Bach: Endlessly Rising Modulation Canon - Bradley Lehman

AUDIO ONLY. Harpsichord solo performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's Modulation Canon, from the Musical Offering.

Each time the piece repeats, it has changed key so it is a step higher in pitch.... The unequal tuning also helps it to sound increasingly intense during this process.

The full-length CD "Playing from Bach's Fancy" is available at http://www.larips.com , along with further information about this tuning method.

Direct ordering info: http://www.gcmusiccenter.org/php/music.store/index.php

December 2007 I have scanned my written-out performance score of this piece, showing the enharmonic modulations. It is near the bottom of the CD's advertisement page, here:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/larips/cd1003.html

An extended version of this video is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsgdZFIdmeo
(including a scrolling score, captions, and a second performance on organ)

Program notes from this CD's booklet:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/larips/cd1003.html

Category:

Music

Tags:

• bach
• modulation
• canon
• musical
• offering
• harpsichord
• cembalo
• clavecin
• clavier
• harpsicord
• lehman
• tuning
• temperament
• unequal

[ttwiligh7]

I like Sinfonias, Preludes and Fugues you played much better.

I understand this is the way you think the best for you to play, but I also understand the criticism on your rubato for this paticular one. Because it is very hard to get a whole picture by hearing this, as someone described as in a bumpy ride. You are right about expression, but I want to see the road clear from the begining to the end at the same time.

[c4ren]

i dont think these guys can actually hear the modulations my friend.

its actually not bad. :)

the art of modulation!

[thebpl]

An excerpt from that essay, explaining the tempo rubato: "[The notes] get stretched or compressed slightly, according to the way the music around them is going. As with the syllables of speech, context determines their precise pronunciation (articulation and accent), and the proper amount of time they deserve within larger thoughts."

Other people are quite welcome to play Bach metronomically, making it sound like a predictable and dull machine. I choose not to.

[thebpl]

Rather than coming out of "nowhere", the rubato is a direct reaction to the tensions and relaxations in the composition. I explained this fully in the "Interpretation" section of this CD's booklet notes, which you can see linked in the "more info" section of this video.

[Linnehan13]

I think I've nailed what is so disturbing to me. Your rubato comes out of nowhere. You'll burn trough a phrase only to hit a speed bump (or, rubato, as you call it) without slowing down. That's what's throwing me off. It's as if you went 40 through a hospital parking lot. Yes the speed bumps will slow you down a bit, but it wont be a fun ride.

[thebpl]

Well, I am claiming to be a harpsichord expert (I have been playing it professionally since before you were born, according to the age on your profile...), and the instrument's not obsolete. What you're characterizing as "random note lengths" (with serious overstatement) are part of the style of playing this instrument expressively, for the reason I already pointed out: we can't make dynamic contrasts by pressing harder on the keys. I took up this instrument because I enjoy it. Ah, well.

[Linnehan13]

I don't play harpsichord myself, as it became obsolete centuries ago. I'm not claiming to be a harpsichord expert, but when the tempo changes so often in the middle of a phrase, with random note lengths that aren't conducive to the style, it's hard to understand why anyone would wish to take up the instrument.

[thebpl]

Ummm....my tempo rubato is deliberate, and a direct reaction to the tensions in the intonation, lingering more on the juiciest bits.  The point is to play the music expressively -- on this instrument that doesn't allow dynamic variation in the touch, so it's done with careful and deliberately irregular control of timing. Do you play harpsichord, yourself? Thanks for listening....

[Linnehan13]

Try practicing with a metronome. You seem to stumble around certain phrases.

And certain keys sound way more comfortable for you. The point is to make it sound like every key is equally easy.

As for posting my own version, I am far too busy to learn this at an acceptable level.

I do acknowledge this is a tough piece, yet not ever single accomplishment by everybody needs to make its way onto YouTube.

[thebpl]

Linnehan13, the handwritten arrangement is displayed on my other YouTube video about this, and linked so it can be printed out. I invite you to practice it and post your own harpsichord performance that would be more to your liking. I'm curious, since you're offering the free advice on performance or aesthetics: what, specifically, do you think I ought to have done better in this CD where I'm giving away this free track?