Something for a Friday: All of Bach

[Padraig]

Thanks again, Joseph K.

This music from this ensemble just right after today's news reports.

[Mandryka]

Well blow me over with a feather.

[Bryn]

Interesting. Three melody instruments, two of them with identical timbres, but I don't think they're just doubling up, and a plucked instrument mostly in the background. As far as I know the only score we have is the organ score.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonata_in_G_major_for_two_flutes_and_basso_continuo,_BWV_1039

[Mandryka]

Interesting. Three melody instruments, two of them with identical timbres, but I don't think they're just doubling up, and a plucked instrument mostly in the background. As far as I know the only score we have is the organ score.

[Joseph K]

[Padraig]

Also provided by you tube, not All of Bach. Why I know not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVtkxtwWr5M

Instrumentation satisfactory, Bryn?

[Bryn]

I have lost track of Bach Fridays - this one came up on my you tube, and I have located it on All Of Bach.

https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-911/

Much as I admire Schornsheim's playing (what delights her Haydn survey offers), surely these Toccatas belong on a clavichord, rather than a harpsichord?

[Padraig]

I have lost track of Bach Fridays - this one came up on my you tube, and I have located it on All Of Bach.

https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-911/

[Mandryka]

This is a really interesting piece of music. The opening section is a fairly bog standard fugue in a style which was becoming fashionable in the middle of the 18th century. The middle section lets the counterpoint go completely wild, this is an old style, dissonance relished, counterpoint takes the upper hand in the music's construction, and the harmonies follow. And then the final section -- everything becomes totally harmonious again, and it's so much richer and more interesting than the opening A part. The last part is Bach saying he can do the modern style better than anyone; the middle section is Bach saying that he can do the old style better than anyone. The opening section is Bach saying that this is how not to write music.

Very nice performance.

[Joseph K]

[Joseph K]

[Padraig]

Thanks JK. Some Merry pranks with cello and bassoon, eh? That Julia sure is a stalwart for them all.

[Joseph K]

[RichardB]

violin and harpsichord is nice but it’s not easy to balance.

Actually I've never had that experience. The violin as it existed and as it was played in the early 18th century combines quite naturally with the harpsichord. Of course such music would be played in relatively small rooms rather than concert halls.

[Padraig]

And yes, violin and harpsichord is nice but it’s not easy to balance. There’s a danger that it becomes the violinist’s show, which is not a good idea in quite a few of the movements of the sonatas. I think these sonatas work really well with violin and organ.

Thanks for those observations, Mandryka. I do recall discussions about mood and key signatures, now that you mention it! I remember too, noting how effective the chamber organ can be in baroque instrumental music, and so I see what you mean by balance. Mind you, I always think Sato is a player very considerate of his fellows.