Bach's Bungalow

[Antoine Marchand]

Thanks, Antoine. I am goimg to order this.

Great! I recalled that TV series after to watch this HORRIBLE French movie:

[Opus106]

Would it be correct to refer to the aria for tenor from BWV 198 (Der Ewigkeit saphirnes Haus) as a chaconne (or a pasacaglia, perhaps)?

[anasazi]

  What?  Bach has only a bungalow?  Perhaps that is all he needs however.

I just recently (re) discovered BWV 82, the cantata 'Ich habe genug'.  Thanks to a recording with Fischer-Dieskau.  What an aria.  I immediately searched for a transcription for piano and could not find one, so I began making my own. 

Wait, this does have to do with the WTC in a way.  I have for sometime thought that Bach wrote some of his best music in E flat major.   Especially, I think the Prelude & Fugue in Bk I.  in E flat major and the way I relate to it, began my thoughts about that.  Having tried my hands at both books,  I is easier to learn (at least for an amateur like myself).  II is a bit more difficult.  As for recordings, although I sort of grew up with the Gould albums, I find myself liking Hewitt as well as any. 

Yes, Ich habe genug is also in E flat major. 

[Opus106]

Yes, Ich habe genug is also in E flat major. 

Isn't BWV 82 in C minor?  BWV 82a, which I like more than the original, is transcribed to E minor. Frankly, I unable to imagine such a melancholic opening in E-flat.

[Marc]

[....]
Yes, Ich habe genug is also in E flat major.

Isn't BWV 82 in C minor?  BWV 82a, which I like more than the original, is transcribed to E minor. Frankly, I unable to imagine such a melancholic opening in E-flat.

You're right. Both the opening and final aria are in C-minor. My guess is that anasazi is referring to the 2nd aria Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen, which is in E-flat; also melancholic maybe, yet in a more relaxing and peaceful way. (At least that's how I experience it. )

[Marc]

Would it be correct to refer to the aria for tenor from BWV 198 (Der Ewigkeit saphirnes Haus) as a chaconne (or a pasacaglia, perhaps)?

At least it's an interesting thought; it certainly has a repetitive bass line (the 'ground bass'), in a dance-like style 3/4 time.
But I'm just the (interested) layman here. Maybe other members have more knowledge to 'decide'.

Here's a sample of the aria, yet slightly different. It's taken from the reconstructed Markus-Passion, BWV 247: Mein Tröster ist nicht mehr bei mir, sung by Martin Petzold, accompanied by the Leipzig Barockorchester and directed by Volker Bräutigam.

http://www.mediafire.com/?5pcpda6vt4429h5

[Opus106]

At least it's an interesting thought; it certainly has a repetitive bass line (the 'ground bass'), in a dance-like style 3/4 time.
But I'm just the (interested) layman here. Maybe other members have more knowledge to 'decide'.

Here's a sample of the aria, yet slightly different. It's taken from the reconstructed Markus-Passion, BWV 247: Mein Tröster ist nicht mehr bei mir, sung by Martin Petzold, accompanied by the Leipzig Barockorchester and directed by Volker Bräutigam.

http://www.mediafire.com/?5pcpda6vt4429h5

I posted the question at the Bach Cantatas Yahoo group (registration is required to view group messages). While it generated some discussion on the topic, no one has yet conclusively stated whether it is a chaconne or not. (Although one member privately informed me via email that it was not.) Currently, they are debating over terminology.

Oh, and thanks for the aria clip.

[anasazi]

You're right. Both the opening and final aria are in C-minor. My guess is that anasazi is referring to the 2nd aria Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen, which is in E-flat; also melancholic maybe, yet in a more relaxing and peaceful way. (At least that's how I experience it. )

Yes, it was Schlummert ein that I was referencing.  Sorry, I did not make my post very clear.  It is an interesting Bach piece also as (for me) it sounds almost Handel-ian (if you understand what I mean and if that can be used as an adjective here). 

