Bach - Passacaglia in C minor BWV 582 - Smits | Netherlands Bach Society 

0:07 Passacaglia 7:26 Fuga

The thing about Bach, no matter how many times you listen to the piece, you will always hear something new. Like Shakespeare, in that everywhere you look there is more substance and meaning. Heifetz said of the Chaconne, “I have been studying and performing this piece for 50 years and I still do not understand it all”. That is true for many of Bach’s pieces.

Amazing that Bach only wrote one Passacaglia and its the only one he had to write. What a masterpiece.

Bach is the Greatest Musician of All Time.

I just realized that if there would be just one channel that I am allowed to watch in youtube, this would be it! I don't know how to thank you for keeping Bach's legacy alive...

Young and ambitious Bach... This piece has to be my favorite ever. It really bends the term Baroque. I've listened to it hundreds of times, from pedal cempallo, piano, organ, orchestra and legends as Stokowski, Richter, Fox and my dearest Biggs, and with wildly different highlights and registrations and conservation... But every single time, my whole body shivers. The slowly progressing passacaglia that gives you an interesting breath before taking it away with three pedal points and the bass so known it works as one... And then pause. You can't take in air, because you are waiting. After that is the fugue. A complex but familiar from before theme that gets stretched and stretched until it comes on bass and on soprano, letting you know the end is near. You don't want it but your heart and breath need it. It must be over, or it will ruin everything. And it's the most majestic not overly pompous finale ever. The Neapolitan, the pause, the suspension and the pedal, the flat second, all in perfect timing for a full C major that resonates with your heart. The shivers peak and slowly disappear; I never cry with music but this piece cracks me up. Every time. Whenever I listen to it on purpose, or it's on the background, or I remember it, it's in the center of my attention. It's the reason I love music so much, the piece that tought me the most beautiful things can be and are created by man... In the modern Era that everyone can find everything from classics to alternatives, from professionals to amateurs, from irrelevant music about this matter to Bach, a performer has every opportunity to create a great performance. And it's done here. Thank you very much for your performance, Mr Smits. And the NBS. Thanks for letting me experience the piece for the first time again... I may seem overreacting, but I'm not, and of course anyone can skip all this. But it can happen with every piece of Bach, every piece of music, every piece of art, every piece of human thought and strivingness for beauty. And it can happen to anyone. Thanks again, and keep up the good work... All of this is coming from a listener of the piece (still relevant with music, though). Can't imagine from the performer's perspective...

J.S. Bach is for me the best in history... Nobody can come even close to this man....

I walked into St. Thomas cathedral in NYC while friends were at a basketball game. I didn't know what was going on. I sat down, listened to this whole thing, nobody clapped, it was a musical prayer. Honestly changed my life, why else would I be commenting here. I wish you all the MOST.

Bach is one of, if not the greatest musical minds to ever live

omg - i heard this piece over 40 years ago - did not know what it was called - could never manage to find it again - until now today !!! my favorite organ work finally found !!!

Perfect registration, you can hear each one of the internal parts!

Bach is a force of nature. Bach is the Fifth Season.

While BWV 565 is his most recognizable organ work, I personally think this work is Bach's best organ work. The way which he layers up a simple motif and eventually interwinds it into a double fugue. It's almost like painting with only three colors given.

Beatifully played. Bach was a genius...

This Passacaglia only could be composed by a musical genius. The sentiment and the harmony are sublime. The interpretation is outstanding. Viva Bach!!!

Listening to Bach is like hearing the voices of heaven.

There is something about this piece which always reduces me to tears of gratitude for the genius of JSB.

Magnificent - this organist is a Master...

How can anyone not appreciate an instrument so huge it's as big as a building, and takes more than one person to play.

In Japanese videos, this song is said to be the masterpiece of Bach's organ song. The development from static to dynamic is wonderful, and I feel the spirit of Bach who composed the song. Dear performer, thank you for playing a great song.

Bach's most soulful piece (that I've heard) and probably the greatest piece of music ever (specifically Passacaglia).

One of my favorite Bach organ works, the "underwater" opening always raises my hackles.

After the din of centuries, after the dust of history, after the banality of us all there will remain the genius of Bach. Would that anyone of us could have achieved in a lifetime what Bach achieved in a day.

