Something for a Friday: All of Bach

[Hitch]

[Hitch]

[Hitch]

[Hitch]

[Hitch]

[Hitch]

That should bring things up to date. Apologies for any double posting, etc.

[Keraulophone]

If I may, I'll bring this thread up to date with separate posts for the latest recordings instead of cramming them all together. That should make it easier for members here to discuss them, should they wish to do so. To begin:

WCT Book 2 No.7 in E flat

I was allocated this one to play (on the piano) when we held a sponsored ‘48’ to raise funds to buy a new grand piano for the cathedral. (We also played a Chopin ‘Mazurkathon’!). This P & F may not be the most taxing to play or analyse, but the Prelude has a great deal of charm, and the Fugue unfolds in majestic flow. Sviatoslav Richter’s DG recording is one that I admire, along with András Schiff’s on ECM. The harpsichordist’s rubato here is a little too fussy for my taste.
.

[Padraig]

That should bring things up to date. Apologies for any double posting, etc.

Sorry Hitch. I fell by the wayside again. But maybe there is a chorale* to cover that?

This one expresses its message so beautifully, reminding me that I love the harmony in Bach's chorales*. Here especially the arrangement of voices and instruments is just perfect. Lucky the congregation that has an ensemble like this.

https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-430

* Please note the correction - to 'chorale', from 'motet'.

[Padraig]

Is mise aris. or C'est encore moi. It's me again - ain't nobody else here. Good one today. 3 oboes for battle cry? Like uileann pipes? If there is ever a local request to sing in the chorus for this Bach piece . . .

https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-80

[Padraig]

https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-1046

A 'bleeding chunk'? To the ramparts!

[Padraig]

Hey! There's a hooley for St.Patricks Day over in Utrecht. They have a hot quartet playing.

https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-1021

[Padraig]

https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-641

A penny has dropped. When I was an ignorant boy at boarding school I occasionally, in my free time before study, went into the college chapel where I discovered that one of my least liked teachers played the organ. Music was not on the curriculum and I was largely ignorant of the body of classical music. I had an ear though and I enjoyed his meanderings on the organ which seemed clever to me and encouraged me to hope to hear more in the future. Tonight I heard this Bach organ prelude, and both the style and the duration of the piece brought me back in time. That maths teacher went up in my estimation, but I wish it had been possible then for a pupil to ask a question.

[Hitch]

Sorry Hitch. I fell by the wayside again. But maybe there is a chorale* to cover that?

This one expresses its message so beautifully, reminding me that I love the harmony in Bach's chorales*. Here especially the arrangement of voices and instruments is just perfect. Lucky the congregation that has an ensemble like this.

https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-430

* Please note the correction - to 'chorale', from 'motet'.

Lovely stuff. The soprano line floats beautifully over the quite dense sound of the ensemble. I note in passing that Masako Awaji's sunglasses evaded the continuity editor.

[Padraig]

. I note in passing that Masako Awaji's sunglasses evaded the continuity editor.

Yes, now I see it.

[Padraig]

https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-887

Lost in admiration for both JSB and CS. Beautifully filmed.