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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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…
On his 6- and 12-String Guitar album, Leo Kottke plays a very nice version of Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.
Maybe it’s from “Moog Strikes Bach” performed by Hans Wurman. Music & Arts Technology: Academics & Departments: Purdue School of Engineering & Technology: IUPUI
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.
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
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.
There’s also “Bud on Bach” by Bud Powell, from *Bud! *
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.
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.
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.
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 and do a “find” for “Bach.”