# Wanted: best Bach interpretations / twists **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 6, 2006, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-best-bach-interpretations-twists/359684 "2006-06-06T23:53:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-best-bach-interpretations-twists/359684/21 "2006-06-07T13:34:36Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew] My favorite would be Jethro Tull’s “Bouree” [sic.], adapted from the E-minor Lute Suite. [/QUOTE] I third this track. It’s off of their album Stand Up. I’m trying to think if ELP ever did any Bach; I don’t think so. Er, something much more mainstream, which may not even really be what you’re looking for, are the arrangements for piano by Bussoni of a number of Bach’s organ chorals. I always find it pretty cool to hear three distinct organ lines coming out of one piano. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-best-bach-interpretations-twists/359684/22 "2006-06-07T13:46:47Z")
Thanks to all for responses so far. I already know about Walter/Wendy Carlos, Jacques Loussier and the Swingle Singers, and I have plenty of examples of their Bach-inspired work. I was just trying to cast my next a bit wider and discover other artists who have done interesting and unusual things with Bach source material, or who have achieved impressive transcriptions for different instruments. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-best-bach-interpretations-twists/359684/23 "2006-06-07T13:53:14Z")
[QUOTE=JohnT] [Bach’s Organ Favorites](http://www.jsbach.org/biggsbachgreatorganfavorites.html), E. Power Biggs. Played on the Flentrop organ at Harvard, it is absolutely my favorite Bach CD ever. [/QUOTE] Along similar lines, I have an old cassette tape of Virgil Fox called “Bach Live at the Fillmore” which is pretty fun to listen to. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-best-bach-interpretations-twists/359684/24 "2006-06-07T14:04:36Z")
Bela Fleck, the world’s greatest living banvo player, has performed interesting twists on Bach on a couple of CDs: In his latest with the Flecktones, “Hidden Land”, the CD opens with a fragment from The Well-Tempered Clavier, played on banjo, electric bass, flute and drums. On his solo CD “Perpetual Motion” there are about eight Bach pieces that he plays on the banjo, either solo or accompanied by one or two other instruments. I highly recommend these CDs. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-best-bach-interpretations-twists/359684/25 "2006-06-07T14:24:56Z")
[QUOTE=Eonwe] I’m trying to think if ELP ever did any Bach; I don’t think so. [/QUOTE] Not any full-length pieces, no, unless you count Carl Palmer’s arrangement of one of the Two-Part Inventions on his solo side of _Works Vol. One_. But there are bits of Bach used for the instrumental bridges of “Knife-Edge” and “The Only Way.” ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-best-bach-interpretations-twists/359684/26 "2006-06-07T16:43:03Z")
Jazz pianist \*\*Cyrus Chestnut \*\* has a piece where he starts of playing Bach (or very Bach-like) on piano, then transitions to jazz and then back. Incredible and a clear link is established between the two. I have read that Charile Parker was a big Bach fan, but with this song you really hear the connection in a fascinating way. I have emailed a buddy to see if I can get the name of it… One could argue that **Glenn Gould’s** interpretation of the Well-Tempered Clavier is a variant off Bach - he is playing piano, not harpsicord and playing much faster than Bach originally called for… ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-best-bach-interpretations-twists/359684/27 "2006-06-07T17:08:44Z")
On his _6- and 12-String Guitar_ album, **Leo Kottke** plays a very nice version of _Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring_. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-best-bach-interpretations-twists/359684/28 "2006-06-07T21:03:48Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] I’ve loved the Back interpretations by WendyCarlos for years, with the **Little Fugue in D** my overall favorite. Howevr, there’s another synthsizer version of Bach’s \*\*Toccata and Fugue in D Minor[/B[ by someone who is _not_ Carlos that I love. The problem is, I don’t know who performed it – there’s no info on the rcord jacket. (Carlos _did_ eventually produce a version of this herself, I think o **Bach 2000** , but I don’t lke it anywhere near as much). [/QUOTE] Maybe it’s from “Moog Strikes Bach” performed by Hans Wurman. [http://music.iupui.edu/grad/williams/MastersProject/MoogStrikesBach.html](http://music.iupui.edu/grad/williams/MastersProject/MoogStrikesBach.html) I taped it at one time, but I don’t know where the tape is. That was the first Moog Toccata that I heard, and it certainly was better than Carlos’s. Most of the album was pretty good. It’s a shame it was never reissued on CD. ---
