Bach - Little Fugue in G-minor BWV578

[MrOboey]

7 people don't play the oboe

[ilovechopin11]

I think I died and went to heaven.

[DevilishGuts]

This Stokowski guy is the one that worked for the songs in Disney's Fantasia =D also came here because of Catherine

[krlex3000]

The Lord Of The Rings .,,

[InvisaSmurf]

what seven losers didn't like this? may there be a pox on their houses

[adderaX]

Absolute love this. Progressively gets more and more intense.

Does anyone know how to properly pronounce "fugue"?

Is it pronounced with a hard g or soft g? Is it "fyewg" or is it like a shortened version of the color "fuchsia"?

[EarthBoundRules]

@adderaX It's pronounced like "fyoog" or "fyewg".

[Dinosawrroflcopter]

@adderaX fee-yoog in one fluid motion. Like the word sphere c:

[muulka]

@adderaX Like feug. eu as in euthanasia. Hard g. =D

Took some thinking as to how to spell it phonetically...

[yforgeau]

@adderaX

fu as fü in german or tu ( you ) in french

gue as in rogue

[RockRobotRock1]

Shrek Forever After

[deyan97]

俺はこれを聞くことを想像します。ス。。。ご。。イですね~！6­ 人は本当に聴覚障害者ですよー！

[fffeeerrr06]

6 people are are deaf...

[zXSasoriXz]

@fffeeerrr06 we don't need any more of these fucking lines please

[ElvynWolf]

Don't get me wrong: I think Leopold Stokowski is a genius and I loved what he did with Toccata & Fugue in D Minor when he had the orchestra perform it for "Fantasia". But this? Honestly, it's far more powerful on the pipe organ (The version that LuwiDa2nd posted is the best I've ever heard) This just kinda sounds like Stowkowski is having the orchestra tip-toe around the notes rather than letting the full power of the music be unleashed.

[MassimoBacilieri]

@ElvynWolf It's this recording that loses all the power, destroyed by youtube compression. I've the CD digitally remastered from original Stokowski tapes, and on a decent powered hi-fi it sounds majestic. At 3:20 strings and pipes erupt in power, here instead high-tones are cut away...

[ElvynWolf]

@MassimoBacilieri  Oh wow! That'd sound awesome! :-D I'd love to hear it!

[FelipeSFEA]

@MassimoBacilieri Agreed, I myself like analogue audio; Anyway, you could kindly convert that track in a lossless format and share with us, no? Regards.

[newmusic333]

@ElvynWolf But you don't get the objective of this arrangement. As you said, the organ produces a lot of power from the very start, but that is because it does not really have any options regarding the dynamics. However, the orchestra does have this option. Stokowski is using the orchestra to explore that option Bach didn't have.

Notice how the orchestration gets thicker as each minute passes. It starts off as an oboe solo, then it finishes as a tutti. It is a crescendo in texture and energy.

[insaniteh]

@newmusic333 I'm aware this response is a month old, but how does the organ not have the option of dynamics? Any organ with stops (anything 16th century onward) has the ability to change dynamics easily. How smoothly a crescendo goes is based on how applicable it is to the piece and the organist's talent.

[newmusic333]

@insaniteh So do you think a player can gradually build and change dynamics while playing a 4 part fugue with stops? If you can change them while all hands are used, I will be easily persuaded by your claim. Unless, you can change stops with your feet that is.

Correct me if I am wrong, have you played this fugue on the organ yourself?

[insaniteh]

@newmusic333 You can change stops with your feet. There are pistons (the buttons above/below the keyboards) that allow you to program in different stop registrations. You can either hit a keyboard piston while playing or while a voice is sustaining a note/quiet, or you can hit one of the foot pistons - they're above the pedals and shaped like small nubs and easy to hit without breaking tempo. The pedal section isn't complex enough for this to cause much trouble in most sections.

[insaniteh]

@newmusic333 I'm also learning this fugue on organ at the moment, and personally think it's best played with no stop changes and works just fine as a quiet piece. That's just my personal opinion though - plenty have done it with hefty crescendo, I'm sure!

[Picosaurus]

Am I the only one who thinks of the movie Paper Chase instead of Catherine?

