If I Could Choose Only One Work By...J.S. BACH
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ม.ค. 2023
- It Would Have To Be...The Goldberg Variations
The List So Far...
1. Ravel: Ma Mère l’Oye (Mother Goose Ballet)
2. Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
3. Schubert: String Quintet in C major
4. Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4
5. Mahler: Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”
6. Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker
7. Debussy: Preludes for Piano (Books 1 & 2)
8: Handel: Saul
9. Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
10. Brahms: String Sextet No. 2 in G major
11. Vaughan Williams: Job - เพลง
The Art of Fugue. The strangest musical thing a composer ever wrote that is also addictively listenable - fugues that are slow and sad, skippy, twisty, and just pure evil genius.
It's gotta be Art of the Fugue for me. Has more replay value for me than the Goldberg variations, which I've worn out, so to speak.
This is actually the one pick so far that I seriously disagree with. At first I thought the Art of the Fugue, but actually the Goldberg Variations is a better pick than that because it shows more of Bach's range as a composer. The problem with the Goldberg Variations is that I have come to believe that a quintessential piece by Bach has to be a sacred work--his personal faith and work in the church dominated so much of his life. This is a slightly different argument than the notion that keyboard music was more important to Bach than vocal music. Thus, I think the quintessential work is either the B minor Mass or the St. Matthew Passion. The sacred works also possess plenty of range and contrapuntal ingenuity, but also have the added aspect of Bach's religious side. In other words, a more complete picture of Bach as a composer.
Bach has written so much Music virtually all of which at such high levels, he's the only composer of which you cannot choose just one Piece, but if you have to actually do it you can pick whethever you want and be sure you'll be satisfied.
I would say that. When he says...only Bach could written it, the greatest of its kind, one of the five top etc etc - it applies to St Matthew Passion, Art of Fugue, Brandeburg Concerts etc etc etc. His organ works alone are the core of the repertory of the instrument. It's easy to defend any choice, it's impossible to make a choice
I wholeheartedly agree with Mauricio's dictum, that "it's easy to defend any choice, it's impossible to make one"...my problem is, that I beg to differ with Cantus in respect to that Bach is "the only composer" of whom this can be said!
For me the same with equal weight rings true of Mozart, Haydn Beethoven, Handel, Schubert to mention but a few!
Of course there are works within their oeuvres, that vary in quality, as there are some that are more expendable than others - as is exactly the case with Bach too.
Nobody can persuade me that a Menuetto from Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach carries the same weight as does the St. Matthew Passion - and that I would lay awake at night, if the former (Notenbüchlein) was lost.
This makes matters difficult in playing along with Cancricans' strategem - but maybe I instead should focus on, how this enriches my everyday life, and just let alone the thoughts of cancrizantic, cataclysmic apocalypse?!
Two fun Bach quotes to mark the occasion:
Bach is the beginning and end of all music.
- Max Reger
“The one Bach piece I learnt made me feel I was being repeatedly hit on the head with a teaspoon.”
- Dodie Smith
Sonatas and Partitas for violin, for me. Cello Suites next.
The Goldberg Variations are not only my favorite Bach work, not only one of my favorite pieces of music of all time but also one of the first pieces of classical music that I listened. And I loved every second of it. One of the most fascinating too - I've been listeing to it for over 15 years (and I'm 32 so that's half of my life) and still listening to it I sometimes notice new things that I haven't before. It's just an absolutely magnificent piece of art. I'm generally much more into classical/romantic repertoire than baroque one, but the Goldberg Variations are something special.
With Bach, it’s almost impossible to go wrong with any selection. My own preference would have been the Brandenburg Concerti but the Goldberg Variations certainly match that set In pretty much every critical category, in terms of what one meant for Bach’s abilities as a keyboard composer and the other for the baroque concerto. May mighty Cancrizans have mercy on us.
Interesting motivation. I wholeheartedly agree as far as Bach’s keyboard music is concerned. My choice would have been the b minor mass, of course it’s encyclopedic, but also because of its richness in orchestration…solos, duos, trios, quartets etc, counterpoint just about anything in one massive work.
Excellent choice. I'll go with the B-minor Mass. And, of course, the six Brandenburg Concerti are among the first, truly great orchestral works. It's Bach, so much of it is tough to beat.
I agree with you. This work is the human masterpiece that I would take to the desert Island.
Perfect technique, intellectual and emotional at the same time. Each variation is a gem.
This work proves that there's intelligence in this planet.