[Opus106]

It is an interesting Bach piece also as (for me) it sounds almost Handel-ian (if you understand what I mean and if that can be used as an adjective here). 

I either haven't noticed that or don't remember noticing; nevertheless I'll listen to the piece this evening. One Bach piece that definitely sounded Handelian to me when I first listened to it, was the Orchestral Suite No. 4 from which he used material for the opening of BWV 110.

[prémont]

I either haven't noticed that or don't remember noticing; nevertheless I'll listen to the piece this evening. One Bach piece that definitely sounded Handelian to me when I first listened to it, was the Orchestral Suite No. 4 from which he used material for the opening of BWV 110.

Oh. some Bachian Fireworks music?

But it is not that apparent, when you omit the later added trumpet parts (listen to Manze´s splendid recording released by Brilliant).

[Opus106]

Oh. some Bachian Fireworks music?

Indeed. And since it's from [a] Bach, it can even be considered as a kind of water music.

But it is not that apparent, when you omit the later added trumpet parts (listen to Manze´s splendid recording released by Brilliant).

Noted, thanks. However, the CD (or set) seems OOP. I'll have to check the dark underground of the interwebz for a copy.

[Antoine Marchand]

Indeed. And since it's from [a] Bach, it can even be considered as a kind of water music.

Noted, thanks. However, the CD (or set) seems OOP. I'll have to check the dark underground of the interwebz for a copy.

Well, Brilliant's complete edition is still waiting for you. Although I don't know if those discs are included in the last version of the big box because they are licensed from Denon.

[Antoine Marchand]

BTW, this weekend I will buy this one:



It simply looks irresistible.

Here a description of the content:

J.S. Bach: The Art of Fugue
3¼-hour DVD with two videos
On 2 CDs George Ritchie plays a Thuringian-style organ
Reviews The Gramophone: "...the finest Art of Fugue" Reviews Choir & Organ: "Magnificent" - [FSF-0001]    $39.95

"A lavish production, fully justified by a great performance from George Ritchie . . . the finest recording of Bach's Art of Fugue irrespective of media or instrument." reviews The Gramophone, July, 2010

"Magnificent in its uncompromising approach, this remarkable production should be a set text for all university, college and conservatoire courses for performers and academics alike. 'Lay' people and Bach aficionados (with or without their own copy of the score) are certain to gain just as much pleasure and understanding of this monumental work from this endlessly absorbing set" reviews Choir and Organ, July/August 2010.

This package consists of
Two CDs and one 3¼-hour DVD

The DVD contains two major video productions about J. S. Bach:

    * a 90-minute program entitled "Desert Fugue" featuring a brilliant presentation by leading Bach scholar Christoph Wolff concerning what many consider to be Bach's ultimate intellectual and musical creation, The Art of Fugue, discussing the milieu in which it was created. As well, "Desert Fugue" includes George Ritchie's enlightening comments on the work and a fascinating interview with American organbuilders Ralph Richards and Bruce Fowkes, especially regarding their Opus 14 built in the style of organs known to Bach and played by him for most of his career in and near central Germany (with emphasis on Thuringian and Saxon builders Gottfried Silbermann, Zacharias Hildebrandt, and Tobias Heinrich Gottfried Trost). Briefly and fascinatingly, the DVD compares the sound of a Dutch/North German organ with the very different, almost orchestral, sound of a central German organ of Bach's day.

    * George Ritchie lectures on Bach's fugal and compositional techniques especially as they relate to the Art of Fugue, with musical demonstrations. The lecture discusses the entire work generally  and each of the 14 contrapuncti in an hour and 51 minutes.


