Bach's Bungalow

Started by aquablob, April 06, 2007, 02:42:33 PM

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Jo498

This is quite interesting. Despite being in principle available in print (so I do mean Monteverdi or Vivaldi manuscript scores mouldering in some library) quite a bit of music was apparently not as widely known as one would think until the early/mid 20th century.
I think I have read that Rachmaninoff was surprised when in the 1920s or so he became aware of the fact that Schubert had written a bunch of piano sonatas. And at this time at least among concertgoers Bach as arranged by Liszt, Busoni or Rachmaninoff was very probably far better known than his original keyboard works.

Did the French really establish their late romantic organ "symphonies" with only minimal knowledge of Bach's organ music?
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

Cato

Quote from: Jo498 on June 10, 2016, 11:50:09 PM
This is quite interesting...

Did the French really establish their late romantic organ "symphonies" with only minimal knowledge of Bach's organ music?


The anecdote specifically refers to the chorale preludes, but the comment by Ambroise Thomas implies that Bach was not well known: on the other hand, Widor is astonished that his colleagues at the conservatoire and its students do not know them.

Widor, at least, seems to have had a wider knowledge of Bach's organ works.
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

North Star


Yehudi Menuhin's marked-up copy of the Solo Violin Sonata no.2, on display currently in the exhibition on Menuhin at Royal Academy of Music in London
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

My photographs on Flickr

jlaurson

Latest on Forbes.com:

Making Music Visible: Peter Sellars' St John Passion From Berlin


Is a staging of a Bach Passion necessary? Peter Sellars' 2014 production from
Berlin, since published on DVD and Blu-ray, vigorously affirms that: Yes! It
does seem necessary. Or at the very least it is very moving....


http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/06/21/making-music-visible-peter-sellars-st-john-passion-from-berlin/


jlaurson


Latest on Forbes:

Classical CD Of The Week: André Isoir's Art Of The Fugue


Andre Isoire died the day this was posted. May he rest in peace; I think of him with warm gratitude; he has brought me many hours of listening-joy!







Marc

Quote from: jlaurson on July 24, 2016, 02:47:13 AM
Latest on Forbes:

Classical CD Of The Week: André Isoir's Art Of The Fugue


Andre Isoire died the day this was posted. May he rest in peace; I think of him with warm gratitude; he has brought me many hours of listening-joy!

Thumbs up, Jens.
One of his finest recordings, IMHO.
R.I.P.

Mandryka

Sad news about Isoir, somehow I always assumed that he was much younger than Chapuis, but no. I appreciate him very much especially in Attaingnant and Guilain.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Scion7

While this will always be my go-to set:



After reading several smashing reviews of this edition, I decided to splurge.
The recorded sound is impeccable and the performances are first-rate.
Coming 18 years after the Naxos set by van Dael and van Asperen - which is very good - there is a very noticeable improvement in the recording.
I just wish the pretentious stock-posing that seems de rigueur these days would be discarded.   :-X



As usual, click images to enlarge.
When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

HIPster

^^^ Oh nice!

That Glossa set looks might fine.  :)

Wise words from Que:

Never waste a good reason for a purchase....  ;)

Scion7



Does anyone have this recording?  I've never seen it before - striking cover.   ç1968 ... I think.  No date on sleeve.
Hansheinz Schneeberger, Eduard Müller – Sonatas For Violin And Harpsichord BWV 1014-1019.
Label: Nonesuch – HB-73017. Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP
When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

jlaurson




Classical CD Of The Week: Bach Woman in Mad Men Times


http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/08/17/classical-cd-of-the-week-bach-woman-in-mad-men-times/#469a88611789




If I can coax someone into leaving a comment on any of the Forbes CD of the Week reviews, I've got a voucher for the Berlin Phil's Digital Concert Hall (alas valid for only 7 days from the first concert watched) to go their way.

jlaurson

Quote from: DSCH71 on September 11, 2016, 12:45:20 AM
Thanks for your response and the information about Ruzickova - by the way, you have helped me on a number of occasions so just wanted to say thanks for that! :)
I trawled the Bungalow thread but I wasn't able to get any more info on Ruzickova's recordings - it could be that the discussion you are remembering is even buried in this thread? (I admit I was a bit lazy and didn't read all of the thread before posting) so Ill poke around in this one a bit more later.
If I cant find any more info im happy to take one for the team and post some comments about the sound of the instrument(s) and suchlike after I purchase the set (I guess I was hoping to find out a bit more about this beforehand as the recordings seem to be quite old).

Haven't we, though? Especially her two different WTCs? Anyone remember?

Mandryka

Quote from: jlaurson on September 11, 2016, 01:06:22 AM
Haven't we, though? Especially her two different WTCs? Anyone remember?

The search function here is so poor it's not surprising that things get lost.

Anyway I haven't heard Ruzikova's  Erato recordings so I can't comment.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

KevinP

This may come as a surprise to anyone who remembers me (the guy with nearly 100 B minor Masses), but there's a lot of Bach, including some major pieces, that I simply don't know or don't know well. I've recently begun addressing this.

I had music books in the 70s and tried to teach myself the inventions but they were pretty hard for a teenaged rockhead, though I did manage to learn a couple. I bought my first Bach recording around 1986 or so. I think I have one recording of the WTC (Book I presumably) that I never listen to and couldn't tell you whose. Schiff on the inventions, also rarely listened to. I thought I had all the solo violin works, but it's just one CD so maybe just the partitias, and also couldn't tell you who the performer was. (I live in one city, work in another where I have a small apartment so I can't check.) Never had any recordings of the Goldberg variations or solo cello works. Don't think I have the English or French suites, though I may have one of them on a disc that I bought for something else. You can probably see I'm not a huge fan of solo keyboard works or chamber music in general--nothing against them, but I'm just more likely to reach for something bigger. (Have always loved the violin and harpsichord sonatas though.)

But as I said, I've started exploring these famous but largely unknown-to-me works. I bought Gould's WTC1 last week, then last night made a sizable purchase of Ashkanazy's complete WTC (so yes, only on piano, but I'm not stopping there), Kremer's solo violin sonatas and partitias, Koopman's organ works, sonatas with viola da gamba and harpsichord, Schiff's Goldbergs and Viersen's solo cello suites. Choices were made largely based on what the store had.

Enjoying this journey through the undiscovered territory of a composer I know so well though his sacred music.

SurprisedByBeauty


kishnevi

Is there a dedicated thread Bach on modern piano? Couldn't find it....

So I'll post this here


Overall, well done, about equal to Angela Hewitt's set (which I like greatly) in general quality.
VOID is his own label, set up when he could find no backing for the project (although he's also released a number of non Bach recordings on VOID as well).

ASIN is B0053HBKZO.


KevinP

Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on December 24, 2016, 03:49:00 PM
Is there a dedicated thread Bach on modern piano? Couldn't find it....

So I'll post this here



Ordered this and it arrived a few days ago. First impressions: I like it a lot.

SurprisedByBeauty