In it's original form, Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No.2 is a concerto featuring four prominent instruments ? trumpet, recorder, oboe, and violin ? against a foundation of strings and continuo. The work basically follows the Italian concerto grosso pattern, punctuating the solo group's music with tutti outbursts for the strings, although here the soloists are often more integrated into the musical fabric than in the Italian model. The trumpet retires from the plaintive Andante, leaving the other three soloists, with bare continuo accompaniment, to focus on a sighing phrase. One instrument's entrance overlaps another's last notes in a sort of counterpoint that, despite several efforts, never gets off the ground.

This arrangement is for standard string quartet.