw-dropping.   

Mendelssohn’s violin concerto is one of the most structurally and technically perfect violin concertos ever written.

It is memorable from the very first measures. The soloist enters almost immediately with a thrilling melody that makes full use of the silvery qualities of the violin’s highest string.

Its flowing melodies, dramatic orchestral interjections, seamless transitions between movements, and fairylike finale have made it a favourite of audiences for nearly two centuries…and it shows no hint of ever going out of style.

Taiwanese-Australian violinist Ray Chen’s performance of the Mendelssohn is the most-viewed performance of this concerto on YouTube. For this elegant 2015 performance, he joined forces with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.     

Brahms’s violin concerto was written for his dear friend and colleague Joseph Joachim, one of the greatest violinists of his generation.

It is a muscular, monumental work that demands a huge amount of physical and emotional stamina from the soloist.

Joseph Joachim

Another layer of difficulty is that Brahms was not a violinist, so his string writing can be clunky to pull off and make look effortless.

Despite its demands, the radiating warmth and soul-piercing sincerity of this music shine through at every measure, and it has come to be regarded as one of the very greatest violin concertos ever written.

The most popular version of the Brahms concerto on YouTube was performed by Hilary Hahn and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra in March 2014.

There are a few popular moments in this recording, but one of the most popular is Hahn’s powerful entrance at 3:00.   

It’s hard to choose the greatest violin concerto, but nobody will criticise you for having the Beethoven concerto at the top of your list.

In this work, Beethoven gives the soloist gorgeous (and incredibly difficult) lyric lines. He also creates an astonishing dialogue between the soloist and orchestra.

The work is on a massive scale: the first movement alone lasts for around twenty minutes. The slow movement is some of the most beautiful music Beethoven ever wrote, and the closing rondo is some of his most joyful and life-affirming.

The most popular performance on YouTube is, once again, one by Hilary Hahn, this time with the Detroit Symphony.

Portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven

Interestingly, the most popular spot in the video is not by Beethoven at all: it’s at 19:45, when Hahn plays a flawless version of Fritz Kreisler’s Beethoven concerto cadenza. Even though modern ears might find it a touch too romantic, it is one of the most famous and beloved violin cadenzas of all time, and an incredible experience to witness being played.

Conclusion

We told you at the start that it’s impossible to choose an objective list of the ten best violin concertos, but this is our best shot at it!

How do you think we did? Which of your favourites did we leave out? And what concerto would be your number one pick