Piano Transcriptions from Works by Bach

[gprengel]

In the last months more and more I enjoyed discovering the works from Bach transcribed for piano:

Above all the gigantic Passacalia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwagbWOEMu0

and just recently the Chaconne (originally for solo violin) performed by another discovery for me - a fantastic Helene Grimaud!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw9DlMNnpPM

Especially starting at 13:50 you will stop breathing!!

[Peter]

'Jesu Joy of man's desirie' played by Myra Hess is outstandingly beautiful.

[gprengel]

I cannot understand why no one comments on the awesome Chaconne for piano. For me this is THE discovery of the year and one of the greatest works for piano I know (together with the late piano sonatas by Beethoven)!

You may get a better access to this work with the score:

http://javanese.imslp.info/files/img...i_Chaconne.pdf

How I adore the wonderful D-Major Adagio in the middle of the work (p. 12 in the score) and how it develops to the Climax in the end ...

[Preston]

I cannot understand why no one comments on the awesome Chaconne for piano. For me this is THE discovery of the year and one of the greatest works for piano I know (together with the late piano sonatas by Beethoven)!

You may get a better access to this work with the score:

http://javanese.imslp.info/files/img...i_Chaconne.pdf

How I adore the wonderful D-Major Adagio in the middle of the work (p. 12 in the score) and how it develops to the Climax in the end ...

I will comment, gladly. The Bach Chaconne is a work that I always find a great depth and it is most moving. I like this side of Bach. Such as Jesu Joy of Mans desiring does not feel to my taste, but works like the Chaconne I like.

I have never heard it played on piano, so I thank you for that Gerd. I like the sound very much. So many notes and feelings, so much that provokes my thoughts about music. And what talent the virtuosos have!!! I find it unbelievable, literally, in a sense. They play so easily. I can barely make a good chord change on the piano and they are slamming them all over the place. It is truly amazing.

One piece I like by Bach and would like to mention is his Violin Sonata 1 in G-min. It is that side of Bach that moves me more. But I do like, as Enrique said, that he has a more light side to him too.

[gprengel]

Hi Preston, I am glad that the Chaconne speaks also to you! And thank you for hinting me to the Violin Sonata in g-minor! I didn't know this so far, and I love it, at least the fugue! Wonderful! But here too, I love the piano transcription much more than the original version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej-HCC4-QUA

You may also like this transcription by Franz Liszt of Bachs great a-minor Prelude and Fugue. The fugue is fantastic!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq3rhPivLH0

Gerd

[Michael]

One of the first CDs I ever bought contained piano versions of the Italian Concerto, BWV 971 and the Partita No. 1 played by Dubravka Tomsic.

It was an early digital recording (one of the cheaper ones as the discs with the "big names" had astronomical prices). It was the first time I had heard a piano recording without a background of clicks or other surface noise. It was a revelation - and so was the music.

I have harpsichord versions of the 48 but after about half an hour I need a break because Sir Thomas Beecham's rude remark about two skeletons on an iron roof comes into my head at this point. And, as Peter said elsewhere, some of the fugues are more interesting than others.

[Quijote]

[...] I have harpsichord versions of the 48 but after about half an hour I need a break because Sir Thomas Beecham's rude remark about two skeletons on an iron roof comes into my head at this point. [...]

It's true, listening to a harpsichord for more than 30" does require a certain mindset, one that I wish I had.

[Sorrano]

I have harpsichord versions of the 48 but after about half an hour I need a break because Sir Thomas Beecham's rude remark about two skeletons on an iron roof comes into my head at this point.

I shouldn't read this forum at work; people wonder why I start laughing so hard.

[Enrique]

It's true, listening to a harpsichord for more than 30" does require a certain mindset, one that I wish I had.

I share your feeling about piano vs harpsichord. But harpsichordists have a rhythmic precision that is marvelous. I once bought a record with the Concerto Italiano by some Italian harpsichordist and I couldn't convince myself I was not hearing a machine play.

[Preston]

Hi Preston, I am glad that the Chaconne speaks also to you! And thank you for hinting me to the Violin Sonata in g-minor! I didn't know this so far, and I love it, at least the fugue! Wonderful! But here too, I love the piano transcription much more than the original version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej-HCC4-QUA

You may also like this transcription by Franz Liszt of Bachs great a-minor Prelude and Fugue. The fugue is fantastic!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq3rhPivLH0

Gerd

Thanks for the links Gerd. I did enjoy the piano transcriptions. Though, I do love the sonata to be played on the violin - those opening notes! Thanks for introducing me to the A-min Prelude and Fugue. I did enjoy that. Though, still have much to learn. Anyways, appreciate it.

[gprengel]

To me Bach's Chaconne in the piano version by Busoni is (ok, together with Beethoven's op. 111) the greatest piano work - and Helene Grimaud's performance(!!) - that I know. I had been a lover of classical music for almost 40 years until I got to know this awesome work.

And today I also heard the orchestra version from Stokowski. For some time I didn't even make an attempt to listen to this because I thought an orchestra never could present this sublime work in an apropriate way - but I was wrong. Today I listened to it very carefully with headphones and was deeply moved:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoU_ToDmsKQ

Gerd