The Two CDs contain

    * George Ritchie's performance of the entire Art of Fugue, BWV 1080, on the Richards, Fowkes & Co. organ completed in 2006 at Pinnacle Presbyterian Church, Scottsdale, Arizona. This organ is built in the style known to Bach in his central German homeland of Thuringia.
    * George Ritchie's performance of Contrapunctus 14, Fuga a 3 Soggetti, left uncompleted by Bach in Art of Fugue, as completed by Helmut Walcha

    * The CDs also contain George Ritchie's performances of other late works of J. S. Bach:

Ricercar a 6 from the Musical Offering, BWV 1079, played on the Bedient organ, op. 8, at Cornerstone Church, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Vor deinen Thron tret' ich hiermit BWV 668 played on the Taylor and Boody organ, op. 9, at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts (borrowed from George Ritchie's recording of the complete Bach organ works on Raven OAR-875)

Canonic Variations on Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her BWV 769a played on the Taylor and Boody organ, op. 9, at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts (borrowed from George Ritchie's recording of the complete Bach organ works on Raven OAR-875)

The six Schübler Chorales played on the John Brombaugh & Associates organ, op. 26, at Southern Adventist University, Collegedale, Tennessee (borrowed from George Ritchie's recording of the complete Bach organ works on Raven OAR-875)

Packaged with the discs is a booklet containing stoplists and photographs of the organs, registrations used in the recordings, definitions of musical terms, an introduction to the project, notes on the on the other later works of Bach as contained in the additional CD tracks, a brief essay "An Approach to the Art of Fugue" by George Ritchie, and a brief biography of George Ritchie.

All but one track on the CDs and the DVD were recorded by Edward J. Kelly.  The entire production was designed and produced by Will Fraser and Simon Still of Fugue State Films of Great Britain. Customers in the US and Canada will normally receive the NTSC version of this program as compatible with the TV systems in the US and Canada. Customers elsewhere or in the US may request a PAL version for the European TV system when the order is placed, in the "comments" section of the check out.

Review in The Gramophone, July 2010:
A lavish production, fully justified by a great performance from George Ritchie
To all outward appearances - even the label on which it has been released - this would seem to be a filmed performance of The Art of Fugue. But that's not the case at all. True, one of the three discs encased within a very hefty and attractive box is a DVD, but The Art of Fugue itself appears on two audio CDs.

That's no disappointment. American Bach specialist George Ritchie offers up such an intensely focused and directly communicative performance that it's hard to think what any visual element could contribute other than providing an irritating distraction. Ritchie writes in the accompanying booklet that this is a work that "pleases the mind and the ear in equal measure" and in the DVD sets out his interpretative goal, hoping that listeners will be "thinking about the music, not what I'm doing to it". As good as his word, Ritchie's CD performances are of the type that demand the closest attention from listeners - if this was on film, it would be one best experienced with eyes firmly shut - and while his playing is neat and utterly devoid of idiosyncrasy, it draws the ear so fully into Bach's music that I have no hesitation in describing this as a reference recording. Which is not to say that Ritchie is not guilty of the odd indiscretion - a strangely stiff and lumpy approach to Contrapunctus 11 and some waywardness in the Canon alla Ottava - but these barely ruffle the surface and any doubts are quickly smoothed over by the lovely organ sound and Ritchie's subtle and highly sensitive use of registration, all details of which are mapped out in the booklet.

The contents of the DVD are a worthy accessory to the two CDs. On a practical level, navigation is poor with no real method, other than trial and error, of finding specific points on the disc; with two films and three hours' playing time, that is a major drawback. But it's worth persevering with random searches and copious use of the forward and backward buttons, for the first of those films is a tremendously illuminating and magnificently produced documentary on the background to the recording itself, with interviews with Christoph Wolff and Messrs. Richards and Fowkes (who built the Arizona organ on which the recording was made), as well as with Ritchie himself enthusing about the work and, in one of the film's more fascinating episodes, the completion of the final Fugue by Ritchie's own teacher Helmut Walcha.