Cogent arguments for the Goldbergs as the lone "survivor" of the BWV catalog. That work really does sum up Bach's lifelong achievement as a composer. I would add one further point. In Bach's case there is no sharp distinction between sacred and secular. The act of composing, for him, was an act of worship. Moreover, as you pointed out, his sacred works often contain "borrowed" music from "secular" works, including the Secular Cantatas. The Christmas Oratorio, and even the B-Minor mass contain such borrowings. My choice for Bach had been the Art of Fugue, which also sums up the composer's genius for counterpoint, though it doesn't have the variety of idioms and moods that the Goldbergs does. It is his most abstrct work, and as such a work of incredible genius. And I think we listeners are past the old prejudice against Art of Fugue, to the effect that it really was only an abstract treatise on counterpoint not meant to be played or heard. The best realizations on record give the lie to that old stereotype. But, in the end, I agree that the Goldbergs hits the target.
Choosing between the Goldberg Variations an The Art of Fugue is, indeed, like choosing your favorite twin.
Stopping at Contrapunctus XIV was literally Bach's "last word".
The Goldberg's? The ghost of Glenn Gould hovers over this masterwork.
To "dis" either work in favor of the other is pastime for a scold!
@@johkkarkalis8860 Well said. And we could add the Musical Offering, the Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch," Klavierübung III, at very least to the list.
@@davidaiken1061 Thanks! for mentioning The Musical Offering. Some might call it the "poor stepchild" Never!
By the way, do you have a preferred instrument for The Art of Fugue?
My untutored view of this cosmic work is that it would sound good even on a contraband kazoo.
Great game this. In the case of Bach I would have chosen the Mattheus Passion, but the Goldberg is also beautiful.
Some other early music:
To fill the gap of missing a baroque passion: Keiser: Brockes-Passion -a very nice work and Bach leans a bit on this music.
Biber: the Rosary Sonatas
Corelli: Concerti Grossi op 6
Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
Monteverdi: That is a problem for me, it is difficult to choose between his Madrigals (book 8!), Maria Vespers or the Opera's (Orfeo or l'Incoronazione di Poppea)
Cavalli: La Calisto
Sweelinck: Fantasia chromatica -the beginning of the German organ school. this work is a good example of his ingenious counterpoint
Renaissance:
Gesualdo: Madrigali Libro Sesto
Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli
Lassus: Lacrime di san Pietro (very beautiful in the performance of Paul van Nevel)
Josquin: This is also a very versatile composer, you can choose chansons, motet or a mass. Perhaps a mass, but then which? Because the solmisation masses are very special I would go for one of these. And the 'Hercules dux Ferrara' is a good example of such a mass and it is a good way to portray the relation between artist and master.
Isaac: 'Innsbruck ich muss dich lassen' -very popular melody (Luther)
Obrecht: Missa Fortuna desperata
Ockeghem: Requiem -One of the earliest requiems by a great composer, a very dark piece
Dufay: chanson 'Vergine belle' I really love this one
Middle Ages:
a lot to choose as well. But sure the 'Messe de Notre Dame' of Machaut
Leonines and Perotinus
The early Troubadours
Good choice, Dave! I would choose the Well tempered Clavier, the Old Testament of the piano!
Bach was sublime as an organist. He makes that instrument sing. So I make the case for the toccata BWV 540 as my candidate. Its obsessively magnificent and life affirming! Goldberg is good also, but I love the 540.
Paul
I think a strong argument could be made in Bach's case for an explicitly sacred work, such as the Mass in B minor or the St Matthew Passion, precisely because Bach saw his art as a glorification of his God. There was nothing more important to him than his faith, and he sought to compose his music in service of that, so a typical work would reflect this central emphasis of his creativity.
Great Pick....My two non vocal pieces by BACH are the Goldberg Variations and the Sonatas and Partitas for the violin... both are timeless..
Good choice. I wonder if you considered the unaccompanied violin partitas and sonatas as well? The Chacone is, perhaps, the best thing Bach wrote.
If I have to - I would choose this one also.
@@maudia27 Maybe choosing both would be good!
Or #3 of his unaccompanied fugues for violin 🎻 🙌
Chaconne, Partita No. 2 BWV 1004
For the gamut of his skill and expression there cannot be many in good company that would disagree with the Goldbergs as a worthy singular exhibit.
Even the aria alone has a poise and elegance that is timeless. The approachable joy of his early variations, the driving rhythm and interplay of others, the astonishing depth of the black pearl (25). The journey is epic. Perhaps the greatest moment of all comes with the second hearing of the aria at the finish. It is heard anew, filtered and perfected by the permutations.
Excellent choice Buy mine would be Brandenburg #5. I really couldn't live without this work
Absolutely, wholeheartedly, joyfully agreed!