[Loveliesful]

Is it bad that I thought of Catherine when I heard this?

[buntado6]

@Loveliesful Noup, in fact they should be thankful, that a game reminded us the beauty of the music of our ancestors :3

[Loveliesful]

@buntado6 That is sooo true. Catherine is so witty for doing that.

[roadrunr13]

@Loveliesful - Not at all. You could be like me and checking out the originals one track at a time after hearing the music on the Catherine CD. What an incredible game, too. After playing this game, the CD is on constantly in my car...

[Loveliesful]

@roadrunr13 I play it all the time at home on a constant repeat. I even made a playlist on iTunes of the symphonies and the originals. <3

[horaciosi]

Thumbs up if you first heard this son on MegaMan Legends.

[buzzerbeater9000]

3:19. niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii­iiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeece

[AntimonyInSushi]

I like the organ version better. The organ sound generally suits fugues more than anything else.

[brucethedrummer]

eargasm

[Bl00DN00B]

@brucethedrummer Lol Good one

[ToulBoi]

bass clarinets are very out of tune.

[EAFSQ9]

You could put this into a dramatic scene like a murdering or something in a movie and it would work well.

[l33tpwnzord]

Something incredibly uplifting about this music.

[jweezyf0sheezy]

I can't find a better version of this anywhere, anyone know what exactly to search for?

[WSenator1]

Now we're TALKING!!

[toodles248]

If this isn't a sign from god that humanity still has a hope of survival, I don't know what is.

As long as Youtube plays this, classical music shall never die.

[l33tpwnzord]

@toodles248

Amen!

[bryansteeksma]

Man, I wish this music was in the forefront of todays culture. I have a feeling that that world would be much more pleasant a place to live.

[omri967307]

AMAZING piece, AMAZING composer, AMAZING arranger.

what else needed?

[melancholyhumour]

Aaaaaah!



[parkerr0902]

i love the part when the tympani drums come in

[hoffbomb]

3:20 = beast mode

[hoffbomb]

3:20 = beast mode

[parkerr0902]

@hoffbomb my fav part

[fnog9]

@hoffbomb LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!

[Madamina171]

@hoffbomb 3:20 = Bach goes to war in MiddleEarth

[XyRCK]

Epic final... I love it...

[redbrian3655]

I remember as a young child hearing Leonard Bernstein explain and conduct this rendition on on of his "Young People's" Concerts on T.V. CHILLS!

[egotisticcougar]

The ending was great, but could've come in a bit stronger.I've heard a version so powerful that it left me shaking, but for the life of me i could never find it :'(

[counterpoint35]

@egotisticcougar That may have been the rendition by the BSO (did the ending have a blasting tuba, chilling drum roll and an awe-inspiring trumpet fanfare)? By the way, when I heard it, I was also shaking.

[counterpoint35]

@counterpoint35 If so, it is gone ;(.

[egotisticcougar]

@counterpoint35 yeah that's how it ended! I must find it!

[amt253]

@egotisticcougar I think you're looking for the Arthur Fiedler rendition. Search "B000003F5A" in Amazon and you'll find it.

[egotisticcougar]

@amt253 /watch?v=IPIRsFRUrKI no this is it, thanks though!

[Nagao21]

@egotisticcougar What about the Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra

[Meganikit]

LOVE THIS SO MUCH. Ugh! The ending! so beautiful/powerful!!!!

[gbaune]

Diese kleine Fuge ist ein Werk fürs Lehrbuch der barocken Melodielehre, und sie wird hier -bis auf den Mussorgsky-Schluss- genau so gespielt, wie Bach es in seinem Orgelwerk hinterlassen hat. Also bitte nur die Bläser am Schluss wegnehmen.

[whythewar1]

I can almost see bach , mending the air into this.

[nemnemnemnemi]

3:15 and up is when you truly see the universe in it's entire being, against a small entity yet both are one.

[Jubedube]

3:10 - 4:00 .....

AUAUUGUGUGAHHGHAHG INDESCRIBABLE.



[TheTwg888]

Woah, what's playing the base part in the exposition (after the basoon). Double base?? contrabasoon?? contrabase clarinet???

[TH3PR0D1GY]

I personally thought this music was good enough that you could compliment it without needing to making fun of other genres.

