french suites

[classicalnhiphop]

who is your favorite performer of the bach french suites? please give aspects of said performers that you enjoy in particular.  I'm asking because I find Gould to be much better suited to play Bach's more fast pieces, as his constant staccatoing doesn't fit the mood for me, and I usually like his playing of Bach.

[awesom_o]

I think Andras Schiff has the deepest knowledge of Bach's works. His subtlety of articulation, tone, and ornamentation are awe-inspiring.

[gvans]

Second that. Schiff is the king. His Beethoven sonatas are amazing, too...

[symphonicdance]

Also, Rosalyn Tureck, Angela Hewitt, and Murray Perahia.

[awesom_o]

Second that. Schiff is the king. His Beethoven sonatas are amazing, too...

So are his Mozart sonatas, his Schubert sonatas, his WTC, his English suits, his Chopin preludes.... he is utterly king among kings!

[classicalnhiphop]

Just curious, how do you all feel about richter's bach.  I like Schiff's playing, but i simply cannot stand his video's because of his facial expressions. 

[birba]

Read you there.

[awesom_o]

I like Schiff's playing, but i simply cannot stand his video's because of his facial expressions. 

If you like Schiff's playing musically, then surely his facial expressions are not extreme enough to curtail your actual enjoyment of the music! If you're watching a video, close your eyes, or look at his hands instead! If you in a concert, close your eyes, or look at his hands, instead! I don't see what the big deal is, he doesn't make faces deliberately, like Lang Lang.

I like Richter's Bach.

[pianoman53]

I never liked Schiff's way of playing. It never touched me, even though I know he knows a lot.

My vote goes to the legendary Feinberg. I also very much enjoy Edwin Fischer.

[lisztomania]

the french suites are easily bach's most boring set of pieces.  The only one that i actually like is the second.  Also, Bach's piano works are really not that great.  I much prefer busoni transcriptions of his other works.  what could possibly be interesting or good about his french suites? particularly the 4th and 5th?

[awesom_o]

Also, Bach's piano works are really not that great.  I much prefer busoni transcriptions of his other works. 

  Funniest post I've read all day, thank you for the laughs!

You ought to know, however, that Bach didn't compose any piano works.

[lisztomania]

yes, im fully aware he never composed anything for the piano other than his italian concerto (and it was a very early stage piano).  I meant pieces that people play on the piano.  Just curious, do you play Bach Busoni? do you look down upon busoni transcriptions? and what i mean was for playing on the piano, i prefer busoni transcriptions to pieces written for the clavichord and harpsichord.

[awesom_o]

I wouldn't say that I look down on the Busoni transcriptions. I tend to prefer transcriptions of Bach written by other composers.

I prefer the purity and perfection of Bach's originals to any of the transcriptions of his music written by later composers. The expression "gilding the lily" comes to mind rather easily, I find.

[classicalnhiphop]

at awesome_o, how do you feel about the bach-busoni chaconne? even if you prefer pure Bach, I feel like there's not one person who can resist that piece.

[awesom_o]

at awesome_o, how do you feel about the bach-busoni chaconne? even if you prefer pure Bach, I feel like there's not one person who can resist that piece.

Personally, I feel that the Bach-Busoni Chaconne is a tired, hackneyed piece of work. I prefer the Brahms version for the LH alone, which manages to stay much closer to the violin original in terms of spirit and texture.

I know many people who dislike the Bach-Busoni Chaconne and consider those who perform it to have poor taste!

I am but a childlike infant in comparison to Bach, whom I consider to be the greatest of the greatest of men. I cannot criticize Bach, but I do find even the original Chaconne to be overly-long and somewhat repetitive.

Of course, when played by an incredible violinist, it contains enough beauty for me to be riveted to the spot for 17 minutes. Few violinists seem to possess this transcendental level of skill, however. Most tend to bludgeon their way through the music with the very same dull ax their pianist-friends hack through the Busoni version with.

 

[classicalnhiphop]

what about the bach busoni chorale in g minor that horowitz played?

[awesom_o]

I personally like it more than the Chaconne. It feels somehow more respectful to Bach.

Overall, my feelings on Busoni are mixed. In some ways, I think he was he was a great scholar and a great philosopher.

I've never been drawn to his original compositions, however. I also don't like the recordings he made which I have heard.

Overall, what I dislike the most about Busoni are the ludicrous views he held regarding two of the greatest minds the world of music has ever seen: Beethoven and Schubert.

Schubert he considered to be  a 'gifted amateur'.... Beethoven, he believed, lacked the technique to express his emotions.



 

[pianoman53]

Do you have a source on that quote? There has been many bad things bwritten about Busoni, and many of them aren't true.. According to other quotes... Uugh -.-

While I very much like the Busoni transcription (the original by Bach is obviously quite different), it's, for me, wrong to call it transcription rather than paraphrase or fantasy. The people who says that it's a piece with poor taste are probably the same who claims that Chopin, Liszt, and anything that isn't German, is poor taste. I wouldn't take them very seriously.

[awesom_o]

While I very much like the Busoni transcription (the original by Bach is obviously quite different), it's, for me, wrong to call it transcription rather than paraphrase or fantasy. The people who says that it's a piece with poor taste are probably the same who claims that Chopin, Liszt, and anything that isn't German, is poor taste.

I agree that the work in question is closer to a paraphrase or fantasy. The Brahms version for the left hand alone is definitely a transcription, but the Busoni version is really a re-composition.

I never said it was "a piece with poor taste". I said that there are other works which I prefer.

It can be played in a tasteful way, if the performer is fully aware of what it is he or she is playing. Usually, I hear it played with more bombast than genuine cultural awareness, however, and as such, the piece has become very hackneyed.


 

[j_menz]

Few violinists seem to possess this transcendental level of skill, however. Most tend to bludgeon their way through the music with the very same dull ax their pianist-friends hack through the Busoni version with.

For which Busoni can hardly be blamed.

I find it quite possible to like both Bach in the original and in transcription. And Busoni is probably the finest transcriber of Bach's works for organ, not so much so for works for other forces.

There are plenty of other good ones as well. For a contemporary exponent of the art, Fazil Say's transcriptions are well worth checking out.

[classicalnhiphop]

i must say i like rubinstein's interpretation of the chaccone is very good, especially considering some performers treat it as if it were a show off piece.  he takes a more correct direction in my opinion