9:16 How can a human brain can form that kind of harmony ? Pure genius

The ending in major is so moving, like the inevitable accomplishment of destiny

This is still the absolute peak of all (organ) music. Nothing before or after Bach came even close to this. (Not even he himself!)

Bach is an anchor for many classical romantic composers after him. Sometimes they embraced him, sometimes they wanted to get away from his shores to new oceans but they always came back to him never could get too far away. As beethoven said once, he was not the brook as his name suggested, he was actually the ocean itself

Oh NBS, NBS, How could you?How could you wait nearly seven years to publish this performance on RU-vid?. I've listened to Reitze Smits recording three times before posting my remarks. I'm listening with my noise reduction headphones on and it is GLORIOUS! The Passacaglia is one of Bach's ten most wonderful offering to mankind. I gave up writing notes after the first four minutes of the performance. With my headphones on the bass of the 8 bar motif is amazing. at the start you can just hear the air passing to the pipes from the pedals. The bass is deep and thunderous. The whole sound recording is crisp, though I did wonder if the organ was a little too big for the work. The vision was extremely clear even out here in Papua New Guinea. How I would have loved to be at Mr. Smits side aiding him with the pipes and turning the page of the score. Would Bach have liked this recording. Heavens Above I'm certain he would be as delighted as I am. Bravo and thanks once again from Port Moresby! After 7 months here in Port Morseby, continuing my work, I am now very belatedly travelling back home to the far South West of England until the New year 2021, when I will return here. This will be the last recording from all of you at NBS I will hear out here in Papua, and what a work to end on for the time being. So many many thanks to you all for the work you have done and for publishing all the works I have come to listen to over the past weeks of isolation and work. You have been a godsend. and kept my sanity and faith. Thank you. I'll still be listening in. :)

We often find ourselves content by that which is less than perfect; but let us remember - this is perfection.

I've listened to this piece all my life, and each time it's better than before.

Bach is, I think, the greatest baroque composer of all time, and is one of my absolute favourite composers.

Listening it for more than 40 years. Floors me everytime. Magic. What else.

That is one of the best performances of Pasacaglia in C minor I’ve heard. Bravo.

Smits' performance is a superb performance. My lifelong journey in the world of Classic Music, and what a wonderful journey it has been!, began in 1970 with this composition with Virgil Fox playing it on the Rogers Touring Organ at The Filmore East Auditorium in New York City. The music was accompanied by Revalation Lights. Fox started the show by declaring, "Johann Sebastain Bach is glad you are here!," emphasizing the immediacy of the experience in the present moment embracing composer, performer and listener. One of the highlights of my life!

That's quite possibly the best version I have yet heard, and I have heard most of them here on RU-vid.

Words cannot convey how much I love this rendition.

My favourite part of the week is when these videos get published. Thank you 🙏

Ich spielte sie auch, die Passacaglia. Wundervolles Instrument hier, hervorragende Interpretation durch Reitze, makellos, Hochgenuß von A bis Z, danke! Und danke für's Hochladen.

This videos shows how the human soul is actually the instrument, played by Bach, instead of the other way around. You can very clearly see on the face of organist Smits that the way the music builds up is taking him over untill he is in a state of trance/ecstasy in which he is able to play so magnifically beautiful and virtuosic. He's gazing as if he sees the revelations of John happen right before his eyes.

You drove me to tears. No silly and cheap sentimentalism here, just pure emotion. It's so powerful and magnificent, and your performance is utterly flawless!!! Pure emotion!!! Thank you!!!

Great performance of some of the finest music ever written.

This absolute masterpiece is shrouded in mystique. Simple, meditative and profound, it rapidly engulfs me in a trance where I contemplate the great questions of life (birth, death, God). Certainly among humanity's greatest achievements.

The same shivering of the spine I have now while hearing this Passacaglia, as I had many many years ago when I first heard this piece while page-turning to the organist Valery Maisky (1942-1981). It struck me as a tragic dramatic motive with elaborate variations. One of Bach's highest picks in organ-literature if not the highest one, got here a very fine realization by the organist Reitze Smits. Bravissimo! I thank him and NBS.

