Bach - Fantasia and fugue in G minor BWV 542 - Van Doeselaar | Netherlands Bach Society 

Netherlands Bach Society do a organ solo recording of sinfonia cantata BWV 29

They did - with the solo/continuo played using this very organ! See their AllOfBach page.

Fantasia is butiful...

aquaen h.

Fuga Aloha Genios

Amen.

andrew ashdown What a wonderful thought... I am forever looking for eyewitness accounts of the great man playing to get as close as possible to imagining what it was like...

@@chrrev1 I always love stories about his improvising. Evidently he was fired from multiple churches because he would, I’m sure playing very well, but sort of screw around. Hahaha

Lol what about Beethoven?

@@IsaacW. Bach playing on a cathedral organ would have been OUT of this world!!!!! My respects for Beethoven, but Bach was the ULTIMATE improviser.

I agree, except for my daughter who played this piece at the end of her study ( from a father's heart !)

Totally agree!!

it is very good. another great recording of this was done by gabor lehotka in wich you have a bit more clarity but not ad much greatniss

Unsurpassed

Karl Richter

You can always close your eyes and enjoy the music avoiding the gestures

@@barbaracross7426 I meant this in a positive way.

@@mutahard7720 no. enjoy it however you feel.

I do the same while playing the violin and I only realized it after filming myself which made me super self-conscious. It’s like my entire brain and being is so focused on the music that I lose control over my face.

@@cosmopoliteness It's reasonable and understandable to feel self conscious about making "weird" expressions while playing and enjoying music, but it's perfectly fine to have such movements and expressions. In fact it serves as proof of your passion and enjoyment.

😂 Spot on!

I understand that after Bach's death his family used some of his unpublished works to wrap around tree trunks to protect them from freezing weather. All you can do is weep..

He was in THE process 💖

Dominic,the identical question I keep asking myself also. It is amazing right ?.

"Anyone who works as hard as I did can achieve the same results." -- J. S. Bach. That's some hard working...

i mean yes he's van doeselaar he can have as much body movement as he wants, but bach personally didn't move much

If he could play the music rather than theater that would be fine...... He is so aware he is filmed. Horrible. This not music. THERE ARE testomnies of Bach playing. He used not to move at all. The emotion WAS in THE music.

@@iama8537 He's not Bach. He just human like the rest of us. And he plays an exciting reading of a masterpiece. Don't watch. just listen.

Louise X, I am sorry for my inadequate English. I believe that van Doeselaar belongs to the HIP-musicans, they make attempt to bring the old music closer to the original style. For that reason ot is unfair to compare this performance to Alain and Walcha. For me who think it is important to restore this old music, Alain and Walcha is not interesting anymore.

He plays like a madman which is perfectly alright with me.

but his enjoying the taste of each note makes it a bit slow. I like Peter Hurford's tempo but I cant find him playing large enough German instrument with a proper bass and echo like this one. (not Hurford though) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--Br08w4qd80.html

Indeed... ❤

The complexity is just unbelievable

Who says so ?

@@johnsilverton639 He does...

If you say so..

@@johnsilverton639 That's his interpretation, or what he imagines whilst listening to this piece. I personally think it fits quite well.

All that on a sheet of music?

"Old man"? Professor van Doeselaar is two years younger than me and I'm not old 👾

@@davebarclay4429 I am 50 now, when i was 15 a man of 50 seemed very old to me! Now i feel much better than i did at the age of 30. Ok as long as i do not look in the mirror! Hihi!

And also gives the lie to the idea that you can't be "clean and precise" and "emotional and thrilling" at the same time. Wonderful.

true

Very true, one of some epic moments in this fantasia! also analyzing these chords can give some interesting ideas about harmony in general The way how smooth and yet interesting harmonic changes sound in Bach's music often make me think that he felt something in music in a different way, I can't say that other great composers leave the same impression for me with the way they utilize harmony in their music, although all of them have fantastic, sublime ideas in many pieces that I love, and I listen them more than I listen Bach now, but still, I'll try to describe this thing: The way he modulates really often, creating harmonic 'labyrinths' (mazes) in his music, which sometimes make you forget which part of the piece you're listening now, because it's a maze, they are not an absolutely mathematical and overly-complicated constructios, they flow so naturally, everything is vibrant and alive, and more than that, music somehow doesn't lose that hardly-describable feeling of direction created by harmony in his pieces, he knows how to make modulation smooth, which makes you feel subtle 'flourishing', and then a bit later he introduces 'weirder' stuff, it's often 'poignant' and bright, with some chromatic fun, and you usually don't expect that, he manages not to add too much, not to make it too 'off', simple modulations still leave feeling of emotion and purpose and don't drown in surrounding music, so that every change from major to minor feels sort of really clear, subtle changes in harmony are subtle changes of mood, as if he's beginning a new chapter in a story, but the movement of music never stops, sections don't contrast as much as in Scarlatti's sonatas, it's all subtle and yet so precise and powerful I'm really wondering if other people listening Bach think about this too, even if they don't have any idea about music theory, because the way Bach treats harmony is so precise and his ideas are so clear often, that you sort of can start to appreciate what is cool about harmony in general, through his pieces, it was like that for me in my journey through classical music :D