The second film is a section-by-section description of the work with Ritchie highlighting the problems (illustrated by the edition of the score used in the recordings) and giving his solutions to them; an indulgence which most performers would envy but which is justified here by the uniquely dedicated work of everyone involved in what is, for me, the finest recording of Bach's Art of Fugue irrespective of media or instrument



Review by Graeme Kay in Choir and Organ, July/August 2010:



The vocabulary of modern documentary TV is deeply ingrained in our lives. It's driven by a desire to hang on to the viewer at all costs – all too often the result is sound-bite scripts, frenetic editorial cutting and a concentration on arresting, but not always relevant, visual imagery. Fugue State Films' Art of Fugue project is the absolute antithesis: conventional broadcasters would run a mile. The 2CD + DVD package is built around the US organist and pedagogue George Ritchie's performance of Bach's revised version, on the Richards, Fowkes organ of Pinnacle Presbyterian, Scottsdale, Arizona (with supplementary Bach works including Helmut Walcha's completion of the final fugue, played on Taylor and Boody, Bedient and Brombaugh organs).



The audio tracks are complimented by a three-and-a-half hour DVD, Desert Fugue. In this documentary Ritchie and the doyen of Bach scholars, Christoph Wolff, are intercut as they discuss the meaning and impact of the work on the history of western music; organ builders Ralph Richards and Bruce Fowkes provide illumination on the organ of the Bach era (and modern US organ design); and finally, Ritchie and Wolff discuss the reception history of the Art of Fugue. Long pieces-to-camera are cut together with a linking narration by director Will Fraser that allows the story to unfold with the kind of pace and depth which the work's rich complexities, and the protagonists' detailed knowledge and experience, fully deserve. Fraser makes copious use of stills and recorded footage from Arizona, Leipzig, Naumburg, the Netherlands, England, and the Richards, Fowkes factory, to provide a visual counterpoint to the detailed narrative. To cap this, Ritchie sits at the Scottsdale console to provide nearly two hours of engaging, spontaneous bar-by-bar analysis, with helpful cutaways to the score; there is even a booklet with written notes and organ specifications.



Magnificent in its uncompromising approach, this remarkable production should be a set text for all university, college and conservatoire courses for performers and academics alike. 'Lay' people and Bach aficionados (with or without their own copy of the score) are certain to gain just as much pleasure and understanding of this monumental work from this endlessly absorbing set.

[prémont]

Yes, Antoine, irresistible. I own his Bach integral which is most symphatic. But where can I get the AoF from? Not even Amazon US lists it, and purchasing CDs from USA means furthermore double cost for me (added tax and custom).

[Antoine Marchand]

... Presto Classical, my dear friend:

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Fugue%2BState%2BFilms/FSFDVD0001

[prémont]

... Presto Classical, my dear friend:

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Fugue%2BState%2BFilms/FSFDVD0001

Gosh. my most important supplier of CDs next to JPC.
Thanks, Antoine.

[prémont]

Ordered along with Badiarovs cellosuites, Kuijkens second Brandenburg set and the gambasonatas with Laura Alvini on harpsichord.

[Antoine Marchand]

Ordered along with Badiarovs cellosuites, Kuijkens second Brandenburg set and the gambasonatas with Laura Alvini on harpsichord.

I am waiting for my Kuijken's Brandenburgs ordered from JPC, my order was sent almost three weeks ago. I also have his DHM version and that disc under Leonhardt on Seon.

I ordered that Badiarov (and Foccroulle's AoF) from Ricercar's website (Outhere) on September 15 and I am still waiting for. You can read my claim on that website (it's the only comment that they have got!).

Some months ago, I recommended that Alvini's recording to another friend, then he listened to some excerpts online and one day, while we were walking and talking about music, he said to me: "It's excellent, just excepting that andante of the second sonata; it's too slow!". Then I said: But right now we are "walking" in that tempo my friend. And he replied: "You're right. That tempo is perfect!".   

[prémont]

I ordered the Ritchie from Presto and the others from JPC, so I am optimistic.

[Antoine Marchand]

Unfortunately, the people of JPC is a bit lazy these days; if they don't have the material in existence, quickly you will receive a message informing that the product is not available. In my experience in the past they searched more carefully. Anyway, you can always get Alvini on the excellent Tactus website: quick attention, low prices, secure server and, in some cases, free shipping.