Wow!!! You picked the one I suggested. (I’m sure others did too and your judgment was independent of mine, but it did feel great to see we agreed).
I totally agree with your comments on the B Minor Mass. LR
The Goldberg variations. I concur 🙂
Yes, I got two of them, and two in a row at that:) Dave nailed this one - it has to be Goldberg, of course!
My choice would be his complete works for organ, because J.S. Bach was famous as an organist during his lifetime.
Looking forward to the episode on stravinsky. The guy wrote in so many styles, its hard to pinpoint him in one piece. Probably rite of spring though
of bach .... all the transcriptions as much for the orchestra, the harpsichord and the organ, which he made from the works of vivaldi. this is where we recognize his genius, his way of renewing works that at the time slept on shelves ..... there are also inventions and sinfonia in 2 or 3 parts, which I like very much, recording of glenn gould or kenneth gilbert (canadian musician who died of covid in 2020) which remains dear to my heart....
This is probably the most difficult one for me because, one, Bach is about as prolific a composer as ever lived (can think of maybe one person who's credited with more published works than JS Bach?) and, two, he wrote a TON of really great music. Goldberg Variations is a fine pick - I actually went through thinking about this quite a bit and landed on the Brandenburg Concertos - just because to me they epitomize everything wonderful about Baroque music, and everything wonderful that Bach brought TO Baroque music. Goldberg was my #3, and the Mass in B Minor was my #2. Great choice, though, can't really argue it - and have really been enjoying this series of videos in general.
I knew it was gonna be the Goldberg variations woohoo!!!!!!!!
A good, well motivated choice, although the 'air' will be quite missed.
Dvorak´s choice: Cello Concerto. As Brahms said...if I only knew I could written for the instrument like this. It is the top Cello Concerto - and has the most beautiful melodies.
Interestingly, nobody has suggested the Brandenburg concertos - they too encompass a variety of styles.....! Have they become less popular of late....?
I would choose Partita in C minor, by Martha Argerich. Most transcendental and most original
Hi Dave or Jed, if you're reading this, I'd love to see a review of Fazil Say's Goldberg Variations on this channel or Classics Today. Thank you!
Interesting choice. I'd go with either the Brandenbergs, which have the complete range of his genius, if i'm allowed a set of pieces, or the Matthew Passion.
I totally agree with your choice as far as Glenn Gould is concerned…
The Goldberg would come way down my personal list. If is not going to be one of the great choral works, then it would have to be (for me anyway) the Chaconne in D minor. As Brahms wrote: “On one stave, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most profound feelings …..”.
Brahms also hung out with hookers.
I freely admit the heresy, but I believe the Chaconne is most powerfully expressive and impressive in Stokowski's (or was it Lucien Cailliet) orchestral transcrption.
@@bbailey7818 Just listened to the Stokowski - thanks for the suggestion. It is certainly an impressive piece and a tribute to Bach that his work can be transcribed in so many different ways. But for me I felt that he used the orchestration to “spell out” the emotions thereby losing the subtlety and raw power of the original. I do like to listen to alternatives but always come back to solo violin - so many great interpretations here, my vote goes to Hilary Hahn.
Totally agree, and its spawning of wannabe variations! Igor Levit's three-CD box uniting the Goldberg, Diabelli and Rzewski becomes all the more priceless.
My favorite is the Musical Offering, every section of which is Bach at his best.
Out of curiosity, what is Bach at less than his best?
@@DavesClassicalGuide At least to my taste, some of his works have parts that are wonderful, and parts that drag. For example, I love some movements of the English Suites, and skip over others. In the Musical Offering, there is nothing I want to skip over.
@@Steve-ku2oh Fair enough!
A possible choice, as an offering to the God Cancrizans, could have been "The Musical Offering", the canon of Canons (plus two Ricercars fugues and an amazing Trio Sonata). Since Cancrizans is essentially a type of canon, I think he would have been delighted with this offering as was King Frederick the Great.
Except that it's boring.
"The Musical Offering.....it's boring". Haha -meet David Hurwitz, the man who dares say what others only timidly think. Yes, MO is a snoozathon. This Goldberg video gives cogent reasons for its choice and I'm really loving this series
@@marks1417 I find the Musical Offering mesmerizing.
@@Kounios In other words, it's so boring that it puts you in a trance. Hehe.
@The Ultimate Classical Music Guide by Dave Hurwitz Not even Markevitch's ingenious realization could make me like, much less love it.
I have to say I’m relieved whenever you happen to agree with my opinions lol. I just think Goldberg has a kind of diversity and coherence which pulls it together, breadth of emotional expression with the great 3 minor movements, and it’s not too long so you never get bored.
