J.S. Bach

[Fist and Faith]

Anybody else absolutely LOVE Bach? Comments? Questions? Favorite pieces?

[MsMary]

When I was in college, my boyfriend of that time bought me the Brandenburg Concertos. I used to listen to them while I was studying, and I still love them.

~MsMary~

[danlo]

I think it may go by another title but 1 of my fav J.S/'s is Sheep May Safely Graze

[Damelon]

Toccatta in Fugue is, for me, the most ear catching Bach. The Brandenburg Concertos also are very good.

[duchess of malfi]

For me it would be Brandeberg.

[danlo]

I think Sheep May Safely Graze is also known as Sleepers Awake

[Fist and Faith]

AAAHHHHH!!! People talking about Bach!! Great choices folks!!

[matrixman]

Wow! Glad to know that Fist&Faith loves Bach! He's probably my favorite composer after Beethoven and Bartok.

My all-time favorite Bach recording is Glenn Gould's 1981 performance of the Goldberg Variations. It was the last record he made before his untimely death that same year. Bach purists tend to dismiss Gould's style of piano playing as willful and quirky, but I call it genius! His pianism is awesome: every note is rendered with pointillistic clarity, even as he rips through passages at turbo speed.

My 2nd most fav is (surprise, surprise) Gould's rendition of the complete Well-Tempered Clavier, Books I & II. This recording project spanned 10 years, from 1962-1971. It's breathtaking to listen to!

I should also mention Bach's Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin. I have Arthur Grumiaux's 1961 recording of them. Grumiaux was an underappreciated artist of his day who made a beautifully pure, uncomplicated sound on his violin that's different from the flashier showmanship of many of today's musicians. I'm not necessarily saying Grumiaux was "better", but I prefer his style.

[Furls Fire]

Ah Bach.

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring.

Jesu, joy of man's desiring,
Holy wisdom, love most bright;
Drawn by Thee, our souls aspiring
Soar to uncreated light.
Word of God, our flesh that fashioned,
With the fire of life impassioned,
Striving still to truth unknown,
Soaring, dying round Thy throne.

Through the way where hope is guiding,
Hark, what peaceful music rings;
Where the flock, in Thee confiding,
Drink of joy from deathless springs.
Theirs is beauty's fairest pleasure;
Theirs is wisdom's holiest treasure.
Thou dost ever lead Thine own
In the love of joys unknown.

So beautiful. I just love Bach.

[Fist and Faith]

Wow! Glad to know that Fist&Faith loves Bach! He's probably my favorite composer after Beethoven and Bartok.

Are you serious????? Those are my three favorite composers!!!! Bartok's quartets!!! Sonata for 2 Pianos & Percussion!!!! Unaccompanied violin sonata!!!! Oh, I'm dyin' here!!!!

My all-time favorite Bach recording is Glenn Gould's 1981 performance of the Goldberg Variations. It was the last record he made before his untimely death that same year. Bach purists tend to dismiss Gould's style of piano playing as willful and quirky, but I call it genius! His pianism is awesome: every note is rendered with pointillistic clarity, even as he rips through passages at turbo speed.

Bach was as much a romantic composer as anyone, and anyone who says he should not be performed in every possible style is just plain wrong.

I should also mention Bach's Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin.

Indeed!!! My senior project for my BA was a paper on these pieces. Nobody's ever written anything like them, and trying to write anything meaningful about them in the usual amount of space here is an exercise in futility. I listened to Mintz when I wrote my paper, and have since added Szeryng, Perlman, Drucker, and Luca. Ah, my heart!!!!!

The Unaccompanied Cello Suites are not as difficult, to perform or understand, as the violin pieces, but also fantastic!!

[matrixman]

Whoa...looks like I almost gave our favorite Haruchai a coronary.

My feelings about Bach, Beethoven & Bartok are sincere, though, and run pretty deep, so it's cool to see that you fine folks at the Watch also have a place in your heart for the three B's.

And what is it about composers whose surname begins with 'B', anyway? Did the gods of music throw a cosmic dart that hit the letter B on their Great Alphabet Chart? Thus Bach & company won the Musical Genius Lottery? And Bela Bartok? It's almost unfair!

Sure, the gods occasionally hit M (aha--Mozart!), and, perhaps out of mischief, flipped it upside down to get W (bingo--Wagner!) because their silly darts tended to avoid W, for whatever reason.

More often than not, though, those Damned Darts Of Destiny tend to find their way to good ol' B. How else to explain my other favorites: Berg, Berlioz & Bruckner (Attorneys-at-Law )?

Okay, I'll stop throwing around names of dead, European white guys, lest I come across as an elitist fool.

[Fist and Faith]

Eh? No mention of Brahms among all those B's?
Re Berlioz: I told a teacher that I sure wish Hector had written piano music. He said that, with all the other music, he barely owes us piano music. Get it? "Barely owes"?

As for M's, give me Monteverdi!!!!!!

[matrixman]

I'm afraid I don't know much about Monteverdi, F&F. His style was early baroque, wasn't it? A precursor to Bach? I knew he wrote Orfeo, though I've never heard it. Orfeo was an important work of its time, correct? The first "true" opera or earliest opera??

I'm basically clueless about anything before Bach. Call it prejudice or whatever, but I don't normally bother listening to music that predates Bach.

I do, however, love Ottorino Respighi's "fake" Renaissance music work, the Ancient Airs & Dances. There's a wistfulness and a feeling of simple joy to this music that is very appealing. It's like a tonic between my doses of Bach and Beethoven...

[TRC]

Prefer Tchaicovsky and Beethoven
Fur Elise set as Ringtone on cell phone

[Fist and Faith]

Monteverdi bridged the Renaissance and Baroque eras. You can very clearly see the styles change as you progress through his eight books of madrigals.
-The tonality in the first books jumps around a bit, as was common then. By the 8th, the tonality is pretty much what we're used to hearing in guys like Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven.
-The first books are unaccompanied voices, weaving in and out of each other. In the end, you can find one voice accompanied by instruments, and notated so the singer follows the rhythms that the words would have if they were spoken.

The last books don't even fit the typical definition of madrigal any longer, but he still called them that. And Claude could have called them anything he wanted, as far as I'm concerned! I prefer books 4-6 myself, still voices weaving, with the tonality I'm used to, some accompanied, some not.

Opera was invented in about 1597, and this is where we mark the beginning of the Baroque. The unaccompanied voices singing in natural rhythms that I mentioned was the reason opera was invented. And yes, Monteverdi's Orfeo is considered the first great opera. As it was written in 1607, it didn't exactly have tons of competition, but still... I'm not much of an early opera fan, though, and I only like the highlights of any other operas. (But Purcell's Dido and Aeneas is an awesome, short opera!)

[danlo]

bump 4 Foul

[Worm of Despite]

Bah, I knew this thread existed. There can never be enough Bach threads. We have, what, five Pink Floyd threads? heh.

[Fist and Faith]

There can never be enough Bach threads.

I was just gonna say the same thing!!

[matrixman]

Hey, is Beethoven just chopped liver or something? Ludwig vs. Johann: Grudge Match!!

Seriously, I love the music of both composers. Oh, well, Ludwig van already has a thread (lost and forgotten though it is ), so I shouldn't complain.

Back to Bach: have any of you listened to Wendy Carlos's "Switched On Bach" or Don Dorsey's "Bachbusters"? JS Bach sounds fabulous, whether in acoustic or electronic form.

[Worm of Despite]

Beethoven who?