Sunday, March 21, 2010

On Bach's 325th



13 comments:

  1. Sorry Sean, but must this beautiful and well crafted piece by Bach always be raped by self imposing and pathetic playing violinists? Violinists who have an enormous repertoire at their disposal of pieces especially written to make listeners weep on command. Why is this piece always victimized to sweaty, pathetic, egocentric performers who don’t know their place as a performer in such a grand and great work of art?
    Listen what she is doing smudging her fingers through this wonderful piece as if it were rancid butter. The piece was written for four voices as an ensemble or orchestral work: violin I and II, viola and bass/cello-continuo. The only thing we hear is La Mutter and some plucked celli and basses. Violin II and viola can hardly be heard because otherwise La Mutter cannot star as a soloist.
    This is not music, this is egocentric stupidity.
    As an alternative listen to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlT8yeEYbMs . This is the kind of ensemble the piece is explicitly written for. Hear how the four voices give light and shade to the piece like in a magnificent marble sculpture. Hear how violin I intermingles with the other voices. Hear how these voices make and create this piece instead of La Mutter who uses this piece to bore the audience with her so called emotions.
    Even played with another kind of ensemble leaving the four voices well in tact the piece may sound very distinguished and graceful like in this performance with four saxophones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GKYpQel8IY

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  2. Excellent choices to mark a great composer Sean

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  3. CherryPie,
    it's nice, but as Bertus expalined it is not the best of all interpretations of this wonderful composition. Later, tonight, you may compare.

    Bertus,
    incredible! I saved Ton Koopman and The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra for tonight (at about 23:30); and almost exactly for same reason as you describe. However, I could never ever have explained it so well as you did. Thanks a lot!
    It's amazing how many different presentations are to be found. Did you listen to this saxophone-Interpretation?
    Again, thanks a lot, my friend. And ... until tonight.

    Jams,
    thank you. Hope you will enjoy tonght's two postings, as well.

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  4. In fact the whole Third Orchestral Suite (of which the Air is only a movement) played by Koopman's band is on Youtube. And there is a great and energetic rendering of the 3rd Suite by McCreesh and a youth orchestra as well.

    Bertus

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  5. Visual interpretations a bit difficult to the eyes and the heart.

    Bach will forgive you...

    As for myself, should I enjoy Bach when 200,000 Indian farmers (not just 100,000, Sean) have killed themselves in the past few years?

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  6. Claudia,
    good to know that you know bach will forgive me.

    As for the number of suicides of Indian farmers and farm workers: I did not count personally, but took it from this article..
    Double as much suicides would not increase my wrath. 50 percent less would not halve it.

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  7. Bach was a very tender-hearted man.

    He would have shared your anger. As I do. I would like to say more, some other time.

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  8. P.S. The number came from articles I googled.

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  9. Claude,
    whenever you feel like writing more, do it!
    Often, I'd like to write more myself, but don't as it would just take too long to put my thoughts in proper English.

    Again: whenever you feel like ...

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  10. Oh! I never had the intention of writing at length about the plight of the Indian Farmers. I'm not competent and important enough to do so. No! What I would want to say is this: Very true (as you said on a previous post and comment) that those talented and generous people, born after (or before), did not help those farmers who very probably never heard of anyone we mentioned on the blog's comments.

    What the people with a positive, creative influence do is inspire, uplift, sustain many people (like CherryPie presently, like you and myself, often) to do their very best to change, and improve the suffering world around us.

    I doubt that the homeless guy at the corner of my street ever listened to Bach's music. But because I did, it gives me the courage and the energy to try to find a shelter for him.

    It's the after-effect that will change his world. And maybe the world of the next Indian Farmers. It's slow. I do it one person at a time, Sean. Some groups of people are fulfilling more important needs. And we're all together, united by a common soul, sharing our love of humanity.

    You tell me that good people in Germany, who have died opposing evil, didn't succeed in stopping it? Oh! yes, oh! yes, oh! yes, they did. My brother would tell you that they saved Germany's soul and spirit.

    How would you feel, how would the world feel, if nobody had tried?

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  11. And I do agree with Bertus. A wonderful plea, Claudia. Thank you.

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