Music Banter - View Single Post - Your top 5 Classical composers:
View Single Post
Old 08-15-2010, 01:24 AM   #95 (permalink)
VEGANGELICA
Facilitator
 
VEGANGELICA's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Where people kill 30 million pigs per year
Posts: 2,014
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pomegrant View Post
I would have to agree with you father. Even in his most simplistic works there is great amounts of depth and complexity which I guess stems from the ornate culture of the baroque period. However I think Bach transcends baroque music and he really did a lot of experimentation with harmonies. I just really admire that he did his music even when his music was going out of fashion.

I'm trying to remember some of my favorite pieces but remember BWV numbers after all of these years isn't too easy. I'll post some videos once I find them.

Cellos are just so much more beautiful than violins.
My dad says the exact same thing about how wonderful the harmonies are that Bach sets up throughout his music! I am an untutored listener, so I think I appreciate Bach's music much more simplistically than my dad, who was born with perfect pitch and knows all the frequency differences among notes, plus is instantly aware of the chords and different keys used.

I think the one downside to Bach's music is that sometimes the music's intricacy takes over at the expense of the music's emotion. Even my dad agrees with me on this. Some Bach pieces feel rather robotic to me. However, others are painfully beautiful, and those are the ones I prefer.

Yes, cellos are just much warmer and resonant than violins, I agree...although when I play lower notes on the violin I get to imagine I'm playing a cello but high up, so then the violin isn't so bad! And the violin can sound very sweet.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pomegrant View Post
I suppose everybody likes Glen Gould although my teacher didn't because her teacher apparently was heated rival of Gould. The 70's was just so much cooler for musical feuds.
Thank you for sharing some of your favorite pieces!

The Bach Partita reminds me of the Bach Double we Suzuki violinists always love playing, I think, when we are kids. I remember enjoying it very much. I'm sure you know it, of course, but here it is anyway...and the violins don't sound too shabby!

Bach Double Violin Concerto





I had never heard of Bach's English Suites before last week, when I asked my dad what his current favorite music is and he said he really finds the Allemande portion of English Suite #1 to be lovely. We first listened to Suite #2 by accident (so now, thanks to your post, I've heard it twice), and then to Suite #1. It begins at 2:57 in this video, which I like because the pianist plays the piece more slowly than in some other recording I heard that was of Glenn Gould, actually!:

Bach - English Suite #1



I looked up both your teacher's teacher, Rosalyn Tureck, and Glen Gould to learn more about their rivalry. Wikipedia says, "In a CBC radio special on Glenn Gould, the host told Tureck that Gould cited her as his 'only' influence. She responded by saying she knew that she was an influence, and that it was very kind of him to say so." The rivalry perhaps shows up in her phrasing when she says she knows she was an influence! It's too bad...both are deceased now, I see.
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neapolitan:
If a chicken was smart enough to be able to speak English and run in a geometric pattern, then I think it should be smart enough to dial 911 (999) before getting the axe, and scream to the operator, "Something must be done! Something must be done!"

Last edited by VEGANGELICA; 08-15-2010 at 01:30 AM.
VEGANGELICA is offline   Reply With Quote