Bach - Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 (E. Power Biggs, pedal harpsichord)

[JohnTestling]

Vinyl or no vinyl: what is amazing here is this harpsichord has got an aluminium soundboard. Not the type of sound I cherish but surprisingly good for what is is made from! And a fab playing style. An exceptional document.

[orsonwellington]

Bach had daily access to full-size organs during most of his career. A guy with his caliber of mind could probably envision and notate quite a bit without the aid of an instrument anyway. Score another one for youtube! This gives another very nice glimpse into Biggs's hard to find material.

[ObscureAuteur]

@orsonwellington That may be, but its use involved expense and effort in those days before electric air pumps. In Bach's estate were several harpsichords (and NO Clavichords) including one pedal harpsichord. It seems entirely reasonable he might have practiced on one for various reasons including expense, especially since he owned one. While he did certainly compose without an instrument (deriding those who did as "Knights of the Klavier") he might still rehearse like a mere mortal.

[orsonwellington]

@ObscureAuteur -- good point. Getting students or whoever to run the air pumps for practice situations at may have been just another chore for the heavily booked Bach of Leipzig.

[ObscureAuteur]

@orsonwellington In reading older organ instruction literature a highly idealized notion of how preparation on other keyboards should be so complete that the final realization on the real thing will be like spontaneous improvisation. An ethic that one does not routinely practice on the grand instrument that might well reflect a common notion in the old days based on practical expense and maintenance considerations then glorified as artistic virtue. Bach was extremely practical.

[MegaBeerFart]

Interesting interpretation this Biggs. This is making me smile. :)

[MrWoofington]

Pedal harpsichord... I had no idea such a beast existed! Nice performance of the 582, kind of slow and deliberate, but wonderful nonetheless.

[polkusin]

@MrWoofington I think I read somewhere that Bach had one at home, so a lot of his organ compositions probably were originally written on a pedal harpsichord. Not sure about this, and in any case he was of course an organist too. Anyway it's probably easier as a "home" instrument in some sense :P

[gotohell714]

Ain't it sick that we listen to vinyl filtered through our laptops? Nothing beats pure vinyl.

[brtherjohn]

@gotohell714  And that was primarily because I can't find this on CD. Although I can't imagine it sounding better than this, the old debate between CD vs vinyl tends to leave out the the discussion the original master tape.

[ObscureAuteur]

@gotohell714 None of my friends who are good musicians will disagree. The sound quality of good, unworn vinyl is better than a CD from the same master. It is not impossible that a future digital standard will be able to surpass our aural capability to discern, but the present day CD is not that standard. Digital is inherently a compromise rounded to the nearest bit, while the less constrained analog comes closer to literal representation of what is there.

[thechuckster007]

Awesome sound!

[gotohell714]

\m/ thank you brother! \m/