Bernstein on J.S. Bach part 2

[eplacier]

the choir is dreadful...

[bersa888]

Indeed, we have come a long way since that way of playing baroque music... ;-)

[Pianofy]

Huh, At 1:48 isn't that Pachelbel's Canon? Not Bach's, right?

[meyerchen86]

@Pianofy air aus der orchestersuite nr 3 bwv 1068

[DonnieTheKing]

@Pianofy No, it's Air from Bach's 3rd Orchestral Suite.

Same key as Canon, though

[soaringvulture]

Damn. There's no geniuses left.

[colourfulwithaU]

What is the piece at 1:13?

[meyerchen86]

@colourfulwithaU badinerie aus orchestersuite nr.2 bwv 1067

[sowhat123]

what is the piece that he starts playing at 4.50? anyone?

[shehry1shehry]

How can he not quote the Cello Concertos.

Apart from the reasons which Bernstein cites, my initial contempt for Bach stemmed from my disgust for the harpsichord which, as Beecham rightly put sounds like two skeletons copulating on a corrugated tin roof

[apolloxias]

@shehry1shehry This makes me laugh because it's so true.

[shehry1shehry]

@shehry1shehry

...obviously I meant the Cello Suites :)

[vikramkrishnan]

@shehry1shehry I always thought I was the only person who hated the harpsichord. Nice to find out others dont like it either

[kenalebla]

@shehry1shehry Cello concertos? The suites?

[shehry1shehry]

@kenalebla Obviously the suites (which I acknowledged two days after posting the original comment). I was probably taken in by the originality of quoting someone else.

[bersa888]

@shehry1shehry : maybe because JS Bach didn't write any ;-) You probably meat "suites". :-) As far as the harpsichord, Beecham's comment was based on his knowledge of the instrument available at the time, a horrible caricature of the real thing - or of the accurately reconstructed models of today.

[prissi]

@shehry1shehry hahahahahahahahah that is the best quote EVER

[streek23]

@shehry1shehry - The harpsichords Beecham probably heard were made terribly and with no respect for the original models. If you've ever heard a modern harpsichord that is based on very well made instruments still in museums, you would not be able to characterize its sound with that idiotic, crude analogy. A good harpsichord has a good deal of sustain and an extremely rich palette. I've played both instruments for approximately twenty years and find great pleasures in both.

[shehry1shehry]

@streek23 You may be right but it is difficult to digest that a man who lived from 1879 to 1961 and conducted the Royal and the London Philharmonics never heard a good harpsichord. Perhaps the statement was a generalization, perhaps contextual. But since Beecham had idiosyncratic opinions (Beethoven's 7th being frolicking yaks) that he readily voiced, I prefer to think that he simply disliked it

I started hating harpsichords long before I heard Beecham. Sorry :) Perhaps I should hear you play

[Dodo251]

Leonard Bernstein was an exceptionally gifted genius.

[jacobromu]

Maybe if you didn't play those 16th notes with so many impulses.

[pistique]

the clothes of the choir.. ridiculous. but a fantastic series about classical music. why we didn't see it in the school, instead of the boring speech of the teacher about music.

[develish16]

@pistique i envy you. at least your school did talk about music....