At this point in time music was treated as a series of equations, which honestly makes me feel stressed out when I listen to it because it feels like run on sentences in dry language. I hate to use the example of Flea and John Frusciante, but they are such a vivid example of music as communication that it's hard to explain it in other terms. Flea's baselines will carry a shape of a chord, scale, or harmony inside them, without explicitly being built around them. John will say that he often feels like there's only one solution to the puzzle that Flea is creating, but that Flea then feels like there is a logical next step to what he plays as he hears what John's doing, which makes some of their live jams just mesmerizing. They both strongly believe in the Japanese/jazz ideal of space. In many interviews and podcasts, John especially will talk about how the space between the notes is just as important, and sometimes more important than the notes, because it allows the notes to stand on their own and reverberate. With this music I feel dizzy. It feels like there's nothing being communicated. It feels like noise without feeling. It's the opposite of what make reggae, metal, movie scores, rock, rap, jazz, and even dubstep feel satisfying to listen to. There's no space.
@@Starbuck32123 I think your issue with type of music is philosophical in nature and not musical. Not everything is phenomenological, nor is everything rigidly metaphysical (
I often feel like he knew the secrets of the universe better than scientists, or at least channeled a part of it. Since music was his media, all the secrets are written as musical notes, special codes for us to decipher.
I remember, back in 1974, when I was doing my military service at the age of 19, one of my mates came up to me and said: “One of my friends has got a classical record that he wants to sell. Aren’ t you one that likes that kind of stuff? Wanna buy it?” I had to admit that I actually was one of those peculiar human beings, and asked if I could see the record in question. A few days later he brought the record and we agreed upon the sum of 10 Swedish Crowns ( between 1 USD and 1 GBP). It has been my favourite of Bachs mighty flowing organ works ever since. My preferred recording today is by Simon Preston and the recording back then was with Helmut Walcha. Always interested to hear suggestions of your favourites. Best Regards from Sweden/ Per
I have not seen this score in 64 years! This was my "exam piece" to sight-read (Toccata only) for AGO certification in Dallas TX in 1955. I love Bach, but I never played this piece again.
It consisted of selected portions. As I recall there was only a section of one pedal solo. Years before that I was a piano student at New Orleans Conservatory of Music. On one recital I played Bach-Busoni Fugue in D Major. MUCH easier than the organ Toccata. Georgy Cziffra has a rendition of that work on YT.
Hi Dear uncd; while watching and listening to this work I was reminded of a friend I knew over 50 years ago. Roy Daniels, TX and Olka oil money. Conoco Oil . He was an organist and we help repare and old rundown organ in Norforlk VA... whille we were in the Navy back in 1966. This work, the toccata in f. Major... importance. Anybody heard of Roy Daniels?
Bach's writing for organ is without a doubt some of the most haunting, thrilling music ever to be realized. I like the way scrolling the score illustrates the ingenuity of his casting the toccata as a trio of voices (two manuals and pedal) each fully independent and interdependent in the total. Scrolling provides a graphic demonstration of how Bach layers his motives in twos and threes for maximum clarity and aesthetic effect. The writing is neither too dense nor too thin to be entirely graspable. Chapuis, always the consummate interpreter, understands the beauty of Bach's structure and chooses the right registration and tempi. Thanks for a great video. The toccata must have been a muscle builder for the boys pumping the bellows in the old days with its initial long, sustained F pedal. What an effect it creates when the bass is finally unleashed to become as active as the upper voices. I love listening for the trio of imitative entrances throughout that go off like skyrockets in triplicate. The order of the voices keeps changing, but when I hear that distinctive volley of notes shooting upward and drifting down in one of the voices, I anticipate its echo in another and another after that. It's a wild ride through changing keys, rhythmic intricacies, and chromatic surprises, but I feel I have at last pulled into the home stretch as the bass line floats down to a low C and locks in place for 23 measures. The end, right? No, Bach throws in seven more measures of broken C octaves then, suddenly, C flat, more chromatic fireworks, one last wild pedal passage, and the whole thing turns the corner to arrive where it began in magnificent F major! The thrill never gets old.
Never liked 576. Sounds like it belongs in The Organ Booklet.(Das Orgelbüchlein) Like 768 better than 767. Another I dislike and have played only once. (Head is too full of Max Reger to remember what it is!)
I can just picture that J.S. was a great dancer, light on his feet and so graceful. This is a dance, as is a lot of his music. Perhaps he saw life as a dance. I think this my favorite Bach piece.
