what order should Bach be played in

[drflash5080]

I have finished several small peices and Jesu.  Been playing a year but love Bach and want to complete as many as I can of His works.  Suggestions are appreciated 63 years old so focus on my favorite.  Open to any suggestions.  Have an accomplished Teacher. Thanks

[brendan765]

I know a great composer for you, Bach is not, as he lacks art and expression, (why he is aclaimed so much fame is because he was the first) The teach music in chronological order of whos the most important, the put early composers at the highest significance and usually say they are better than composers later on.

anyways, playing for a year you say? 63yrs old...I assume you just want to have fun at the piano.

A all around not super hard composer, fun to play...Chopin, Mozart,...start with their easy pieces. they have made easy ones.

[williampiano]

I have finished several small peices and Jesu.  Been playing a year but love Bach and want to complete as many as I can of His works.  Suggestions are appreciated 63 years old so focus on my favorite.  Open to any suggestions.  Have an accomplished Teacher. Thanks

Have you ever listened to his Inventions before? If you've been playing for a year, then they may be around your level.

Edit: Also, the best ones to start with, in my opinion, are no.'s 1, 4 and 8, because they aren't quite as challenging as the others. After the Inventions, a nice next step would be the Little Preludes, and after them, the Sinfonias (a.k.a Three Part Inventions).

[outin]

A all around not super hard composer, fun to play...Chopin, Mozart,...start with their easy pieces. they have made easy ones.

Can't say about Mozart but please do ignore the advice on Chopin. He wrote nothing really easy. If you have played about a year and like baroque, just go on with Bach. You'll get better advice from someone else on that...

[hfmadopter]

I have finished several small pieces and Jesus.  Been playing a year but love Bach and want to complete as many as I can of His works.  Suggestions are appreciated 63 years old so focus on my favorite.  Open to any suggestions.  Have an accomplished Teacher. Thanks

I suggest the Anna Magdalena notebook series first, then the Two Part Inventions. If you get through all that start on 3 part inventions. You should get sick of Bach by that time but your hands will work great for other composers works !

You might like to try some other composers works. Schumann has some works for the young that are level 3ish. Of those I highly recommend The Wild Horseman as a must do at your level. It's not a long piece but very lively and has a nice rhythm to work out if to make the best of it. Listen to some recordings from good artists who perform it well or have your teacher go over this with you. It's a great little piece for anyone to do, not just young folks. I believe I did this piece at around your level and I used it as an encore later on in an early recital.

From there I'd do some Clementi. Add Clementi to your Bach list of things to do. He has some really nice music to work on.

I'm the same age as you ( be 63 in April), though had years of lessons as a young adult and gave a few recitals back then. But at this age I'm enjoying working on some David Nevue pieces. He is a modern day composer arranger performer and has put together a large list of music of his that are either written by him or arranged by him. Much of which is at your level or slightly above. I'd say his most advanced pieces are maybe level 6 with one or two that might qualify as 7 if not the piece then parts of it, or them.. If you have done Jesu then you can do any of his work in the first and maybe second level catagory. Any of them are nice to listen to and rather fun to do. His music is more about mood than technique, FWIW, at least so in those catagories. But some of his work on large will expand your use of the outer keys on your keyboard without bogging you down. You might go to his web site and check out some works and see if they hit the spot at all, it could be a source of music to add to your repertoir.. Myself and my almost entire family are enjoying them very much. David, too, is a very willing responder in email. just type David Nevue in your browser you will come up with links very easy that way and find some full length recordings as well vs his clips at his site..

[49410enrique]

also see:
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=4933.0

download the file of the books i attached. read the essays and opening remarks carefully, then spend time with each of the works in the order / successin listed with careful regard to the suggestions.

 

ps supplement with the book i attached here (per the suggestion made earlier to visit this volume by a previous reply)
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=45466.0

[mahlermaniac]

I'm the same age as you ( be 63 in April), though had years of lessons as a young adult and gave a few recitals back then. But at this age I'm enjoying working on some David Nevue pieces. He is a modern day composer arranger performer and has put together a large list of music of his that are either written by him or arranged by him. Much of which is at your level or slightly above. I'd say his most advanced pieces are maybe level 6 with one or two that might qualify as 7 if not the piece then parts of it, or them.. If you have done Yesu then you can do any of his work in the first and maybe second level catagory. Any of them are nice to listen to and rather fun to do. His music is more about mood than technique, FWIW, at least so in those catagories. But some of his work on large will expand your use of the outer keys on your keyboard without bogging you down. You might go to his web site and check out some works and see if they hit the spot at all, it could be a source of music to add to your repertoir.. Myself and my almost entire family are enjoying them very much. David, too, is a very willing responder in email. just type David Nevue in your browser you will come up with links very easy that way and find some full length recordings as well vs his clips at his site..

