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Today I am listening to this old TV show from 2000. Andrei Gavrilov is performing Well Tempered Clavier Book I. Something he says in the beginning before Prelude in C major is how difficult it is too play in C major because there are no black keys. I never thought about it before I think he is right. It is hard to really dig in if there aren't any black keys.

 

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5AR0mwreyQ&feature=relmfu

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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Years back I heard a performance on public tv of No.1 performed on a clavichord. It was a revelation. Such nuance and passion! And then...I bought a clavichord and got to try it for myself. The instrument is so intimate, so tender, that the works take on a new meaning. Digging in is not necessary. Think floating.

 

K.

9 Moog things, 3 Roland things, 2 Hammond things and a computer with stuff on it

 

 

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I had a teacher that said it was one of the hardest scales to play and I agree, especially to play clean.

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

noblevibes.com

 

 

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  • 4 months later...

This is kind of fun. Around the 25:25 the Tocatta and Fugue (BWV 565) is a tour de force on organ but it is interesting on piano. I like the cleanness of the piano doing this piece. I might play with this.

 

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY-oqNAxd4I

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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Great thread! Gin and tonic for us Bachaholics, LOL.

 

Seriously, I'm not addicted to Bach but listen to his music regularly and run through some of his music on guitar, flute and mandolin - not on a professional level, that takes HARD WORK..... two four letter words in a row.

It's very beneficial in lots of ways, and the skills you learn carry over to pop music.

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I'm learning Bach's Capriccio from Partita no. 2 in C minor for my piano exam at the moment, and I'm amazed how difficult it is!

 

It doesn't look too bad on the page, but obviously my brain isn't wired up for Bach. Six months in, I'm getting there, but it's been a struggle - although totally worth it.

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The cantata No. 29 from "Wir Danken Dir Gott" has probably the most famous Sinfonia, but a bit of trivia: Bach plagiarized from everyone, even himself- that is actually the Violin Partita in E Major, a major performance work for solo violin. (Also the first piece on Walter Carlos' Switched-On Bach.)

 

..Joe

Setup: Korg Kronos 61, Roland XV-88, Korg Triton-Rack, Motif-Rack, Korg N1r, Alesis QSR, Roland M-GS64 Yamaha KX-88, KX76, Roland Super-JX, E-Mu Longboard 61, Kawai K1II, Kawai K4.
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I'm sick with high fever, but I'll try to assemble some random thoughts on Bach....

 

- His constant, absolute excellence of musical quality, even in the simplest tunes that he wrote for wife and children, is almost superhuman.

 

- When some of my student plays, say, the C minor French Suite for me, I always marvel at the magic of that music - and I've heard it for more than 40 years!

 

- It's the most difficult composer to play on the piano. The Bb minor fugue from WTC I is totally unforgiving; it's absolute clarity, or you sound like an amateur.

 

- At the same time, it sounds good on steel drums, xilophone, whistling, glassharmonica, even accordion.... (well, almost) :D - IF you you play these instruments *well*. :)

 

- A *whole* cantata every week! Wow! :freak:

 

My very humble homage:

Prelude in D major from WTC I

 

 

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Years back I heard a performance on public tv of No.1 performed on a clavichord. It was a revelation. Such nuance and passion! And then...I bought a clavichord and got to try it for myself. The instrument is so intimate, so tender, that the works take on a new meaning. Digging in is not necessary. Think floating.

 

K.

 

I'd like to hear more about your clavichord sometime. Fretted or unfretted? What's it like playing with vibrato? Does it stay in tune?

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- At the same time, it sounds good on steel drums, xilophone, whistling, glassharmonica, even accordion.... (well, almost) :D - IF you you play these instruments *well*. :)
Most Bach even sounds good when played by a machine, with a cheesy synth tone. It's about the only thing that's tolerable played that way. I remember this from when canned sequenced hold music started to appear, back in the 80's IIRC.
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So how do we feel about Cameron Carpenter's interpretations of Bach?

 

[video:youtube]

 

Virgil Fox pissed a lot of purest off too, but in my opinion, if Cameron can get some new folks listening that wouldn't have bothered before, then a little (?) bit of flamboyant isn't such a bad thing.

Les Mizzell

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...how difficult it is too play in C major because there are no black keys. I never thought about it before I think he is right. It is hard to really dig in if there aren't any black keys.

No question. For me, my favorite keys to play in are Ab and Db. Some of this has to do with the fact a lot of the urban gospel repertoire is in these keys. But beyond that, I think they just feel better under my hands. Playing on all whites sort of lacks tactual context so to speak.

--Sean H.

 

Yamaha MOXF8, Korg TR76, Novation X-Station 61, Casio PX-320

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I'm getting goosebumps just sitting here and thinking of certain moments in St. Anne's Fugue. No other composer does that to me. Bach is truly sublime.

