Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner I love Bach!!!

I just watched half of Gould's DVD of the Goldberg Variations.

Wow.

The only reason I watched only half of it is because I cannot possibly wait any longer to go to the music school now and play Bach.

Yes Bach was an amazing composer. I love all of his works. The Goldberg Variations are amazing, and they are so much fun to listen to (I haven't had the chance to see a DVD of them). I think one of Bach's best works was the Italian Concerto... simply amazing.

NO, he's mine!! I love him more!! MINE MINE MINE

OK all 'you pianists'...

Do yourself a giant favor and DON'T limit yourself to Bach's keyboard works.

Listen to his concerti, orchestral suites, chamber music (including works for an unaccompanied instrument), sacred/choral music, organ works, etc.

Yes, Bach is Great.

But for a lot of people, he is greater than they will ever realize!

Actually, I tend to like more of the latter than the former. There are generally few of his keyboard works that I can stand, but the rest? Very nice.

no one likes Bach more than I do.

I live for Bach.

Bach had an elegant mind, probably a lot like God's.

that's a bold statement! :p

do you guys have a Bach bust coming in the mail?

I agree... I learned a couple of his inventions when I was younger, and that was enough for me. They seem more mechanical. They're great for finger excercies, but it doesn't contain the emotion you would get with Rach or Brahms. Some of the other keyboard works are better, but I still prefer more modern music (i.e 18th and 19th centuries).

His other works, especially for strings, are a different story. I personally love the Brandenburg Concertos for instance.

Bach is a lot like Mr Spock, the emotions are there and deep but restrained.

Perhaps Bach had to compose so much and so often that he just couldn't stand writing very emotive music all the time...

All this talk about emotion is misplaced. When Bach died 256 years ago musicians weren't asked nor expected to write emotional music. That Bach did write some emotional music is a testament to him as a person and composer. Listen to Vivaldi and Telemann and tell me whow much emotion you hear there. What I think is sad is how little historical perspective some of the trained musicians here seem to have.

I've been working on the C# minor fugue from WTC Bk 1 for the past few weeks. It's a very emotional piece and very appropriate for this week (through Saturday). Bach wrote many other emotional pieces, but the emotion is more personal and less obvious than what we're used to in modern times. I believe what you hear is the fact that Bach doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve, he doesn't give you the drama of his personal angst.

I'm aware of only two pieces that can be directly related to a personal experience of Bach's, and they're both related to the same experience. I've posted before about the G minor fantasia for organ and that I believe it to be related to the death of Bach's first wife in July of 1720. This piece was first heard the following fall when Bach auditioned for the job of organist at the Jacobikirche in Hamburg. Similarly the well known Chaconne from the d minor Partita for Solo Violin has also been dated to this time. Both are deeply emotional pieces and completely out of place in their own time.

Agree.

If you listen to the famous "Air", or the "Arioso", or perhaps "Bist du bei mir", or the organ chorale "O Mench, bewein' dein' Sünde groß", the emotion is quite powerful. I find a sensitively played rendition of the "Air" to be almost overwhelming.

Sinfonia from Cantata 29 - was there ever such joy expressed in music?!

His works are all the more powerful when you consider the musical constraints of the era. In comparison with Romantic music, Bach did MORE with LESS. That is part of the genius.

Listen to the immense Passacaglia - what a masterpiece! When Bach arrives at the Neopolitan sixth at the end, it is actually quite shocking!

And the Goldberg Variations... am I the only one who gets choked up when the Aria finally reappears? By the end, it is both familar and yet NEW, because of all that preceded it.

PS: Shortcircuit, Bach was an 18th century composer.

Anybody knows why the fall board is removed in the DVD?

I had a couple thoughts on that.

One was just so that the viewers could see the hammers while he played (which was pretty neat).

Another thought was that it may have been removed to accomodate some of his fingers (when he would play with the left hand directly over and behind the right hand, for example)

But I don't know for sure.

Gould preferred playing w/out the fallboard because as PJ pointed out it allowed more room for his fingers. It wasn't necessary but it provided a certain psychological comfort level not seeing the barrier there. This, at least, according to an old teacher of mine.

Yeah. Sometimes I take the fallboard off too.