An excellent, passionate performance. Apart from the obvious genious of JSB, good condition of the instrument and tender handling by the performer, there is something deeply satisfying in observing co-operation between player and assistant in an organ performance. Turning the sheets and stops, needing an assistant to keep the performance going, brings home the enormity of device, giving almost.. _dwarven_ feeling about it. Truly a fitting musical symbol for Baroque Era.

Yes yes, you are right, I am a genius!! What can I say, my music speaks for myself 😎

I think Bach is the greatest musician of all time.

Excellent and magical!💖 Thank you for allowing us to feel the flight of the soul. With gratitude and love from Russia.

this might be the greatest piece of music ever written.

Quel bonheur de pouvoir accéder gratuitement à de telles interprétations via youtube, merci aux équipes audio-visuelles de la NBS aussi

Mr Smits, you are a fantastic musician. Thank you so much for this Bach. You know you give us so much energy! In the eternal struggle between life and death, life wins definitely in your music. Life and love win, and we can see the true beauty coming directly from God Almighty. I am 54, I think I'll listen to this amazing fuge at least one a month for the rest of life. Thank you again!

A perfect example of the fact that certain human feelings can ONLY be communicated by music.

This is now my favorite version of the Passacaglia in C minor...wonderful!

A mindblowing performance! Whether you like this kind of music or not, you have to stand in wonder at the genius of the composer and virtuosity of the performer... So who in Bachsname are the 75 trolls who disliked this video??

I love that there's still new recordings of this piece being released, it's simply one of Bach's best.

Simon Roodenrijs prachtig deze uitvoering ,zo doorzichtig en geheel eigen aan de orgel bespeler. draaide deze uitvoering altijd in auto ,onderweg naar de zondagse kerkviering .waar ik organist was het geeft mij het gevoel los te komen van al onze aardse rottigheid

Smits you are a genius! Thank you so much for this wonderful Bach! Fantastic!

Listening to this masterpiece, I sense my soul totally fragmented. Its effect is beyond human perception.

This is my #1 favorite song played on pipe organ, and I LOVE to hear all the different renditions of it ❤️

Cried first time I listen this years ago, cried again today lol. only bach and mahler can move me this way. amen bruh

I love how they actually put audio from outside the keyboard room to prevent clicking sounds of the keyboard going to the video (you can hear them in other video where Smits explains this score).

A fantastic performance! I played this as the final piece of my senior recital in college, and it is an absolute beast to learn, and to get that awesome phrasing throughout (I definitely did not do the piece nearly as much justice as this performance). I especially like how the registration slowly builds during the passacaglia as one giant crescendo.

Marvellous. The organist presents the mind of the music, the organ he is playing is the perfect vehicle. He is the servant of the piece and it speaks beautifully in his hands.

Die "Passacaglia C-Dur, BWV 582" ist für mich eines der interessantesten und schönsten Stücke, die Bach je komponiert hat. Auch hört man hier deutlich heraus, dass Passacaglia und Fuge nicht voneinander getrennt werden (dürfen). Sie gehören zusammen wie Feuer und Licht. Bach war nicht nur auf der Orgel ein Genie. Er schuf Messen, Orchesterwerke, Kammermusik und Kantaten, Cembalo- und Violinkonzerte. Und jede Komposition auf höchstem Niveau. Seine Vielfalt ist einfach unübertroffen. Vielen Dank fürs Hochladen! 👍💖 The "Passacaglia in C minor, BWV 582" is for me one of the most interesting and beautiful pieces that Bach ever composed. One can also clearly hear here that Passacaglia and Fugue are not be separated from one another. They belong together like fire and light. Bach was not only a genius on the organ. He created masses, orchestral works, chamber music and cantatas, harpsichord and violin concertos. And every composition at the highest level. Its diversity is simply unsurpassed. Thank you for uploading! 👍💖 (Mit Google-Translator ins Englische übersetzt /Translated into English with Google Translator)

This is a beautiful rendition of this magnificent piece.. I played the Passacaglia and Fugue for my senior recital as an undergraduate. At the Eastman School of Music, I wrote my masters theses on the stylistic evolution of his organ works. The piece brings back many fond memories. It is certain that no other composer could match Bach's contrapuntal invention.