**Author:** ![percussion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@percussion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percussion)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-best-bach-interpretations-twists/359684/29 "2006-06-07T21:33:28Z")
Canadian Marimbist Bev Johnston is a noted performer of Bach on mallet percussion instruments. She even released a CD “Marimbach” in the early 90’s i think… Leigh Howard Stevens is another percussionist who has performed alot of Bach. There are toones more in the percussion world who play Bach as well…if you search around ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-best-bach-interpretations-twists/359684/30 "2006-06-07T22:01:49Z")
**CalMeacham** : Okay, it’s been decades since I heard it, but I’ve dredged up a couple of memories of the Wurman Toccata which may help you ID your version. I think the beginning has a bass rumble under the opening notes. The final D minor chord is sustained, with higher off-key fluttering chords around it which eventually resolve to D minor. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-best-bach-interpretations-twists/359684/31 "2006-06-07T23:35:15Z")
[QUOTE=WordMan] Jazz pianist \*\*Cyrus Chestnut \*\* has a piece where he starts of playing Bach (or very Bach-like) on piano, then transitions to jazz and then back. Incredible and a clear link is established between the two. I have read that Charile Parker was a big Bach fan, but with this song you really hear the connection in a fascinating way. [/QUOTE] There’s also “Bud on Bach” by Bud Powell, from \*[Bud!](http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005UOKL/702-0407294-8492012) \* ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-best-bach-interpretations-twists/359684/32 "2006-06-08T03:05:40Z")
[QUOTE=ianzin] For example, I’ve enjoyed listening to the E major Partita as interpreted by Wendy Carlos for synths, Jacques Loussier for jazz trio, Itzhak Perlman for solo violin and Julian Bream for solo guitar (which I wouldn’t even have thought was possible.) Over to you! [/QUOTE] If you are looking for something a little more traditional but not too traditional, the E major Partita was also adapted to piano by Rachmaninoff. If you are a piano player, it is usually found in the same book with his take on “Flight of the Bumblebee”, as made famous in _Shine_. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-best-bach-interpretations-twists/359684/33 "2006-06-08T03:51:55Z")
Well there is PDQ Bach. And although you said no voices, I once heard Bobby McFarren do the Air in G. Just him, no multi-tracks. I don’t know if there is a recording of it even, but it was the most amazing thing I think I’ve ever heard. The movie White Knights, had at the opening a symphonic version of the Pasicalia in G minor that was also amazing. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-best-bach-interpretations-twists/359684/34 "2006-06-08T05:26:47Z")
Pianist John Bayless did an awesome album of music which recalls specific Bach styles and sometimes allusions to particular Bach melodies, while simultaneously, surreptitiusly weaving in allusions to Beatles songs. It’s usually so subtle that even a big Beatles fan will go nuts trying to pinpoint which song is being quoted, and then it will hit you, and be “obvious” whenever you hear it after that. Anyway, get this album – I think you’ll love it. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-best-bach-interpretations-twists/359684/35 "2006-06-08T15:20:59Z")
A pop group called Apollo 100 had a Top 40 hit in 1972 with a very up-tempo version of _Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring_ that they called _Joy_. It’s not my favorite but is good for a compare and contrast collection. Might be hard to find a copy of the recording now, though. Also, check out this [unlikely Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_popular_songs_based_on_classical_music) and do a “find” for “Bach.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-best-bach-interpretations-twists/359684.md?page=1)