I am a great fan of David Nevue! His works are well beyond a beginner like me, though I did noodle around with Solitude, his easiest piece,nwhich was some fun. The nice thing is he does have his sheet music in various groupings on his website, and there is o e where it's ordered easiest, then gets progressively harder. Philip Wesley is another piano composer/arrange Reno is just wonderful. His work is quite difficult generally.

[hfmadopter]

Philip Wesley is another piano composer/arrange Reno is just wonderful. His work is quite difficult generally.

Ah, so you've tried David's pieces out. Well, maybe in the not so distant future then !!

Philip's rendition of Carol of the Bells is one of the nicest solos out there I think. I may do that next Christmas and add it to my list for then.

[j_menz]

I ... love Bach and want to complete as many as I can of His works. 

No you don't. Do something else.

You're all nuts! 

Use enrique's list, its quite good.

Summary - 2 part inventions/Anna Magdalena/3 Part inventions/little preludes/ harmonised chorales/ Suites/ Little Preludes and Fugues/ WTC.

[ajspiano]

You're all nuts! 

Indeed..  fancy telling someone they dont actually like what they've just said they do..  hmm..


also I notice a certain poster has edited out the part that said something like "bach wrote crap music compared to myself and chopin"

 

also is your summary list meant to be in order..? strikes me as strange to place inventions before A.M. for starters.

[j_menz]

also is your summary list meant to be in order..? strikes me as strange to place inventions before A.M. for starters.

Only very (very very) vagualy. There are a few inventions that are probably more straightforward than some of AM. There's quite a bit of overlap, really, between a lot of them. 

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Can't say about Mozart but please do ignore the advice on Chopin. He wrote nothing really easy. If you have played about a year and like baroque, just go on with Bach. You'll get better advice from someone else on that...

If you've been playing a year, you could try a couple preludes.

[hfmadopter]

You're all nuts! 

I agree, I wrote too much again. As I said a couple of weeks ago I must learn to turn it down and when to shut it off, stick with the stuffy topic and all that stuff. Too much babble sometimes.  I shall start trying to do that one more time ! Should be pretty easy .

Good night folks !

[mahlermaniac]

Solitude I've tried out. Some of the others I attempted a handful of notes, jaw dropped, and said "not quite yet"  Then I've gone back to "Happy birthday" and "Scarborough Fair"

[brendan765]

Can't say about Mozart but please do ignore the advice on Chopin. He wrote nothing really easy. If you have played about a year and like baroque, just go on with Bach. You'll get better advice from someone else on that...

Cmin Prelude, Emin prelude, Nocturnes and waltzes, as well as Mozart Sonatas, my favorite for a Sunday morning!

[hfmadopter]

Solitude I've tried out. Some of the others I attempted a handful of notes, jaw dropped, and said "not quite yet"  Then I've gone back to "Happy birthday" and "Scarborough Fair"

I don't want to run too far off topic in this thread but for the record most of David's works are not technically as difficult as most of Bach's works. Bach has a way at times of really making the writing look easy and yet very demanding to play ( speaking here of two and three part inventions in particular). Maybe I just get along with Nevues writing but I find it suits my style of playing and arranging, good for settling myself in for an enjoyable play and also for others to listen to.. I emailed him one day and told him he saves me a bunch of arranging time, his pieces are great and written in a style I was looking for at the time ( last summer).. I've since started three more.

That said, for an early learner at piano, I think a piece like Solitude will come easier than much of Bach's works would but it may get you around the keyboard a bit more. David in general writes very open music and spreads it out. His later and more difficult pieces I agree would be too much probably for the OP and obviously for yourself, since they include nearly the entire keyboard , some rhythm issues, both block and open chording while requiring a definite approach to creating mood and atmosphere.. Bach will make you wonder what is wrong with your mind though ! He has twists and turns in his writing that drive one to partake of an extra glass of Cabernet. The thing about myself and Bach is he's fooled me many times, I find that out after my fingers are on the keys.

Kidding aside, Bach is fabulous for hand and mind coordination, playing just about anything Bach will help other works, IMO. People like his works for more than study though, where I tend to more use the inventions as a tool.

For the the record, in my other post I mentioned Nevue and others as a break from Bach. I know the OP wanted Bach suggestions and I gave those but when he gets through those three part inventions I suspect he will want to include other composers at that time if not before. I can just about guarantee it. The OP is into piano for just one year, a lot is ahead of him yet ! If he/she is totally into Bach then so be it, I was wrong. Been there before !