Funny you should say this, as the way Gesner described Bach's conducting almost sounds like a dance. It must have been astonishing to watch this immense composer perform and conduct his own works.
The deceptive cadences are like the Baroque version of Wagner's Tristan Chord. Actively pisses you off but also amuses you as you never know when the resolution is really coming and then it just hits you in the end suddenly leaving you thinking "Wait what?! F Major already. But why....."
Gerubach, I dont know why, but this *toccata-fugue* has captured me in a way that teleports me to another planet...It must be my 100th time that I hear it...thx you very much. Thx J.S.Bach. All the honors for both of you... Sorry for misleading musical terms because in my native language "song" is equal "music" as well to "piece of something". I don't know much about musical terms. My best skill is feeling with heart. Thanks for yall feedback.
@@marensavino Saying "it's not a song. it's a piece" is akin to saying "it's not a car. it's a vehicle" after someone pointed at a Mercedes van and said that it's their favorite car. It makes it look like you don't really know what you're talking about, but still want to pedantically correct someone. There's no song here. Instead there's a toccata and there's a fugue. All three of those things are pieces. I'm being fairly pedantic here myself, but I'm tired of seeing this comment all over the internet. It sounds silly, and it's so incredibly common I've actually seen it used for ACTUAL songs (like arias from an opera or cantata). This isn't really directed at you. This comment was just the millionth straw that broke my humped, camel back.
@@marensavino I didn't really expect a response, and I'm also not sure why you chose that particular part to respond to. I have no idea where you get the idea that a piece can only be instrumental, though. A song is most definitely a piece of music. The same way a truck is a vehicle. I even double-checked just in case I've been grossly mislead all these years, but I didn't find a single definition on any site or in any dictionary backing that up. In fact, some even explicitly use the words "instrumental or vocal tones" in the definition of a "piece of music".
This may be for 2 reasons. 1) The major key. (one of the very few in major) 2) The "teleporting" that begins at 3.35. This lifts me up & transports me as well.
@@Garrett_Rowland It could be that back then, they were always called "pieces of music", not "songs". "Song" seems to be a more modern term that we have dubbed to music that is shorter and far less grand then these old orchestrated pieces of music.
Superb absolute excellent music.. (so good to see it as a musical score!!) How is it possible that a person could compose this????.. especially to see the musical score of the 'pedal work' was like a revelation!!!
Ktoś kto tak opisywał utwory religijne, tak wypowiadał się o Bogu: „SOLI DEO GLORIA”. „Bogu jedynemu chwała” Bóg nie mógł poskąpić talentu. Jest jeszcze jedna dedykacja Pana Bach: " Bogu na chwałę jedynie, a ludziom na pożytek, co z nauki płynie"! Nic dodać nic ujać.
Thank you so much. The music of JS Bach is the best. The organist is outstanding in this video. Long live JSB! Thank you for your work. It is too much fun to read the music while it is being played.
What is wonderful about this, for both parts but especially the fugue, is how a simple statement evolves into the most phantasmogorical mind blowing creative romp.
I've been addicted to this piece since I was a young lad! I also practice it in the organ, it's so much fun to just play it out! The fugue is sublime, I like the way you expose it, you give it sweet and clear articulations, an extremely cantabile détaché. It's an amazing fugue.
T. Alexander E. No s**t, I get it all right, but watch your ears!! Hearing loss after years of headphone listening is not fun! But I agree this music up close and personal is mind blowing and I can’t think of a better descriptor.
T. Alexander E. Yep! And it all comes together from the hands of Bach at this point, climactic, reaching for home, thundering up from pedal depths, we’ve heard the last iteration of this fugue theme and it’s more glorious than our minds can take. Gooseflesh, hair raising, sometimes eyes welling up, stupefying.
6:14 If you have a modern Organ w/ a 5 (or more) Octave Keyboard, you can take those 2 measures (for the Manuals) & play them an Octave higher than written.
When I was 12 I got my first Bach recording by Helmut Walcha, speaking of organ works, and over the years I always felt the older I got that this is never going to be enough, that there is yet more to discover and quite rightly so now that I am 40, for once I was right! It's almost unreal how one can find so much new nuances and emotions again and again in his music. Thank you Gerubach for doing such a wonderful service to the world with these videos.
This is by far my favorite performance. Very engaging. Great registration, articulation, and tempo. Manuals very clear and distinct from pedals, which in some recordings muddy up the manual work.