@@alexanderbayramov2626 Exactly. Bach is different to the others. Other's music can be summed up as a brilliant melody or line, accompanied by other things. Bach is fundamentally multiple brilliant melodies and ideas playing out simultaneously, in a brilliant configuration. Everything makes sense. Bach understood counterpoint to such a degree, that even the less-popular works in his repertoire, are more developed than the masterpieces of his peers. I'll take the ascending fourths/descending fifths sequence as a single example. Vivaldi and Scarlatti as masters this sequence, but their greatest developments of this sequence, are mundane (no exaggeration!) by Bach's standard. For example, in the first fugue of BWV 910, there is a three voice stretto on this theme, where the same motif is played simultaneously in three voices, around the circle of fifths - i don't think the aforementioned composers could conceive such an idea; it was just too advanced for them to think about, (no slight or insult to the composers).

@@christianindividual4550 True. Bach's use of sequences and schematas is often much more elaborate and refined, especially in fugal textures, the suspensions are so staggeringly complex that you can barely make out the underlying schema. His use if dissonances is also way more liberal so he can indeed put much more counterpunctal material in shorter amounts of space. Look just at the first c major fugue of the Well-Tempered Clavier where the strettos lead to some intervals that would just by themselves sound really awkward together. Bach goes way beyond the more simple tricks of the Neapolitan school where you essentially just have a schematic theme that essentially dictates its own countersubjects and free counterpoint. The free interlude sections are the more difficult parts because you have to smoothly puzzle them together with the theme's sequential model. Bach does this as well in his mid-life fugues, such as this one. The theme is a sequence of descending fifths. It's the same for the BWV 543 fugue. The most significant way these fugues differ from the 'standard' is their length and the staggering amount of subject entries. But Bach takes way more liberties after that and disguises the sequential nature of the music more and more. This is also coincidentally why Bach makes a terrible case study for all of those students who want to learn how to write a fugue. You can't just replicate a WTC fugue as a beginner. It will always sound awkward. I'd always advise to check out Handel, Corelli and partimentos by Durante, Fenaroli and others. Learn schematas and thoroughbass, then later learn how to give them little twists like the great master did.

@@maniak1768 Thank you very much for the information, and especially for the tips at the end. I always wondered what was going on in his mind. Bach seemed to understand and manipulate intervals in ways that others did not.

Like Gould.

Een van grootste organist van Nederland Leo van Doeselaar en een land vol met zeer hoge kwaliteit orgels en organisten

Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place!

I too feel like my soul is on fire, when I lose myself, wandering hither and thither in the fantasia, then making my way home at last in this mighty fugue. Amen!

Bach, the OG metalhead

I can just imagine Bach enjoying throwing himself into this piece in the same way as van Doeselaar - maybe even headbanging too!

Mr. van Doeselaar is fantastic here, also "The Green Monster" sounds fabulous and is recorded very nicely. There is a nice possibility "to have a taste" of the same piece on the same organ by Benjamin Righetti. Very very nice also. And sound engineer did it a bit differently. Here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2ZBsdNro7_8.html

It's a trapp!

@@geraldojohann9821 Was just about to do this myself but you'd beaten me to it hahaha.

do you know Heiler's mindblowing rendition?

I don't think you'll find many organists who underrate Bach's works! The problem is that organ music is regarded as a niche interest and inevitably associated with the church. I knew of one newspaper music critic (now fortunately deceased) who point-blank refused to report on organ concerts on the basis that they were only for organ fans and not "proper" music lovers. Faced with that sort of ignorance and prejudice it's no wonder that organ music, even by Bach, is underrated by non-organists.

Yeah they get no attention 🤣

that's emotion.............. only good artists have it.

hell yeah!