[hfmadopter]

Indeed..  fancy telling someone they dont actually like what they've just said they do..  hmm..

AJ, I can't speak for anyone else here but for me, the OP likes Bach and that's great ! I never said he didn't like Bach. I suggested Bach and for variation a few other composers as well. I probably should have ended it at the three part inventions I mentioned but I tend to ramble,  if no one has noticed ! My intent was not to derail his Bach but to add some release. After a couple of years of working on just Bach he/she may look forward to that.

In the future I'll try to keep things more on topic or at least tied together a bit better.

[p2u_]

I never said he didn't like Bach. I suggested [...]
In the future I'll try to keep things more on topic or at least tied together a bit better.

Nobody was criticizing YOUR excellent post in this thread, hfmadopter.

Paul

[ranniks]

Bach all the way!

Takes the craze of Fur Elise away >..<....

[hfmadopter]

Nobody was criticizing YOUR excellent post in this thread, hfmadopter.

Paul

Oh ! I just figured it was a blanket response to whom ever the shoe fit. One guy states we're all nuts and the other agrees. I figure I'm close to certifiable so the shoe looked to fit !!

Thank's Paul !

[mahlermaniac]

I don't want to run too far off topic in this thread but for the record most of David's works are not technically as difficult as most of Bach's works. Bach has a way at times of really making the writing look easy and yet very demanding to play ( speaking here of two and three part inventions in particular). Maybe I just get along with Nevues writing but I find it suits my style of playing and arranging, good for settling myself in for an enjoyable play and also for others to listen to.. I emailed him one day and told him he saves me a bunch of arranging time, his pieces are great and written in a style I was looking for at the time ( last summer).. I've since started three more.

That said, for an early learner at piano, I think a piece like Solitude will come easier than much of Bach's works would but it may get you around the keyboard a bit more. David in general writes very open music and spreads it out. His later and more difficult pieces I agree would be too much probably for the OP and obviously for yourself, since they include nearly the entire keyboard , some rhythm issues, both block and open chording while requiring a definite approach to creating mood and atmosphere.. Bach will make you wonder what is wrong with your mind though ! He has twists and turns in his writing that drive one to partake of an extra glass of Cabernet. The thing about myself and Bach is he's fooled me many times, I find that out after my fingers are on the keys.

Kidding aside, Bach is fabulous for hand and mind coordination, playing just about anything Bach will help other works, IMO. People like his works for more than study though, where I tend to more use the inventions as a tool.

For the the record, in my other post I mentioned Nevue and others as a break from Bach. I know the OP wanted Bach suggestions and I gave those but when he gets through those three part inventions I suspect he will want to include other composers at that time if not before. I can just about guarantee it. The OP is into piano for just one year, a lot is ahead of him yet ! If he/she is totally into Bach then so be it, I was wrong. Been there before !

I am just not getting back around to this post. Thanks for your thoughts . Since January I've been able to practice much more regularly than my previous post regarding Nevue's works. I am having regular lessons as well. I haven't been back to his music yet, but this weekend may be a good time to give Solitude another go!

[faa2010]

Last week I was with one of my mentors, I showed him that I bought a book with the WTC thinking of them as good exercises. My mentor told me that those pieces are a really high level.

He gave me the next order:

Anna Magdalena
Little Preludes
2 Part Inventions
3 Part Inventions
Well-Tempered-Clavier

[hfmadopter]

Last week I was with one of my mentors, I showed him that I bought a book with the WTC thinking of them as good exercises. My mentor told me that those pieces are a really high level.

He gave me the next order:

Anna Magdalena
Little Preludes
2 Part Inventions
3 Part Inventions
Well-Tempered-Clavier

Makes sense. Good luck with it all !

[brogers70]

As others have said, if you take the general order Anna Magdalena/Two Part Inventions/Three Part Inventions/French Suites/English Suites/Partitas/Well Tempered Clavier/Goldberg Variation, there is a lot of overlap in difficulty. If you really want something from WTC then in Book I the Prelude in C major is straightforward; the Prelude in E major is no harder than most of the two part inventions, the Prelude in Eb minor is very expressive and not too hard, the Prelude in Ab major is on a par with the more difficult two part inventions.

It's definitely a good idea to start with some of Anna Magdalena and the two part inventions, but if you want to sample some of the Suites or WTC relatively soon, you can find individual movements that are no harder than the two part inventions. And, in the other direction, some of the three part inventions are harder than some of the easier fugues from WTC.