#backtobach

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

Pleasant sounds for a (rainy) Sunday afternoon: Bach’s Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major. 

[musicainextenso]

It’s time to continue our Let’s...Halloween! Week, here at Musica in Extenso! In my personal opinion Halloween doesn’t exist without the splendid music of the genious Johann Sebastian Bach. Usually the organ music has a very unique sonority and it fit’s extremely good to the spirit of the autumn and especially when we talk about the celebration of Halloween.

Today on Music in Extenso:

Johann Sebastian Bach

Toccata and Fugue in d minor

I think that most uf us are very excited when we talk about some creepy decorations and delicious Halloween foods. For a visual aid, have this photo of our Halloween decorations made by my dear fiancée, Antal Zsuzsi.

Enjoy! - Editor-in-Chief

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

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!

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

Bach all day. 

A classic, the Double Concerto in D Minor. Bach’s dialogue between the violins is a marvel, executed here by Yehudi Menuhin and David Oistrakh. 

Above all, the second movement is a crown jewel. The intimacy of the violin dialogue here, the beauty of the main theme... Well, I will leave it to you to hear. 

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

Bach all day. 

The Kapellmeister rightly gets credit for his astounding compositions, but let’s not forget his superb transcriptions of other composers. He does Vivaldi a great honour with this Organ Concerto in D Minor, capturing the spirit and vitality of the original work whilst subtly adding his own more stately and refined style in between. Bach transcribed the works of many great composers, most notably Vivaldi, Reincken, Buxtehude, Pachelbel, and Böhm. These would have been the templates he used to study counterpoint, fugue, harmony, and style. You can hear the blueprint for Bach’s own signature fugues in this transcription. 

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

Bach all day. 

The incredible Brandenburg No. 5 Concerto features one of the first keyboard cadenza’s written in concerto music, leading to the development of the Piano Concerto. Unsurprisingly, Bach’s own son, Johann Christian, helped develop the later form. 

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

Bach all day. 

I learned the Prélude and Gigue from Bach’s Suite in F Minor. In the Prélude, I particularly enjoy how Bach introduces the theme and then develops it, but returns to the main theme again. This makes it familiar and comforting, not to mention far easier to learn!

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

Der phänomenale Geigerspieler Gidon Kremer eklärt uns, warum er ist nach Bach zurückgekommen. (Deutschsprachiger Doku)