Good, but a bit rushed. The best rendition of the toccata, IMHO after listening to dozens of them many times, is by E Power Biggs: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cLHh5P_Qs3M.html
@@chonpincher I could never get past Bigg's staccato approach to this piece. That diminishes it for me. Many other interpretations are better, including this one.
I’d like to share a musical experience. I was in my bed sit. The music system I had was very good. I played this music for the first time. I thought the theme sounded a bit Scottish because the trill in the theme gave it quite a lilt. It surprised me as it continued because the cadences and the smiquaver seemed so fresh and new but also somehow familiar, wrapped in sequences that seemed half expected, very comfortable. To be honest, it swept me away. I felt transported. The music seemed to be endless and I didn’t mind one bit. Then something unexpected happened. As the falling arpeggios on the first movement were sustained, I could scarcely believe my ears, it was like my entire listening ‘body’ was suspended, floating, just like those sustained notes. My reasoning mind which had been thinking of following the voices could scarcely take units complexity and its simplicity. Bach, I don’t know how you did this. It’s like you understood my journey and you wanted to tell me something about my heart. Something words couldn’t say. I wonder if you were a divine mind that came to tell us all something. We certainly needed to hear your message. Thank you friend.
Does Mr. Chapuis always use that registration? I prefer the bass to be bit more pronounced and audible when the "flute-y" treble plays, as a matter of fact, all lines... The long droning F & C in the Toccata is funny to me, though I'm not sure why. Bach is going insane with the key changes, I sometimes forgot what key it's originally in!!
My theory is that the pedal solo brings us down into the chaos of matter from which we emerge, and that F sharp has to be there to represent reaching the bottom; but the G pedal note follows and we emerge into the most joyous part of the piece. I'm sure the F sharp is the original version, but some editors think it was a mistake and change it all to the dominant G note. I think not!
What's the fucking hurry? Where ya going... for gods sake? Don't give me that "correct" crap. Listen to your self. Listen to the room. Listen... you're suppose to be in control. Listen. I won't say it again. Listen. This is the work... that changed my life. Ready? Listen. I heard Fernando Germani play this in Moscow, Idaho in the late 50's. And I remember it now and "now" is Jan. 13th, 2020 AD ... with God complete... satisfied, thankful, resolute and informed. Thank you. Cameron Carpenter does a much more interesting performance of this work. Be fucking inspired. Well, what do you got to loose?
I am always wondering, if this toccata is a refined improvisation. It feels always so fresh and the ideas quite simple - and soooo colorful! I wonder, what Jazz musician would think about this.
Turn around the telescope and point the telescope inwards. The most amazing sights and sounds can be found there. Regards from a former star-gazer living in the big city now.
You have got to see it before you believe it, and it works. A very polyphonic experience. Nice speed, often played to hasty. The fugue could a bit slower.
Fun seeing the score. Thank you. Memorized this in late teens and had not seen it since. Why a little rushed? Does not play the pedal trills. Please show the B A C H motive in the pedal (4:06, 6:20, 8:20). I continue the fugue ornaments throughout the work, even in the pedal. Though slightly slow, I like Helmut Walcha the best.
Where is the Clavier-Übung III? I remember seeing you were working on it from the home page of your channel. Is it still a work in progress or has it been delayed? I'm anxious to see what a scrolling score it is. I love the mass.
+Martijn Pieterman The 2 & 3 part inventions. I was ahead of schedule and decided to squeeze them in before working on the St. John Passion. Thank you for sharing my video Martijn!
This always was one of my favourites. Unfortunately, the sound quality here on RU-vid with a sound card or with very expensive CD players in my cars are not good enough for organ music. However, on my Yamaha C1 and M1 with Infinity loudspeakers… Ages ago I had a copy of Walcha's complete Bach and some recordings wee made in the 1950ies - shudder…
The version is beautifully played. Maybe it is my sound system but I wish the placement of the microphone(s) was better thought out. I will try again with better speakers and amp.
I've only just realised that the top two parts are identical during the counterpoint sections at the beginning, it's just they're an octave apart and one is on a two bar delay to the other! How have I only just realised that!?
Vid is 14 and a half minute long. Ugh, do I have time for this? I don't know, these are so long, and I got stuff to do... (14 and a half minutes later): Hey, wait is it over already? Damn, that can't be it?! Did I really get so lost in all that, time slipped by me? ... :\
Right hand plays top (treble) clef, left land middle (bass) clef and both feet the bottom (bass) clef, which often sounds an octave lower than written.