BIG BASS .......

[Swerd]

Swerd click on the YouTube link in my post above on this page. You will see Sir John having enormous fun with this band. He is one of the greatest exponents of "Get Up and Go Bach." Prepare to be thoroughly blown away. Picture is 1080p and the sound is magnificent BBC engineering. I promise this really will blow you away. The sound is better than most commercial CDs.

I'm listening now. Very nice .

 

[Irvrobinson]

A sampling of Bach's major works for organ is a must and contains the ultimate audio evaluation piece, the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.

Few works in classical music are surrounded by so much controversy. For years people have been speculating about whether or not JSB actually composed this piece. Many people believe he didn't. I don't really care, I just enjoy it. When my daughter was very young it scared her when I played it.

 

[crossedover]

http://creamusic.net/classical/

 

[TLS Guy]

Few works in classical music are surrounded by so much controversy. For years people have been speculating about whether or not JSB actually composed this piece. Many people believe he didn't. I don't really care, I just enjoy it. When my daughter was very young it scared her when I played it.

The controversy comes from the fact that it is put together in a different fashion, to the other monumental organ works of JSB.

However no one, and likely none since, could have put a work together of that complexity.

Sir John Elliot Gardiner did extensive new research for his biography. He provides compelling evidence that JSB did write that work and that he composed it to test organs. That makes perfect sense as it goes through all the sections, and full organ and and has prolonged bass section as other sections are added, to test windage (for us power amp running out of gas and thermal compression of speakers).

It still is the piece primarily used to test new organs, and is the single best piece to evaluate audio systems.

Now the the vast majority of musicologists who study that period believe JSB wrote it. I have never doubted it. Bach's crunchy cords, harmonies and unique moving bass lines are all over it.

 

[TLS Guy]

I'm listening now. Very nice .

It is, isn't it?

It is such a shame that Bach's liturgical music is not better known, especially from his Liepzig years.

When I was about 13 or 14, there was quite a long running program on the BBC third program at 10:00 AM Saturday mornings, exploring the Cantatas of J.S. Bach. It got me hooked and I have loved them ever since and have a large collection. Since that time research by renowned musicians, musicologists and instrument makers have enormously improved performance practice of his music. The instrument makers have done a superb job of recreating instruments form his period that are now long gone. Two in particular are important to Bach's music, the oboe d'amore of which Bach was very fond.

Also the oboe Da Cacha.

He was always at odds with the clergy over this, but I have to think the congregation were more enamored with Bach's toe tapping "musical sermons" than the mindless winding on of Lutheran clergymen.

I wonder if the congregation of St Thomas's Liepzig realized how privileged they were. One thing that amazes me as some one who has sung in choirs over the years, is that there were enough good musicians to perform this music. Bach's music makes huge demands on performers, not least of which is the fact it is very hard to find your pitch, in addition he pushes the range of all voices and instruments.

By all accounts though, Bach was popular with inhabitants of Liepzig, as by all accounts his concerts and impromtu jam sessions were standing room only and spilled out onto the street.

 

[KEW]

However no one, and likely none since, could have put a work together of that complexity.

Meet Grog, the most musically talented human, ever.
Unfortunately, all he had to work with was a club!

 

[markw]

This was the first recording of classical music I bought way back when. It still sounds pretty durn good to my neanderthal ears.

http://www.discogs.com/Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Chamber-Orchestra-Of-The-Saar-Karl-Ristenpart-Brandenburg-Concertos/release/4896363

 

[TLS Guy]

This was the first recording of classical music I bought way back when. It still sounds pretty durn good to my neanderthal ears.

View attachment 17084

http://www.discogs.com/Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Chamber-Orchestra-Of-The-Saar-Karl-Ristenpart-Brandenburg-Concertos/release/4896363

And so it should. Karl Ristenpart was in on the ground floor of trying to get back to the performance and practices of the eighteenth century.

However this movement has expanded enormously. A really big game changer has been the study and recreation of instruments of the time.

I think if you were to try a performance like those of Trevor Pinnock, you would find it a revelation.

Here is a sample from Apollo's Fire (Cleveland Baroque). This is a group I very much admire. Here is a sample from YouTube. Not HD I'm afraid.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Obviously, most of us would rather talk all day long about Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach than talk about Big Bass.

Growing up, I would listen to Mozart's Piano Concertos before going to bed each night. And for practicing piano, Beethoven was my favorite to play.

It's no wonder Mozart and Beethoven are my favorite 2.

If I had listened to Bach every night growing up, then I probably would rank Bach #1.

All personal preference, nothing more.

 

[TLS Guy]

Obviously, most of us would rather talk all day long about Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach than talk about Big Bass.