 

You have no idea how universal this is. I remember the first Bach piece I heard years ago moved me to tears - before I even knew who the composer was. And I come from a very different musical background - western music forms a very small fraction of my listening. I still can't tell one piece from another, why the key scale is mentioned, or what the heck a fugue is. And I've seen similar reactions from friends who are accomplished musicians in the Indian classical tradition - even the die-hard purists who don't listen to any western music.

 

Thanks for this thread, and the posts in it.

This is really what MIDI was originally about encouraging cooperation between companies that make the world a more creative place." - Dave Smith
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So how do we feel about Cameron Carpenter's interpretations of Bach?

 

That was entertaining. It's certainly the freshest interpretation of D moll I have heard. He gets a bit carried away with the embellishments from time to time for me, but I'll bet old Bach would be smiling. JS was said to be a thunderous improviser.

 

He has incredible facility on the pistons, and that organ has crazy dynamics.

Moe

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The interpretation doesn't bother me too much. The sissy-boy spangly shirt? Yeah. That should go.

 

For me it's the Bach Aria from the 3rd Orchestral Suite. That piece can move me at any time. It can be either celebratory, melancholy, or just plain sad. Played quite loudly, it never gets harsh.

 

To me, the best single composition out there.

 

..Joe

Setup: Korg Kronos 61, Roland XV-88, Korg Triton-Rack, Motif-Rack, Korg N1r, Alesis QSR, Roland M-GS64 Yamaha KX-88, KX76, Roland Super-JX, E-Mu Longboard 61, Kawai K1II, Kawai K4.
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Some of my own thoughts on Bach:

 

-I will be wrestling with the WTC until the day I die and my life will have been greatly enriched as a result.

 

-Every piano bench should have a book of Bach's 'other misc' works (Little Preludes and Fugues, etc) in it. Some of the pieces in there are quite approachable with limited ability and yet they too are excellent.

 

-Playing Bach helps me with bebop lines immensely.

 

-Glenn Gould was and is the man in my book.

 

-I can't believe the Brandenburgs sat unopened for so many years. Imagine writing such an incredible work for someone and them not even acknowledging it. Did Bach even hear them performed in his lifetime?

Kawai C-60 Grand Piano : Hammond A-100 : Hammond SK2 : Yamaha CP4 : Yamaha Montage 7 : Moog Sub 37

 

My latest album: Funky organ, huge horn section

https://bobbycressey.bandcamp.com/album/cali-native

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As a guitarist, I have to mention a couple CDs that are superb, but off the beaten track:

Bach - Four Suites for Orchestra - Brazilian Guitar Quartet - they really nailed it! Not just for guitar fans.

And Hubert Kappel did a fabulous guitar version of Partita #6 in E minor, although it's still better on keyboard. I don't remember the name of the CD, but I'm sure his website mentions it.

On mandolin, Chris Thile and Mike Marshall play Bach great - I wish they'd do a whole album of it.

 

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-I can't believe the Brandenburgs sat unopened for so many years.

Bach was basically forgotten for 100 years, his sons were better known. It wasn't til the mid- 1800s that there was a revival, largely due to Mendelssohn and Schumann. The violin sonatas (among the masterpieces of classical music) were found in a fish shop. Someone was wrapping fish with Bach manuscripts (probably copies).

 

This happens quite a bit with classical. The dreaded "Pachelbel Canon" was unknown until the 1970s when it was used in the movie "Ordinary People". Damn you Robert Redford! :laugh: Even in the 30 years I've been a pro, some composers have definitely gone in and out of favor: Sibelius is now a 3 hit wonder. Liszt is disappearing, Debussy too. Mahler has gone from obscure to overplayed. American classical music has come down to 3 people: Copland, Barber and Bernstein.(and Gershwin of course). All the other great classical American composers like Howard Hanson have basically become Jeopardy! questions.

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More to The point, the Brandenburgs were little more than a throwaway album of music composed over several years. Bach wanted a new job, and thought that the margrave of Brandenburg would be more likely to give it him with a little "grease." Read the fawning dedication, and how many times old Johann used the term "Your Highness..."

 

Didn't work though: he had to stay at Köthen.

 

..Joe

Setup: Korg Kronos 61, Roland XV-88, Korg Triton-Rack, Motif-Rack, Korg N1r, Alesis QSR, Roland M-GS64 Yamaha KX-88, KX76, Roland Super-JX, E-Mu Longboard 61, Kawai K1II, Kawai K4.
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I learned Bach's "Prelude and Fugue in C major" on the organ, when I was a teenager (many moons ago). It sound good on the piano as well (without the bass line). Bach has influenced my compositions over the years. Sometimes when I perform a Bach tune, I can feel "his spirit" taking over my hands. I'm sure it's just my imagination, but that is what great music can do to you!
Randy Skolnik
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