Happy 327th Birthday, Johann Sebastian Bach!

Cafe Society
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Today is Bach’s 327th birthday, and if J. S. were still alive, I’m certain he’d be a Doper.

For fun, what’s your favourite piece of Bach?

Me, it’s the Two Part Invention No. 2 in c minor. Not because it’s one of his better known pieces or because it’s such a huge work, but because it’s the first piece of his that blew my mind. See, the second voice is the first voice two bars later - he wrote a single line of music that would harmonize with itself 32 notes down the line. Then in the second half, it all inverts… It’s one thing when a prof or a writer tells you that, but when you figure it out on your own, it’s simultaneously a mind blowing revelation and a humbling experience. It took a knob like me about a month to notice that; Bach conceived it, executed it and wrote it out in an hour or so, and then went on to eat lunch…

So, Happy Birthday, Johann, and thanks for all the fantastic music.

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Favorite piece of Bach’s? That’s like asking for my favorite child… well, if I had more than one kid, that is. :wink:

I’ll compromise and write down the first three that came to my head:

"Great" Fugue in G-Minor, BWV 542, really the E. Power Biggs version that was played on the Flentrop organ @ Harvard. I just love this damn thing, even though it’s constantly overlooked in any discussions of Bach and/or his organ works (though the Fantasia is more-referenced, I don’t like it as much).

Brandenburg Concerto #2 in F-Major, BWV 1047. Yeah, it’s a cliche, but if you wanted originality you shouldn’t be asking me this question. :wink:

"Little" Fugue in G-Minor, BWV 578. So, I was in “Appreciation of Music 101” and fell asleep. Waking up a few minutes later, I was hearing the most FREAKING AWESOME PIECE OF MUSIC I’VE HEARD, LIKE, EVAH! I mean, really, it was that great - I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, it was like a completely new way of looking at the same 12 notes. And I don’t think it would have had that sort of affect on me had I heard it wide awake - there was a particularly other-worldly/dreamy quality about the song that made it go #1 with a bullet in my heart. Again: E Power Biggs on the Flentrop organ @ Harvard.

That experience changed my life: that very day, I started buying Bach music. Within a few weeks, I had determined (with all the certainty that being 21 (I was late taking this particular elective) brings to a guy) that all modern music sucked, that Bach, etc, truly ruled the musical spheres. I completely missed the Grunge scene. Totally missed out on 99% of music made in the 90s and the majority of my music purchases over the next decade were of the 3 B’s variety (well, 2 B’s and an M - I was never too big a fan of the romantics, preferring Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and their contemporaries. Honestly, it’s as simple as the fact that I kept turning my volume up and down, which irritated me to no end - I want to put it at a level and hear the damn thing, not be blasted out by fuckin’ trumpets after nearly being lulled to sleep during a soft flute passage - WTF? But I digress… :wink: )

Anyway, 2 organ pieces and a Brandenburg. That’s what I got.

Happy Birthday, you old wig!

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I’m going to stay on the beaten path here and say that my favorite is the Chaconne from Partita for violin no. 2. I cannot listen to it without thinking that it is the salvation of the human race.

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Damn, I didn’t know he was so close to the big three-three-oh. Time flies when you’re decomposing. (sorry)

I’m not a Bach purist, so my favorite is Stokowski’s orchestral arrangement of the d minor Toccata & Fugue. It’s my favorite because I attended a performance of it with Stokowski conducting, back in the '60s. He also conducted the Franck Symphony, also memorable.

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Thanks, Le Ministre, for this thread. I was tooling around a bit and discovered this, part 1 of 2. I won’t destroy it by trying to explain it, but you can read a review here. I think it’s stunning.

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Seconded - of his keyboard works, this is by far my favorite. It’s just so…simple and elegant.

But I think I’d have to go with the **Six Cello Suites **for the most sublime music ever written. There is so much depth and subtlety to them you could play them every day and never play them the same way twice, always hearing something new. It took me ages to find a recording that came close to the way I hear the pieces in my head (Phoebe Carrai, if you’re interested, although I can understand why others might choose Casals or Ma); God knows my own cello playing will never produce the results I want.

