The Marvel that is Bach

[Musicology]

What is Music ? A gift from God, no less.

J.S. Bach (1685-1750)

1. Cantata No. 180 (Opening - Live Performance)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y34CDOP26qI
Oregon Bach Festival (1984)

2. Orchestral Suite No 3 in D Major
Overture
Paul McCreesh, Conductor
UBS Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra
Verbier Festival & Academy, France, 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE3vIONoYWc

'And, when I first heard this magnificent music it was like the grand appearance of some great ruler, descending down a marble staircase, being welcomed by his people'. (F. Mendelssohn on Bach's Overture to Orchestral Suite No. 3).

3. J.S. Bach
Cantata 170
Aria,
''Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust''
Soloist - Andreas Scholl
Dir - Philippe Herreweghe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmxTcuZaeUQ


4. J.S. Bach
Concerto in D Minor for Harpsichord and Orchestra
First Movement
English Baroque Orchestra
Soloist - Trevor Pinnock

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF-p_RGVjUQ

5. J.S. Bach
Violin Concertos
Hilary Hahn (Soloist)
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra
Dir - Jeffrey Kahane

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WcoNXqMVfE&feature=PlayList&p=A59066B3FD31AE3A&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=11


And the last two -

6. J.S. Bach
Cantata 29
Opening

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jk1fLaDelk&feature=related

7. J.S. Bach
B Minor Mass
Final Movement
'Dona Nobis Pacem'
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Chorus
Dir - Robert Shaw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnrHhYSGzd4

///

[Musicology]

Thank you to the Moderator for moving these together in the same post.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Absolutely, Bach to me is the Shakespeare of music, wonderful, wonderful stuff.

(Though please tell me Bach really existed...:D)

[Musicology]

Yes, Bach existed. He was 'rediscovered' in the next century. By those of another place whose ancestors had suffered from musical amnesia ! In a world so full of hyperbole and exaggeration Bach is the genuine article. As the founder of the science of musicology, J.N. Forkel said/wrote in the late 18th century -

'You see ? In this music it comes down to the fact that the world knows its own. And so does God. Since this Bach, who served with virtually no applause, has left a legacy beyond himself which transcends applause '.

LOL !

Regards

[LitNetIsGreat]

Oh thank god, glad he was not invented too. :p Though yes he was the genuine article I think.

[Musicology]

I hope these 7 selections are OK.

Here is the 'Little Fugue' in G Minor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVadl4ocX0M

[LitNetIsGreat]

I am seriously considering buying the complete Bach box set of 155 CDs:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bach-Complete-Works-Box-Set/dp/B000HRME5U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1255536945&sr=8-1

Really for the price they are a bargain when you consider the lifetime value you could get from them. Although some of the recordings don't sound as if they are of top grade, the full works together for the price sounds pretty good. I am getting so much from listening to Bach that I hardly feel like I need to listen to anything else ever again.

[Virgil]

I love Bach. And those violin concertos seem so under rated. They are brilliant but no one thinks of violin when they think of Bach. At least that's my impression. :)

[stlukesguild]

Well... beyond the Bach violin concertos there are the Brandenburg Concertos (some of which feature the violin) and certainly the violin is not under-represented in his orchestral music such as the Mass in B Minor, the Orchestral Suites, the Passions, of the Cantatas. Perhaps most important, however, are the Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin and the Sonatas for Violin and Obbligato Harpsichord (or keyboard):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waxat-_tRH8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkipsBpOkYI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl0HKVDFKHQ

[Madame X]

Really for the price they are a bargain when you consider the lifetime value you could get from them.

A lifetime and beyond, Neely, and beyond; I’m making arrangements to have this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DA5mYizc20) performed at my own funeral. :D

…Und sich (Fürstin), mit wieviel Tränengüssen Umringen wir dein Ehrenmal... :thumbs_up

[LitNetIsGreat]

Absolutely. I think if Bach was the only music on earth I could live well contented. There is something about his music that seems to lift me to a whole new higher level.

[Musicology]

Thanks Madame X,

The background to the writing of this particular cantata (198) is typical of the man. Harassed for years by critics in the music profession (many of them at nearby Leipzig University) Bach was reluctantly approached by the same University to write this funeral ode. He is said to have spent more time in its preparation than virtually any other work in his career. Further moves were made by enemies to replace it by the work of another composer before it was finally performed.

It is an astounding piece. Each and every movement. One of the great masterpieces.




A lifetime and beyond, Neely, and beyond; I’m making arrangements to have this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DA5mYizc20) performed at my own funeral. :D

…Und sich (Fürstin), mit wieviel Tränengüssen Umringen wir dein Ehrenmal... :thumbs_up