Re: Bach, the composer


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Posted by Steve Dedman on April 07, 2001 at 01:28:43:

In Reply to: Bach, the composer posted by Grant MacIntyre on April 06, 2001 at 22:58:17:

Survey says: X

If you want mechanical, boring baroque music, look to some of JSB's lesser-known contemporaries, or those that would seek to imitate him in the present-day. In the hands and hearts of good musicians, Bach's music can be many things, none of them boring. Ever heard a virtuoso organist playing some of his preludes, passacaglia, or fugues on a really great organ? The pedal pipes vibrating in your chest and the wall of sound that is present at times in Bach's music can be breathtaking at the hands (and feet) of a true master of the instrument.

As to his prowess as a composer, there are possibly a handful of composers in the last 250 years that could write the multi-part contrapuntal passages like he did, and make it sound effortless in performance. Sure, he's got a few nags in his stable, but you would too if you had to compose at the rate he did to satisfy the demands of the church AND his secular commissions.

I can honestly say that he is one of my favorite p-t. composers. The only time I ever found him boring was when I had to dissect his chorales week after interminable week in freshman harmony class. And even then, he'd throw the occaisional dim7 in a major-key curve ball when you weren't looking.

Steve "who really loves the resolution of a fully dim7" Dedman



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