Aug 11, 2020
Bach’s Trio Sonata No. 4 in E Minor (BWV 528). The second movement can only be described as sublime.
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Bach’s Trio Sonata No. 4 in E Minor (BWV 528). The second movement can only be described as sublime.
Bach’s Violin Partita No. 1 didn’t interest me as much as the others when I first heard it. I much preferred Partita No. 2 and Violin Sonata No. 1. On subsequent listens, I my mind completely changed. Bach’s writing in the key of B Minor has a special significance, and it sounds magnificent on the violin. BWV 1002 is played here by Shunske Sato for the Netherlands Bach Society.
Last night’s bedtime music: Yehudi Menuhin playing Bach’s Violin Sonatas and Partitas. Classic record.
Good timing too, since I will be reading some of Wolff’s Bach essays today.
Lovely Italian-style works by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 545. Recorded by the Netherlands Bach Society. Their Youtube channel is a gold mine for those seeking quality, historically-informed performances of Johann Sebastian’s work.
Pleasant sounds for a (rainy) Sunday afternoon: Bach’s Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major.
Happy (Western) Birthday to Johann Sebastian Bach! 31/03/2019.
Bach all day.
Honourable mentions to the composers who shaped Bach’s formidable output. Antonio Vivaldi, as Charles Rosen explains in this fantastic documentary, showed Bach how to begin a piece with a charismatic theme. Bach would have played Vivaldi’s music and transcribed several of the Italian master’s works for organ. In those days, transcribing a composer’s work was a compliment. Bach was far more generous in acknowledging his influences and themes he had borrowed from other composers (a substantial amount). Here, Bach is lively, but controlled: he keeps most of Vivaldi’s character without adding much of his own more advanced contrapuntal work. (With Reincken’s Hortus Musicus, however, he takes the reins and dashes off!).
Beautiful transcription!