It appears not.

Some Rap is mighty fine. So is some classical. Such as this.

[snoboardgrl12]

Guys could you stop harping on each other and just enjoy a great piece?? On every single classical music video there's always a huge flamewar going on comparing classical to pop/rap/hiphop.

Classical kicks ass. IMHO

[7845lptape]

compelling

[fossosejore]

si chiama "piccola fuga" ma in realtà è grandissima!

[Infared96]

this fugue is wonderful... the episodes were captivating i totally forgot about the subject.... and the coda... was nice... i enjoyed :) thumbs up! great job Bach!!

[colourfulwithaU]

When composing with counterpoint, you work from the bottom up. Listen to just the very low register. Alone, they're brilliant.

[TreebornFrog]

I like this piece, however I do not like this version. Still its decent so I wont give it thumbs down.

[XEA6L]

This interpretation is epic.

I hereby approve this message.

[Hailstormand]

I heard this version first before I knew the organ version existed. Doesn't it sound like a story, where the hero goes through a lot of trials before emerging through the final conflict in a glorious moment?

[XEA6L]

@Hailstormand that's deep

[MrINeedSome]

Whenever I hear this piece I picture a king ascending to the stairs his throne with his procession following.

[TheLongingSH]

Not all rap is bad or brainless guys... some rap artists have meaningful/thoughtful lyrics, you just look at what's popular today. Classical music kicks ass, but it doesn't retract from rap.

[polymath7]

@TheLongingSH Not all rap is brainless no, nor is all of it by any means without talent.

But it is all -certainly all that I have heard- decidedly sub-brilliant.

[brainbasher]

@polymath7 i producer rap music and love classical toccata and fugue in g any day i can actually play fugue in g except when it gets to the pedals.... 5/5

[CAG044]

Why does everyone mention rap and proceed to compare it to classical?

[Jackpotur]

@CAG044 they're brainless, classic is better

[CAG044]

@Jackpotur Regardless of what you think is better, what's the reason that they're compared at all? Why not classical and pop? What do Rap and Calssical have in common, if not just some rap artists stealing some classical and rapping over it? I think it's stupid to compare the two.

[Jackpotur]

@CAG044 well, let us state our argument with congruent measurement, shall we?

My arguments:

Rap music promotes: doing drugs, being in a gang, misogynistic bias, etc.

whereas, classic is just soothing and has no avid ambition of inculcating some way of seeing the world on us.. so shut the f"$!" up

I won't argue with you that there are certain rap artists that do music about more meaningful things.

[RJPBurtonBoards]

@Jackpotur "classic is soothing" = opinion. You sound like some sort of super conservative southerner, rap music promotes drugs and gangs and waaaaaahhhhhhhh. Why dont you idiots stop arguing and just listen to the music? Comparing rap to classical is just stupid in the first place. Then again this is the internet, I shouldn't expect intelligence

[CAG044]

@Jackpotur I stated my question quite cleary, yet you are so argumentative that you proceeded to reply without even reading it!

I agree with you; most rap is exactly like that. My question, again, was why are they compared to each other in the first place?

[saigomikael]

@Jackpotur You do realize that there was a time when the so called "classical" music was shunned since it caused passion and desire. It's all in the perspective of the era.

[applemuncher212]

R.I.P. bach, biggie smalls, tupac, big L, big pun you all were musical legends and i miss you a lot

[xSnoweyexp]

@applemuncher212 Bach between between those rappers aka calling themselves musicians haha :p thats a discrase , without bach music nowadays music would be probably really sad. Bach is the Bible of music !!

[applemuncher212]

@xSnoweyexp you know what else is a disgrace? (not a discrase because discrase is not a word) ...your spelling. whoaa sick burn

plus you cant even compare this to rap theyre totally different/unique. But i'm just saying that bach was the biggie smalls of classical music

[xSnoweyexp]

@applemuncher212 Jesus christ , its fuckin youtube who gives a damn. I knew I was spelling it wrong so what. U probably don't realise thats english is not my first language. What other language can you speak fluently besides English ? You can say whatever you want but Bach was a genious, sorry if I offend your hero but Tupac was a rapper he wrote lyrics which can be a great thing to do but thats nothing compared too Bach's greatness !!!!!