The real question is: What one Bach rock metal or acid rock song would you choose? While I love Kyle Gass of Tenacious D, he stands on the shoulder of another Bach Rocker.
I nominate Frank Zappa: "Easy Meat," from Tinseltown Rebellion.
You can't. But if you must and introducing someone to Bach with some exposure to classical music but still new (and all they have heard of Bach is his early D minor work for organ) then I would say this piece is the organ chorale "O mensch, bewin dein Sünde gross, BWV 622", there is so much in this piece that one need not go to one of his large scale works to appreciate how hard he worked to become such a great composer and committed, educated Lutheran theologian (much of his music is an expression of his working out of his faith but done in sound - Bach was at heart extremely practical as also shown that he never wrote a lengthy theory premise but rather demonstrated it with his later keyboard works).
The right choice. I will always love the Cello suites best, but they wouldn't fit in this role. The Well-tempered Klavier would be runner-up. I find the big choral/orchestral works brilliant but exhausting. Life's too short.
Good pick, but I'm liking St. Matthew Passion because shows Bach's spirituality, the Mass in b minor because Bach himself seemed to think that it was an epitome of his art, or, more controversially, the Chaconne for unaccompanied violin because it boils down the whole panorama of Bach's art (except for his lighter side) into one movement on one lone instrument. And to anticipate when you get to Beethoven, that is really touch. Could be the Eroica. Could be the 5th Symphony. Could even be the Hammerklavier sonata. But my pick would be the last (Opus 111) piano sonata because the second movement explores a transcendental realm of Beethoven's heart and mind that arguably no one has ever explored before or since.
There is no such thing as "spirituality."
@@DavesClassicalGuide The issue is whether Bach would agree with the idea that there is no such thing as spirituality. If he felt it or thought there is such a thing, then he would have expressed it in his music. If it's a feeling, then it can be expressed in art. That is separate from the idea that spirituality is an objective thing outside of one's head. Reasonable people can disagree about that.
@@laurentcompagna6166 Dave seems to like the 6th best of Beethoven’s symphonies. At least that’s the impression I got from his videos regarding the best recordings of each. I do believe he feels that the 3rd is slightly overrated. If he cares, maybe he’ll tell us.
@@laurentcompagna6166 Missa Solemnis.
I know you’re working your way through the major canon but I wonder what your choices would be for the 20th century folks like Schoenberg and Stravinsky. Personally, I’d pick Moses und Aron (as Schoenberg left it) as I think it’s probably his best and most all-encompassing work and The Rite because Stravinsky spent the rest of his career trying to replicate its success
My Sibelius recommendation would be: Night Ride And Sunrise
I thought it would be the well-tempered Klavier.
It has to be Mass in B
My “gut” choice (first thought) was the Goldberg. My “thinking choice” - influence, grandness, trancendentalness (etc.) was the Mass in B minor. My first ever Bach recording was the Bob van Asperen Goldberg on EMI. And I also believe Cancrizans would approve off the “Qui tollis. Thanks for this daily entertainment.
Koopman's wasn't my first, but it was the first one I loved. And what gorgeous sound! But it's an Erato recording...unless he made a second, later recording of it for EMI?
@@richardfrankel6102 - I was wrong - Bob van Asperen.
@@francoisjoubert6867 I've always read good things about that one, but have never heard it. I'm still in love with Koopman's combination of Baroque stylishness, emotional expressivity (no scholarly dryness or sobriety here!), and songfulness...but, what the heck: there's always room for one more! :-)
@@richardfrankel6102 - I love the Goldberg. Piano and harpsichord. The only recording I cannot stand is Gould 1980. I want to hear the piano, not the obligato humming and grunting.
@@francoisjoubert6867 Heh! I can understand that. Personally, I can tune that out; the one I just can't come to terms with is the first Sony recording, from 1955(?). Legendary it may be, and eye-opening it certainly was; but hearing Gould rattling them off with such cool digital perfection reminds me of nothing more than Conlon Nancarrow's "Studies for Player Piano"!
No, the Gould version I love is the live 1959 recording from Salzburg. ALL of Gould is here, including that joyous, singing, poetic side of him which became increasingly hard to find. I'm very grateful to Sony for having released it on CD, both on a single disc, and on a 2CD set of the complete concert. And if Cancrezans were to scuttle in, crab-fashion, and take all but one GLENN GOULD recording...well, I'd beg him to leave this one
This is my second choice, after St. Matthew Passion.
