The most sheerly beautiful moments in Bach's music?

[Rod Corkin]

If a little rain on your parade causes such monumental hand wringing, can you imagine what a severe thunderstorm would cause?

You LOVE Bach's music. I loathe it.

Am I not as entitled to my opinion as you are to yours?
And am I not as entitled to state that opinion on this forum, as you are to state yours?

The nearest topic here along those lines was this...  

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,1790.0.html

[robnewman]

In our Solar System is one Sun, around which the planets, big and small, all rotate and reflect, to greater or lesser degree, the light it gives off. If it was different we would all be plunged into long periods of near darkness and would soon become idolators of the Sun and not  its daily consumers.

In the same way, to have available and be able to hear a talent so stupendous, so deep and miraculous as that of the musical Bach, and for this astounding talent to be manifested among men and for it to be appreciated as a common, everyday miracle like salt or water, and for it to be a source of inspiration for the most talented musicians and for all others, so that we can even at times indulge our imaginations and speculate  that it can be musically equalled or surpassed is, to me, evidence of free musical speech for we as musical children that should be gently humoured, tolerated, but never taken seriously.

LOL !  

[karlhenning]

Thread duty:

One of those Bach bits which have always melted me, is the chorale of the second section of the E-flat major Prelude in Book I of WTC.

[Catison]

In the same way, to have available and be able to hear a talent so stupendous, so deep and so miraculous as that of the musical Bach, and for this astounding talent to be manifested among men and for it to be appreciated as a common, everyday miracle like salt or water, and for it to be a source of inspiration for the most talented musicians, so that we can even at times indulge our imaginations and speculate  that it can be musically equalled or surpassed is, to me, evidence of free musical speech by we as musical children which should be gently humoured, tolerated, but never taken seriously.

Reminds me of a certain Salzburgian.

On the subject at hand, I still never get tired of the third movement of the second Brandenburg Concerto.  That trumpet moves me to tears.

[robnewman]

Other worldly beauty -

J.S. Bach
Aria from Cantata BWV 170
'Vergnugte Ruh, Belibte Seelenlust'

http://www.mediafire.com/?m12zzzoz2nj

[jwinter]

I'll toss out the famous Passacaglia & Fugue, as I haven't seen it mentioned.  I've got a soft spot for fugues....

[robnewman]

Not forgetting -

Aria from Cantata No. 8,
"Doch weichet ihr tollen"
BWV 8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LgYzwns-Uc

Cantata No. 105 (Part 2)
"Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht", BWV 105 Part II

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTe1gViB_LY

From
Cantata No. 105 (Part 3)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD01nAZv_UE

//

Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music.
— Angela Monet

[Catison]

This is best summary I can find.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bach_works

[robnewman]

Sinfonia
Cantata 156
BWV 156/1

http://www.mediafire.com/?m14txy2dmnk

[Coopmv]

This is best summary I can find.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bach_works

JS Bach just towers over all other composers ...    0:)

[Bulldog]

JS Bach just towers over all other composers ...    0:)

Was he a six-footer?

[Coopmv]

Was he a six-footer?

He was a nine-footer when it came to his trade ...   

[Catison]

He was a nine-footer when it came to his trade ...   

I heard Bach had a nine foot organ.

[jochanaan]

I heard Bach had a nine foot organ.

No, it was at least sixteen feet, maybe even 32'.

[jlaurson]

I heard Bach had a nine foot organ.

I heard he had a nine inch organ...

Bach had 20 children. He was an old master of the grand organ.

[jochanaan]

And so begins our organ recital...

[Bulldog]

For a change of pace, how about Bach works where he puts on his power-pack and streaks through the heavens.  I nominate the following super-charged works from the Leipzig Chorales:

BWV 651 - 657 - 661 - 665.  Saving the best for last - BWV 667.

[Coopmv]

For a change of pace, how about Bach works where he puts on his power-pack and streaks through the heavens.  I nominate the following super-charged works from the Leipzig Chorales:

BWV 651 - 657 - 661 - 665.  Saving the best for last - BWV 667.

But who delivered the turbo-charged versions of these works?  Weinberger - no clue since my set is still in its cellophane.  Perhaps Marie-Claire Alain or Helmut Walcha?

[Bulldog]

But who delivered the turbo-charged versions of these works?  Weinberger - no clue since my set is still in its cellophane.  Perhaps Marie-Claire Alain or Helmut Walcha?

Most organists deliver them.

I'll just add that I've been greatly enjoying John O'Donnell's Liepzig Chorales on the Melba label.  He gives the more powerful pieces a clarity of musical lines not often found in other recordings.

[op.110]

Yes that one is astonishing - one of Bach's most amazing movements, and in its way as great and powerful as the solo violin Chaconne - it is it's polar opposite, though its effect is just as strong. I wouldn't say it was as obviously beautiful as the other movements I mentioned above though (its beauty is a very strange beauty).

Undoubtedly the greatest and most epic movement ever composed by Bach. The piece could've stood by itself without being a component of the D minor Partita.