[applemuncher212]

holy shit that ending gives me a straigh up hard on erection

[TheAngelcourt4]

I am guessing most everyone listening to this has either Music Appreciation or Zyko Music Appreciation

[tanglediver]

Wow, that was great. Here's to music appreciation class!!!

[TheStonCollector]

he understood what Bach didn't , the duality of the soul in the fuge, Stokowsky completed the escence of this

[musico81986]

Genius = Stokowski!

[md95065]

While not denying Stokowski's contribution, the real genius here is J. S. Bach ....

[TempleJuneTemple]

I too was introduced to this in a college music appreciation class and loved it ever since!!!

[SilentShooter53]

I was introduce to this piece in a college music appreciation course, the discussion was on musical Counterpoint and the professor used the Little Fugue as an example. It's a great piece of music!

[ppanama]

wonderful and powerful. A wonderful presentation of an incredibly powerful piece of music by a genious.

[padrenatas]

Una hermosa manera de ejemplificar el contrapunto. ¡¡¡Exquisita!!! En órgano me gusta pero esta adaptación es símplemente grandiosa.

[paradoxicus]

Stokovski,hace un molde perfecto en esta adaptacion de esta pequeña obra maestra.

[horseplacebigdream]

バッハ×ストコフスキーは凄い。

そもそもバッハのオルガン曲をこのように管弦楽編曲するという発­想だけでも凄いのに、このように様々な楽器によってバリエーショ­ン豊かにテーマが展開していてとても面白い。

録音にやや難があるのが残念だが、原曲の厳粛さを踏襲しながらも­ある意味違ったバッハで表現されているように感じた。

[AikiNick102]

Indeed a very fascinating composition. The ending was very powerful, as previous comment suggested. Thanks for the upload, mate.

[nostradamusguy]

How powerful a conclusion...

[ToulBoi]

@nostradamusguy its all the bass trombone :p

[p0rel]

NOw, this is quality..!

[PorlockJunior]

BTW that's one damn fine oboe.

[PorlockJunior]

Many thanks for posting this performance. It's the setting of the fugue that I've been looking for this evening, on the way to which I've found fascinating stuff, lots of it actually good.

And mainly it's the first piece of Bach I ever heard, and I needed to hear it again. That was waaay back before there was Authentic Preformance Practice, and we're better off now; but Stokowski's version has held up splendidly. Can't say that of much 18th century performance from the 1940s.

[foufz]

reminds of me of one of the soundtracks in rise of nations, battle theme

[grThetrojan01gr]

I Wonder why didn't I know about this transcription all this time! It's really... GREAT!

Bach's melodies of course are something more than excellent!!!

[darthlego66]

+10 absoluthely!

[masquerina]

I love it.

[darthlego66]

this is real music!!!

[FriendlyCroock]

yes it is

and the good comment`s always get minus

[meshtornProductions]

I really like this subject Bach made this song really well.

[meshtornProductions]

Ok This to rap

Rap

0 stars

This 9 billion stars

[FriendlyCroock]

yes stupid comment

[FriendlyCroock]

+10 ???

[applemuncher212]

yo bach's the shit straight up no trippin, but you gotta respect the rap game. This was the bees knees back in the 1800's whatever its still tight but now rap is where it's at! The new millenium is all about rap; method man, busta rhymes, all of wu-tang, tech n9ne, ludacris, FUCK LIL WAYNE HES A PUSSY hes not a real rapper so dont listen to any of his shit. but bach was a motherfucker of a composer! goddam i cream myself whenever that second part starts up.

[phobass]

@meshtornProductions there's good rap out there. keep an open mind

[VinciLit]

@meshtornProductions

You're such a fucking retard :D

[meshtornProductions]

@VinciLit please explain your reasoning

[VinciLit]

@meshtornProductions

Well, I shouldn't even try to bother explaining and I think I won't anyway, as you yourself need to realize the stupidity of the reasoning. Anyway, the very comparison it's idiotic. If I said that classic music or Bach or whatever had 10 billion stars and rap 0 did that mean that I can make a greater difference between the two than you can? I could even have said that Rap it's a 7-star music and Bach is a 10 billion-star composer, and the difference would still be greater.