Yes, this is Metal as fuck.

Nothing like head banging or simple emotional expression of the music. If you pay attention his head and mouth are moving with the absolute precision of a symphony conductor. In fact, a close observation of his so called ‘headbaning’ can teach a great deal about the music itself. Who cares anyway, this is one of the greatest performance of this piece I’ve ever been overpowered by and I’ve heard more than a few.

@@musicisitall No. You don't need to do this while playing such magnificent pieces. But Emotions are a result of good playing

Ex-aequo avec l'interprétation de Janssen sur l'orgue Arendt du musée des Augustins de Toulouse 😉

I also am no musician, but listenning to Bach seems to re-arrange all the molecules of my being - putting them in their correct places!

Johann Mattheson described Handel as the greatest organist of his time.. :)

@@RodCorkin At that time, Bach was considered as an outdated musician, and was greatly underestimated. The recognition of his greatness is relatively modern.

@@VictorHeuer Berlioz became aware of the Bach cult in the 1840s, he mentioned that people who knew nothing about Bach were suddenly announcing him as the greatest composer.

@@VictorHeuer personally I prefer Handel

@@RodCorkin Answering to the deleted question: well, Berliotz sought different forms of composition, without following the standard adopted by Bach's advocates at that time, such as Felix Mendelssohn (who always sought to bring Berlioz to this group, implying that he would have to understand Bach's bass lines to be able to decently compose his own). He (Berlioz) was very successful in his work, without chasing the trend on Bach of his time, which I consider as something healthy for a musician concerned with his own style. Bach, for example, preferred to remain faithful to his own more conservative (and said outdated) style than to adhere to the gallant style that was in force at that time and pursued even by his sons Wilhelm Friedeman, Karl Phillip Emmanuel and Johann Christian, and by his friend George Phillip Telemann (at the end of his life).

Bravo Maestro !

You summarise things nicely! But the credit lies not only with the composer, but with the performer who conveyed this awe inspiring piece of music to our ears!

I’m pretty sure that this could be cacophony to some human ears, and they would not be at fault for that. No, this is far from being universally relevant, let alone some kind of ‘essence’ to “all” music. It does not have universality that applies to all listeners (and we’re only talking about humans!). On the other hand, I would say that time and rhythm, together with patterns, are the real Alpha and Omega of all (human and some animals’) music. To say that something like this, which is specially tailored for a select set of culture, is universal is to be extremely narrow-minded.

@@stawpnagd7820 speak for yourself bro. Bach's music is universal and transcends culture. i would say your way of thinking is the narrow minded

@@kevinwhitten2947 With what metric are you saying that Bach's music transcends culture? It doesn't even transcend time! His composed music was really popular only after he died, and has been declining since. His skill in improvising music is also underappreciated today, unlike when he lived. Culture change, and Bach's music unfortunately does not pass the test of time, and this is only talking about Europe. I don't even think I need to drag in the rest of the world's music to show that Bach is not universal. It is natural for some to prefer Bach's music over other kinds of music, but to say that it can compare in any ways to the majesty of humanity is a travesty to us all.

@@stawpnagd7820 Then with what metric are you saying Bach's music doesn't transcend culture while we have been constantly proved otherway? After almost 300 years we still have his music. "Declined since then"? In fact we know it's on the contrary, his music declined till Mendelsohn and the romantics revived it, and since then has been fairly popular. Who in the wolrd hasn't heard about "Jesus Joy of man's desiring" or "Air in G"'? Nietzsche even said "I'm far from the christian spirit, but hearing St. Matthew Passion makes me wanting to be one". NASA took the Goldberg Variations and send them to space in the golden disc of the Voyager, some of them said in an humouresque way that "Putting other music on the disc was a good cover letter for humanity, putting Bach is braggin about it". I can agree that disliking it is a question of culture or aquired education, but sorry, that's not a proof of his lack of grandness. Believing that the popularity of an artwork has something to do with its complexity ,that it's real narrow-minded.

kind of... BUT HIS passion for the work is REAL! can't fake that!

Highinsight7 agree in most of his works he just lives it like he’s one with the music

Bach always been heavy metal.

I always think of ozzy Osbourne when I listen. Shift gears, man

Agree.... :-)

Please, don't take it so seriously. I'm quite sure that we all respect the Master. I truly believe that we're joking around with the comments.

He is awesome!

All that dramatic head and body movement is quite unnecessary.. and detracts from the music.

@@bw3747 No, it doesn't