Bach: Chromatic Fantasy and Contrapunctus 3 - Bradley Lehman

Two compositions in D minor by Johann Sebastian Bach: the Chromatic Fantasy (BWV 903a) and Contrapunctus III from "Die Kunst der Fuge" (BWV 1080).

Bradley Lehman, organ (live concert Sept 2007) and harpsichord (CD recorded March 2005).

The tuning for both of these is the same as in most of my other videos: a temperament I believe was Bach's own. Its recipe is: F-C-G-D-A-E 1/6 comma, E-B-F#-C# pure, C#-G#-D#-A# 1/12 comma. Full details are at http://www.larips.com

Enjoy! I especially like the contrasts of character whenever the music modulates far away from D minor, into keys of many flats or many sharps.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• johann
• sebastian
• bach
• chromatic
• fantasy
• contrapunctus
• fugue
• kunst
• fuge
• harpsichord
• organ
• bradley
• lehman
• larips

[gerardoaoki]

You don't understand the Chromatic Fantasy.

[thebpl]

Umm...care to explain?

[snakefl]

Fantasy in Bach's time is what we call improvisation today. Fantasies were Bach doodling around on the keyboard. You could hear Bach's creative process and ideas he is developing when you listen to his improvisation (fantasy.)

[mercoid]

Really. Come now... If you are going to make a comment like that to a doctor of music, be prepared to back it up!

[gurdjieff73]

this is a wonderfully expressive performance, i think, in contrary to what people think here, i think the performer displays a remarkable creativity in interpretation and a very colourful palette of singing voices.

[OrganoAeternam]

well I hate to tell you but from a professional view point hearing pauses in between page turns is a big no no and would ruin the performance. So you version will not be superior. May I ask how this sucks?

[thebpl]

Hmm. That organ has 24 stops, and this performance used all but about two of them (the Nasat and the Sesquialtera), in all kinds of combinations for contrast, and working without a registration assistant. It doesn't have any pistons, either, but has all individually-drawn knobs. You wanted MORE contrast and more athletic registration changes?! :)

[StefanoF87]

Wonderful!

[fnxgoliard]

Glenn Gould is a God.

Love his Tempest ... love hearing him sing it. People can complain about that all they want but the man's loving what he's doing.

[jjbennett88]

this really sucks

I'm going to post a video of me playing the prelude to this in a few days. It's going to have a few pauses were I turn pages (I don't have it memorized) but you will hear that my version is a lot better

[fnxgoliard]

nobody understands the chromatic fantasy

not nobody, not no how