[Vaelmael]

@VinciLit

I beg your pardon, please explain again as this is not an easy comment to understand the second half of.

[VinciLit]

@Vaelmael

you can beg as long as you please, you're still not pardoned.

[Vaelmael]

@VinciLit

Mein Kaiser, I ask for your pardon to come in the form of a more thorough explanation of what you are expressing towards meshtornProductions.

[maniacboyz7]

@meshtornProductions rap is amazing..

[Vesivian]

@maniacboyz7 u stupid

[maniacboyz7]

@Vesivian It's my own opinion. And you can't spell. 

[maniacboyz7]

@Vesivian Biggie was known to compose lyrics in his head, rather than write them down on paper. Sort of like Mozart, I think.

[Vesivian]

@maniacboyz7 ... this makes you even more stupid -_- every great composer composes the piece in his head then writes it down in paper.... fail..

[maniacboyz7]

@Vesivian Yeah no shit. Like Beethoven, he had little ideas that would come up in his mind. But didn't Mozart hear like a whole piece in his head or something, and he would write it down without changing anything?

[omnipotato98]

@maniacboyz7 Most composers can hear what they are writing in their head without actually hearing it. Beethoven was actually deaf when he composed some of his most famous pieces. Also, to meshtornProductions and Vesivian, don't compare classical music to rap, they are two completely different genres with different aims for their respective audiences. Rap is not as musically complex as classical music, but that does not make it inferior in every aspect.

[smitty01209]

@omnipotato98 Just to throw in, Bach was always renowned for being a very, ehem, headlong composer (though that isn't to say he is reckless). So many fugues, especially including the Contrapuncti of the Art of Fugue were simply written as they were, rapidly. Even such trivialities as perfect voice-leading came naturally to Bach. Mozart is a touch over-rated at any rate; Bach is the true master.

[Rosky12]

@maniacboyz7 mozart was a savant though, he would write down everything perfectly as he heard it.

[maniacboyz7]

@Rosky12 Oh well. I'm taking a music appreciation class so yeah lol

[verilace]

@maniacboyz7 lmao irvin

[polymath7]

This is one of those recordings I'd take to that proverbial desert island.

[tomchem567]

Zakochałem się w tej fudze:)

[JaredtheJaredLong]

I like to think of it as a battle between the different sections of the orchestra that keeps escalating until the low voices come in at the end and pwn everyone.

[ysbaddaden2003]

I heard one with chimes that was very chilling, comparable to Bach's Tocatta and Fugue in G Minor.

[himejijojoshu]

There`s a group in northern Japan called Monsters of Shamisen! They are performing a version of this on their new CD. arr for 3 Shamisens (Japanese stringed lute)

[JaredtheJaredLong]

Incredible.

[lonelygnome1]

There is the music of Bach. There must be a God.

[ultranom]

the question is what kind of a god besides an incredibly harmonic one...

[BenGabbay]

This is the music of God...

[WumpaCrash]

no. this is the music of Man.

[mknox242]

@WumpaCrash then I am the man. Whos the man??!? I'M THE MAN

[polymath7]

No, it's the music of Bach, who is far greater than God.

[polymath7]

Bach is great, ergo there must be a God even greater than he?

This is a sterling example of what Dan Dennett calls the trickle down theory of goodness.

[gildedtome]

study biology, physics, or chemistry there is a force in the universe far greater than even bach

[polymath7]

I'm sorry, but this is an exceptionally silly statement.

You actually suggest that study of the hard sciences -to which I assure you I am no stranger- will, ipso facto, cause anyone who does so to become a theist.

Aa a matter of empirial fact, this is simply not the case; 93% of the members of the national academy of the sciences are in fact atheists. But just out of curiosity, how, in your mind, does your implied conclusion follow?

[SaveTheRoach28]

theres an object which has a greater mass or acceleration or both than bach?!? ORLY?!?1

[polymath7]

@gildedtome Hello again! Even eleven months later, I think it 's still worth a moment's time to mock you afresh.

Tell me, these days do you still say "God" when you mean nature?

[rayburgemeestre]

brilliant! great transcription and performance of one of my favourite bach pieces.. I want to buy the cd now :)