I love your insight about how Bach’s music really exists in the abstract without being tied to a particular instrumental medium. I don’t understand when people get upset about, say, playing harpsichord works on the organ, or playing Brandenburg movements on piano four-hands, when it obviously sounds just as good. And I agree that Bach was fundamentally a keyboard composer. When I listen to cantata arias especially, it sometimes feels like Bach is most interested in the counterpoint and thematic development and whatnot, and then after that, he has to figure out how to somehow fit the solo voice inside all that. Many of the solos don’t just roll off the voice like in Handel or Mozart. For that matter, many of his keyboard pieces don’t exactly sit comfortably under the fingers, and things can get pretty awkward (golly, is that true in the Goldberg Variations). But like you say, Bach was a keyboard composer, and clearly thought of all his music in that context.
Yes, Bach's music is mainly about the notes and their relationships.
By way of comparison I thought of the way crystals grow... always along predictable lattices...
It's so abstract it sounds best on the typewriter
@@davidbo8400 So do you! 🎶🎶🎶
@@finlybenyunes8385 who or what is your source on that claim?
Hey Dave, what’s the greatest recording of B Mass? I adore the Suzuki, but what’s your reference recording?
Check out the videos, reviews on ClassicsToday, etc.
My Sibelius suggestion is Symphony number 5. I considered 3, neglected first maturity symphony and number seven, the marvel of form and tempo.
But I go with five because of the wow factor. Unforgettable and completely unique with two of the most breath-taking codas (in movements 1&3) ever conceived.
Perhaps too late, I vote for the Cello Suites. I would much prefer to listen to any one of them rather than Goldberg, but to each his own.
Remember, it isn’t about anybody personal preferences. It is about pieces, which describe composer most accuratelly.
May I suggest the Polonaises for Chopin? They are, of course, rooted in his home country, about which he was passionate. They are also jewels, full of chromaticism and dotted rhythms that propel them forward. If there is one piece I wish I could play (but can't), it is the A-flat.
The A-flat Polonaise is iconic. It combines heroic style with a plangent melody, making it quintessentially romantic and passionate.
Personal favourite - the opus 44 f# min. The version by Francois Sampson really smoulders and plays up the fascinating rhythm.
What about Chopin? All he wrote we can listen in less than one day, so maybe severe god Cancrazans let us keep it all? No? My pick would be Mazurkas, they are unique and idiomatic, and obviously very beautiful.
Thera are other concertos than Chopins, other great sonatas, other beautiful ballades - but mazurkas are unique. Lets save all of them, I know I am greedy, but its two discs set, please... (my second choice are scherzi, thats what my heart asks. These are also pretty unique, and they contain not only wonderfull tunes, but also some seriousness, awe, density. I love them)
For Beethoven I feel it really has to be one of the piano concertos since it needs to combine great orchestral music with the instrument he most excels on. Finally then, a choice between the fourth and the fifth piano concertos. That's a tough choice in itself! But I'd plump for the Emperor partly just out of personal preference (it's the one that first blew me away) and for better reasons too. For one thing, the first movement alone is so monumental that it feels almost complete in itself. And then there's the slow movement which aches with almost unbearable tenderness. A friend compared listening to it to being being tickled by god! Then unbelievably, but characteristically, Beethoven swings quite hilariously into a gloriously triumphant finale. So in just a few bars of music the piece goes from sparse, even divine beauty via a slapstick transition straight into unbridled joy and thereby encompasses so much that Beethoven is about.
Good description. Adore the slow movement and the work in general but I love 4 equally. One could go for 4&5 on an album, for example the Kempff/Leitner on DG.
@@GG-cu9pg Might be stretching the rules of the game a bit far? (But both are wonderful.)
@@jamesboswell9324 Dave did allow albums. He has also done it once with both books of Debussy preludes.
Well, we know he actually wrote this one.
I am curious about Beethoven! I bet it will be... The Ninth! ;-)
Wouldn't Cancricans prefer the "Musical Offering", because it's about him?
He would never join a club that would have him as a member.
I detest Gould’s 1st recording of the GVs. He thinks he’s Richter. The 2nd however is incredible…
I also love Esfahani’s harpsichord recording of the GVs
@@johnbyrd3168 Bach didn't write for the vile modern Steinway piano -- so Gould and all the other 'transcribers' are out of the question. The two finest performances ever of the Goldbergs are by Leonhardt - not his first, 1953, one on a horrible 'modern' Ammer harpsichord
@@colintaylor7248 I’ll check it out. What’s your go to on harpsichord for the WTC? I have the Bob Van Asperen, which I love.
@@johnbyrd3168 Yes, MD - he's great -- my current favourite is Christine Schornsheim for WTC - she is recording videos (Book II) for the Netherlands Bach Society. Leonhardt's WTC is still the the touchstone for everybody else.