Kevin's Watch

Heh. Funny little thought, but what the heck. I was just telling Foul about Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin. With a single violin, he wrote this outrageous music with multiple parts; melodies against themselves; melodies with traditional harmonies; repeating harmonic patterns hidden inside different melodies; implied harmonics... It staggers the mind! And when you listen, you can hear how the violin works, its abilities, and how everything it's capable of doing is stretched to the limit to make this music. I heard the biggest one of these pieces played on a piano once. It was a mockery! The piano can play all that Bach wrote - and all that he implied! - in these pieces, with almost no effort. The fire that the violin's physical characteristics give this music was lost.

Anyway, it reminds me of Lord Mhoram's Victory:

Now the only thing which limited his might was his staff itself. That wood had been shaped by people who had not understood Kevin's Lore; it was not formed to bear the force he now sent blazing through it. But he had no margin for caution. He made the staff surpass itself, sent it bucking and crackling with power to rage against his assailants. His flame grew incandescent, furnace-hot; in brilliance and coruscation it sliced through his foes like a scythe of sun-fire.

Bach said, "Here's the violin music I want. The violin can't do this? Too bad, it will have to."

Nice.

Oh great the next time I read LMV it just won't be the same without violin music. Better burn a CD and bring it to me at Elohimfest! (Thanks in advance )

heh Well I have 5 different recordings of it anyway, so I'll just give you one.

Maybe if Revelstone had a killer PA system, the Lords could have blared Bach's music over the walls to accompany Mhoram's ride out. Maybe it would have confused the heck out of the Raver: "What? What's this horrible noise? My Master did not tell me the little Lords had this vile power!"

Presumably, you mean that a Raver would find such sublime beauty to be "horrible noise." Riiiiiiiiight????

Now, I must say, I never compared Bach to the Chrons...this is cool Fist

thanks

Fist and Faith wrote: Bach said, "Here's the violin music I want. The violin can't do this? Too bad, it will have to."

That reminds me of Beethoven's quote, only he was more salty than Bach. Before the premiere of Beethoven's Grosse Fuge, he was supposed to have responded to complaints from the players by saying "What do I care about you and your f****** fiddles."

Seriously though, my collection is rather thin on Bach. I'll have to look for that one, it sounds great.

Damelon wrote:Seriously though, my collection is rather thin on Bach.

*grabs chest and staggers around the room*

This is the big one! I'm coming, Elizabeth honey!

Brahms did a transcription of the Ciaconne from partita 2 (i think) for left hand on piano. He said it was the closest way to reproduce the ciaconne if you didn't have an excellent violinist handy. But he also said hearing it this way paled in comparison to hearing a good violinist play it.

Speaking of violinists, I heard Hilary Hahn play it not too long ago. Magnificent. She has a recording out that's also really good, though I prefer Milstein's DG recording nowadays. Ms. Hahn tends to play one of the solo Bach pieces at each of her recitals. I'm not sure if other violinists do the same.

I haven't heard Milstein's, though I imagine it's extremely good. Every DG Original I've heard so far is.

Fist, had you consciously noticed that all songs sung in the Chronicles are unaccompanied, and the vast majority are sung by one voice only? The performance of "Lord Kevin's Lament" is described like this.

SRD wrote:

In high, arching spans of song, she gave out her threnody--highlighted it and underscored it with so many implied harmonies, so many suggestions of other accompanying voices, that she seemed to have a whole choir within her, using her one throat for utterance.

Yeah, I certainly noticed that part!! And I'm willing to bet SRD had Bach's unaccompanied violin music in mind when he wrote that!! I assume the connection is there, but it still sounds like a good question to ask him.

Findail's song was a little more elaborate. But then, he was Elohiim, so the possibilities were endless. No need for implied.

Fist and Faith wrote:

Damelon wrote:Seriously though, my collection is rather thin on Bach.

*grabs chest and staggers around the room*

This is the big one! I'm coming, Elizabeth honey!

*In a Madeline Kahn voice from Blazing Saddles* "It's true, It's true!"

I've always been an idolator of Beethoven.

Ludwig is my favorite as well, Damelon. Hey, I love Bach, too!

Believer earlier mentioned the violinist Hilary Hahn. Well, I think her playing lacks substance--in terms of Bach, anyway. On faith, I had bought a recording of Bach's Partitas performed by her, and I was very disappointed by what I heard. Way too much vibrato, and not much emotional depth. The truth and power of Bach's music simply did not come through in her playing. It was all just flashy technique, no soul. I think Hahn has a long way to go before she can plumb the emotional depths of Bach's music the way an Isaac Stern or an Arthur Grumiaux could in their day. (Grumiaux's style was deceptively plain: he played in a direct, no-nonsense way that allowed Bach's music to shine through, without artificial sweeteners. His violin technique was not about flashy showmanship, it was about honestly conveying the disciplined passion behind Bach's notes. Grumiaux's sound has a clean, pure quality that cuts like a laser through anything Hahn can offer right now.)

Er, we now return you to Mhoram and Bach...

Damelon wrote:I've always been an idolator of Beethoven.

Can't fault you for that, I suppose. And I'm sure a case could be made comparing Beethoven to TCTC. Trell and Triock come to mind.

Matrixman wrote:Er, we now return you to Mhoram and Bach...

Thanks for stopping by, MM!

MM, the only thing I can say to your post is, "You say tomato, and I say, to-mah-toe"...

Hahn's Bach CDs seem to be her most controversial in terms of whether people like them or not. Take a look at the amazon.com reviews and you'll see what I mean.

www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/ ... er-reviews

(You may have to cut and paste / remove the carriage returns, I don't remember how well this forum does links)

Last I checked the newsgroups and reviews, a slight majority of reviewers agreed with you, and the rest were rather ardently of the opinion that her recording of the Bach solo pieces was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I wouldn't go quite that far, but I do think of them in the same breath as Grumiaux and Milstein.

Believer wrote:MM, the only thing I can say to your post is, "You say tomato, and I say, to-mah-toe"...

Eeewww!! You say to-mah-toe??

heh heh

I can't remember which harpsichordist was arguing with another about Bach interpretation, but finally, she said something like, "Fine. You keep playing Bach your way. I'll continue to play it Bach's way."