Author Topic: Bach's Keyboard Concerto No 1 in D minor (BWV 1052)  (Read 2528 times)

Offline malloy

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Bach's Keyboard Concerto No 1 in D minor (BWV 1052)
« on: February 28, 2018, 09:26:26 PM »
Been reading on old threads here about Bach and Gould. Is there any cd or LP version of the Bernstein/Gould performance in this YouTube video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZX_XCYokQo

I must say this performance is godly.



Offline Nick B

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Re: Bach's Keyboard Concerto No 1 in D minor (BWV 1052)
« Reply #1 on: February 28, 2018, 10:44:31 PM »
Thanks for such an interesting and thought provoking video
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Offline richidoo

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Re: Bach's Keyboard Concerto No 1 in D minor (BWV 1052)
« Reply #2 on: March 01, 2018, 06:47:01 AM »
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0000025U5
I've been listening to this on vinyl for 3 decades. It is available on many, many different CDs.
Search for Gould, Bernstein, BWV 1052.

The filmed version from your youtube is available on DVD: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0002S641O  but it is not the same audio recording as above.

While I love Gould, there are some great Bach keyboard works that he didn't record. This is one of my favorites:
http://www.audionervosa.com/index.php?topic=6035

Offline Nick B

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Re: Bach's Keyboard Concerto No 1 in D minor (BWV 1052)
« Reply #3 on: March 01, 2018, 08:47:42 AM »
I had never really thought about the meaning of musical notes just sitting on a page, especially written many, many decades ago and devoid of comments as to the composer’s intent. So the idea of the latitude of interpreting that music is so fascinating. I have no idea, but presume, that historical context can be applied if available. Was the composer troubled by something, in poor health or was it the best if times in his life and/or did personal or societal events influence his compositions.
I’d appreciate your thoughts and insight 
Nick
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Offline malloy

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Re: Bach's Keyboard Concerto No 1 in D minor (BWV 1052)
« Reply #4 on: March 03, 2018, 02:38:19 AM »
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0000025U5
I've been listening to this on vinyl for 3 decades. It is available on many, many different CDs.
Search for Gould, Bernstein, BWV 1052.

The filmed version from your youtube is available on DVD: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0002S641O  but it is not the same audio recording as above.

While I love Gould, there are some great Bach keyboard works that he didn't record. This is one of my favorites:
http://www.audionervosa.com/index.php?topic=6035

Ah, I knew you'd know! Thanks!


Offline Tam Lin

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Re: Bach's Keyboard Concerto No 1 in D minor (BWV 1052)
« Reply #5 on: March 03, 2018, 08:31:02 AM »
I had never really thought about the meaning of musical notes just sitting on a page, especially written many, many decades ago and devoid of comments as to the composer’s intent. So the idea of the latitude of interpreting that music is so fascinating. I have no idea, but presume, that historical context can be applied if available. Was the composer troubled by something, in poor health or was it the best if times in his life and/or did personal or societal events influence his compositions.
I’d appreciate your thoughts and insight 
Nick

That reminds me of a quote I read on a John Gibbons LP jacket.
Quote
One of the most valuable lessons I received in my student days took about five seconds, and I'm still thinking about it. I was sitting in a hallway, studying a score I was about to play, when Sigmund Effron, then concert master of the Cincinnati Symphony, stopped in front of me, pointed to the page and said, "The black is the notes, the white is the music."

Now the harpsichord is an admirable instrument for playing notes. Press any key in any way you like, and a clear distinct note will emerge, then retire discreetly to make way for the next. It is a perfect democracy of notes: high or low notes, important or unimportant notes, right or wrong notes, all have equal rights to be heard without discrimination, and there is little the player can do about it. So for the black aspect of the page the harpsichord is a nearly perfect medium. But for the white aspect, the connection between notes, the curve and swell of melody, the continuity of harmony, crescendo and diminuendo  -- for these the harpsichord is uncooperative, not to say recalcitrant. These things can only be suggested, by a sort of sleight-if-hand involving more or less subtle manipulations of rhythm and tempo, holding down some notes and cutting others short, and by effort of will, of faith.

Here, for me, is the challenge, the frustration and the fascination of harpsichord playing. And I think Bach must have felt the same way about writing for it. His pages are black with notes, making the white hard to see, but once seen one feels compelled to try to make it heard. Recitatives, arias, choruses, every instrument, every singing voice, and every musical form known to Bach he has compressed into his harpsichord music and encoded with these little black dots. No other music for the harpsichord approaches Bach’s in its demand for transcendence of the instrument and the notes. We are richly rewarded for each step we take in this transcendental path, yet each step reveals the promise of something just out of reach, a little bit beyond. …

The LP is John Gibbons, "A Bach Harpsichord Recital", Nonesuch 79132-1
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Offline Nick B

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Re: Bach's Keyboard Concerto No 1 in D minor (BWV 1052)
« Reply #6 on: March 03, 2018, 12:46:14 PM »
I had never really thought about the meaning of musical notes just sitting on a page, especially written many, many decades ago and devoid of comments as to the composer’s intent. So the idea of the latitude of interpreting that music is so fascinating. I have no idea, but presume, that historical context can be applied if available. Was the composer troubled by something, in poor health or was it the best if times in his life and/or did personal or societal events influence his compositions.
I’d appreciate your thoughts and insight 
Nick

That reminds me of a quote I read on a John Gibbons LP jacket.
Quote
One of the most valuable lessons I received in my student days took about five seconds, and I'm still thinking about it. I was sitting in a hallway, studying a score I was about to play, when Sigmund Effron, then concert master of the Cincinnati Symphony, stopped in front of me, pointed to the page and said, "The black is the notes, the white is the music."

Now the harpsichord is an admirable instrument for playing notes. Press any key in any way you like, and a clear distinct note will emerge, then retire discreetly to make way for the next. It is a perfect democracy of notes: high or low notes, important or unimportant notes, right or wrong notes, all have equal rights to be heard without discrimination, and there is little the player can do about it. So for the black aspect of the page the harpsichord is a nearly perfect medium. But for the white aspect, the connection between notes, the curve and swell of melody, the continuity of harmony, crescendo and diminuendo  -- for these the harpsichord is uncooperative, not to say recalcitrant. These things can only be suggested, by a sort of sleight-if-hand involving more or less subtle manipulations of rhythm and tempo, holding down some notes and cutting others short, and by effort of will, of faith.

Here, for me, is the challenge, the frustration and the fascination of harpsichord playing. And I think Bach must have felt the same way about writing for it. His pages are black with notes, making the white hard to see, but once seen one feels compelled to try to make it heard. Recitatives, arias, choruses, every instrument, every singing voice, and every musical form known to Bach he has compressed into his harpsichord music and encoded with these little black dots. No other music for the harpsichord approaches Bach’s in its demand for transcendence of the instrument and the notes. We are richly rewarded for each step we take in this transcendental path, yet each step reveals the promise of something just out of reach, a little bit beyond. …

The LP is John Gibbons, "A Bach Harpsichord Recital", Nonesuch 79132-1


How nicely stated by Mr Gibbons. In the same sense, we can ask 10 artists to paint a particular landscape and ask that the exact same colors, canvass and brushes be used and they’ll all likely turn out very differently due to skill and interpretation.
A favorite activity of mine from time to time is to “surf” the streaming service Tidal and find as many versions as I can of a favorite song. I can then sit down and enjoy the different vocals and musical interpretations within.
Nick
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