Growing up, I would listen to Mozart's Piano Concertos before going to bed each night. And for practicing piano, Beethoven was my favorite to play.

It's no wonder Mozart and Beethoven are my favorite 2.

If I had listened to Bach every night growing up, then I probably would rank Bach #1.

All personal preference, nothing more.

Of course we would. As our equipment only has use and utility for the art in deliver to us and put us in contact with.

As far as the preference, what you say is true it is personal. However the point I have been making is about the total significance on Bach, in his creation of the Well Tempered tone, and above all his enormous contribution to musical composition then and ever since. These latter you may not be aware off. However Bach's contributions dwarf those of others, and that applies to most genre's of western music.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

However the point I have been making is about the total significance on Bach, in his creation of the Well Tempered tone, and above all his enormous contribution to musical composition then and ever since.

Well, that's probably because Bach lived a lot longer than both Mozart & Beethoven combined.

JSB may have written more music than both Mozart & Beethoven combined, but IMO that's just quantity.

Just because someone has contributed more quantity of music does not make them more significant in terms of quality, IMO.

I consider Mozart & Beethoven as the candles that burned twice as bright...

Again it is my opinion that Mozart & Beethoven had more quality of work, albeit much less quantity than JSB.

 

[Seth=L]

Yeah, BIG BASS.... sup?

 

[crossedover]

Well, that's probably because Bach lived a lot longer than both Mozart & Beethoven combined.

JSB may have written more music than both Mozart & Beethoven combined, but IMO that's just quantity.

Just because someone has contributed more quantity of music does not make them more significant in terms of quality, IMO.

I consider Mozart & Beethoven as the candles that burned twice as bright...

Again it is my opinion that Mozart & Beethoven had more quality of work, albeit much less quantity than JSB.

huh? the bold text hurt

 

[TLS Guy]

Well, that's probably because Bach lived a lot longer than both Mozart & Beethoven combined.

JSB may have written more music than both Mozart & Beethoven combined, but IMO that's just quantity.

Just because someone has contributed more quantity of music does not make them more significant in terms of quality, IMO.

I consider Mozart & Beethoven as the candles that burned twice as bright...

Again it is my opinion that Mozart & Beethoven had more quality of work, albeit much less quantity than JSB.

What I'm trying to tell you is that without the genius of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven's lights would not have burned nearly as brightly. That is because of not only Bach's genius, but his teachings.

His teachings and instructional compositions have been absolutely pivotal in advancing the art of composition. Bach remains to this day the world's principle instructor of composition. The fact that he took the time and great pains over this is unique, and that alone puts him in a class by himself. All of those you site owed Bach an enormous debt. You can easily see it in their scores.

That does not mean they copied his music, is just that Bach taught them how to better present their tremendous creativity to the world.

I will give you one example. Elgar after composing the Demon's Chorus in his Dream of Gerontious said: - I've written one Hell of a fugue. His instruction manual was Bach's Art of Fugue. But Elgar's fugue does not sound like one of Bach's. Do you get the point?

 

[mtrycrafts]

.. neanderthal ears.

Do you have some of that DNA?

 

[herbu]

Here is a sample from Apollo's Fire (Cleveland Baroque). This is a group I very much admire.

The woman playing the harpsichord is impressive. It's not like playing a piano. A good analogy would be the difference between an old manual typewriter and a new Thinkpad keyboard. Somebody who can type 80 words per minute on a computer keyboard may be knocked down to 20-30 on an old manual typewriter.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

What I'm trying to tell you is that without the genius of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven's lights would not have burned nearly as brightly. That is because of not only Bach's genius, but his teachings.

That's equivocal.

We are debating about men who lived hundreds of years ago based on books written about them by people who claimed to have known them.

How can anyone prove that Mozart & Beethoven would not have been as great without Bach?

All I care is how I like their music as I hear them today.

We can hear their works and judge that, which is purely subjective.

 

[herbu]

We are debating about men who lived hundreds of years ago based on books written about them by people who claimed to have known them.

Unlike how we study every other historical figure in... um... history?
I don't get your point. How is this discussion different than one about Rembrandt or Da Vinci?

 

[TLS Guy]

Unlike how we study every other historical figure in... um... history?
I don't get your point. How is this discussion different than one about Rembrandt or Da Vinci?

That is just the point. Moving us from the Mean to the Well tempered tone is enough to make Bach and extremely important figure in the history of music.

 

[fmw]

That is just the point. Moving us from the Mean to the Well tempered tone is enough to make Bach and extremely important figure in the history of music.

Who suggests that Bach is not an extremely important figure in the history of music?