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My XM is radio programmed to notice when Bach comes on any channel. It was going crazy today, so I figured it was the big lug’s birthday.

I’ll go with Brandenburg Concerto #2. Such happy music.

I’ve always thought the Little Fugue would make an excellent guitar solo. When Eddie Van Halen plays my birthday, that will be my request.

Len

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Three of my faves, too. I even had the Biggs LP and now have the CD reissue.

The “Little” fugue is minimalist Bach (outside of the unaccompanied violin and cello pieces): simple and fits into a small package, but it’s enough to show his supreme ability as a composer.

I like the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, too. I listened to the Magnifcat as well.

In the past few days I had my first good listen to the Mass in B minor with four lectures on this site http://oregonbachfestival.com/digitalbach/.

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“Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen”, the opening chorus to the St. Matthew Passion, convinces me more than any other piece that Bach was a god among men. Here is my favorite version, conducted by Herreweghe. The high point for me starts a 5:55 when all three choirs enter in a soaring counterpoint that always gives me goosebumps.

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For me it’s Violin Partita 3 in E Major, particularly the Gavotte en rondeau.

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Bach had 20 children, which perhaps is why he spent most of his life baroque.

Not quite 3 minutes of Glenn Gould playing The Goldberg Variations (Aria- I believe this is the section played in Silence of the Lambs).

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My favorite Bach piece is ‘A Lover’s Concerto’ – it’s great that he took so much time out of his busy schedule of composing constantly and making his 932 kids to knock out a piece for a girl group. :smiley:

While Bach is great to listen to, he’s deceptively hard --but rewarding! – to play, for me on the guitar, anyway.

I wish I could remember who it is, but there’s a British comedian/muso who once said it was impossible for a Bach piece ever to sound bad, no matter what goofy instrument it was played on; that’s the real proof of genius.

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The Cello Suites seem to have been transcribed for every instrument short of accordion. I’ve heard individual movements played on flute, on violin, on bass trombone…there’s probably a kazoo version online somewhere but I’m not seeking it out.

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He had no stops on his organ.

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I seem to recall one ‘let’s listen to the radio during happy fun time’ evening (Radio 3), and they were playing unusual arrangements of Bach to demonstrate this point – we had to stop the festitivies from laughing when they decided to play a version of Air on a G String played on theramin.

I do actively seek out crazy versions of classical music, but there is a time and a place.

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ISTR that we don’t actually know for sure on what day J.S. Bach was born, but we know when he was baptized, and historians have worked back from that.

I love too many Bach pieces to pick just one, but I will reluctantly limit myself to a mere handful:

The Violin Double Concerto

The Violin Concerto in E Major

The opening of the Christmas Oratorio (my dad always played it on the stereo on Christmas morning - glorious!)

Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major

“Perhaps the safest thing to do [in contacting alien life] at the outset, if technology permits, is to send music. This language may be the best we have for explaining what we are like to others in space, with least ambiguity. I would vote for Bach, all of Bach, streamed out into space, over and over again. We would be bragging of course, but it is surely excusable to put the best possible face on at the beginning of such an acquaintance. We can tell the harder truths later.” - Lewis Thomas, 1974

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Well, he does kick off the ‘Golden Record,’ and I think he’s the most represented artist on there. So between him and Chuck Berry, we should be able to buy ourselves a little time.

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How would he find the time?

I just now noticed that Amazon is offering a “Big Bach Set” (including, among other things, the B minor mass and the Brandenburg Concertos) for $0.99, presumably in honor of J.S.B.'s birthday.

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Yeah, I bought that and have listened to a few hours of it. No complaints, especially not for the price.

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Happy Birthday, Johann! My favorite piece is definitely the St Matthews Passion. I adore Bach but I have to confess that Handel is my god. As Beethoven said, "“Handel was the greatest composer that ever lived. I would uncover my head, and kneel before his tomb.” Bach comes a close second though!