Wunderschöne Aufführung dieses perfekt komponierten und technisch anspruchsvollen Meisterwerks im polyrhythmischen und veränderlichen Tempo mit durchsichtigen doch polyphonischen Tönen der historischen Orgel und mit möglichst effektiver Dynamik. Wahrlich genialer Organist!

この曲は、Bachのすべての作品の中で一番好きな曲です。 素晴らしい演奏をありがとうございます。

This is the epitome of what a Passacaglia should be. It encompasses everything that came before it and what was to come.

Superb performance of one of the greatest pieces of music that will ever be written.

Wonderful performance and great organist!!!

Magnifique interprétation. L'organiste est imprégné de la 🎶 sublime de Bach

I love how he has his First officer making the necessary arrangements for him. As if it was an airplane or spaceship.

One of a number of Bach's works that make me wish I was an organist, but if I had to choose only one organ work, this would be it. Beautifully played, thank you.

what genius music, Bach and this musician! Thank you both!!!

I've always adored Bach. This performance was just beautiful! Thank you! 🥰

This piece of music leads me into some sort of inner ecstasy and I wonder how this extreme inner happiness is achieved. No other music has got this effect.

La NBS a attendu longtemps pour enregistrer cette œuvre magistrale du répertoire pour orgue de Bach et du répertoire de l’instrument tout court... Il fallait trouver l’interprète et l’instrument. Et bien c’est fait et de merveilleuse façon avec cette interprétation qui nous montre à quel point la registration est importante dans les œuvres pour orgue. Merci à la NBS pour cette merveille. À noter que le thème provient de Pachelbel et qu’il est répété 14 fois dans la passacaille ce qui correspond à la valeur de l’addition du rang des lettres B-A-C-H dans l’alphabet 😘

5:02 , 5:20 and closing 11:48 are out of this world. Thank you Master

Heerlijk, dat we er weer aan voorbij zijn om dit meesterwerk louter in de plenum-klank te spelen. Ja en de kwaliteit van het spel van Smits is boven elke discussie verheven. Hulde !

I really need CD version of this. This is the best passacaglia I’ve ever heard of

Dr. Reitz Smits: Thank you for this wonderful performance

So beatiful. The piece, the registration and, of course, the performance. I discovered this preciousness from Bach in the year 2013 and this recording released after so long reminded me of that unforgettable discovery. Thank you NBS!

My Favorite Organ work of all times. I remember learning this piece at University and still play it when I have a decent Pipe Organ available. Excellent performance and Registration.

These registrations Smits uses are simply magnificent

The best piece I've ever heard in my whole life

Bach ist Anfang und Ende aller Musik. 💖

A 582 é de arrasar! Não há meio de me cansar, minimamente, de a ouvir...

I've loved this composition for close to 50 years. I first heard it on a Virgil Fox album; then I went to a Virgil Fox concert where he played this (with an astounding light show [was around 1972]). And I enjoy finding other "interpretations" of this work. This is a great one.

Excellent interprète et...Merci tout de même Jean Sébastien !

Thank you so much for your performance. It is so inspiring to see a work of pure genius performed by a master. The Passacaglia is surely one of the greatest achievements for the Organ, a work you could spend a lifetime pondering. Thank you again.

My favorite performance of this piece by far, Thank you!

I am coming back again and again to this recording. This is just perfect: articulation, tempo, interpretation, instrument, sound. Wonderful. Thank you very much

Meravigliosa esecuzione di un brano stupendo! Grazie!

Amazing recording of the instrument and playing. The sound is distinct and the basses are noticeably clean for an instrument of this size. It is rare to distinguish all the voices so clearly. Amazing.

"Wow, this beautiful recording has very few views!" I thought. And then I checked the upload date.. it's today :-) Obviously many people enjoying it right after it got uploaded!

A million times lovely performance ♥️. This is indeed a channel to cherish.

The coordination of hands and feet in this intricate piece is truly astounding!

Just stunning. An incredible masterpiece, and such a brilliant performance. Thank you!

Superb insightful playing of (probably) the greatest organ work ever composed

This is by far my favourite performance. Bach was so much more than just a great technician and it's a privilege to hear this played with so much awareness of his musical genius and spiritual depth. This is a performance to listen to over and over again. Thank you.

Totally fell in love with this guys performance!