Tag: WQXR

humor, music

Jambalaya for JS Bach at Age 333

Posted on by Mellow Curmudgeon
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Physically, JS Bach was in Germany thruout his life.  His musical imagination ranged more widely, with trips to England and France and (especially) Italy.  Later musicians’ imaginations took him to many more places.  Brazil.  Russia.  New Orleans.

New Orleans?  Yes!

Pianists Eyran Katsenelenbogen and Tal Zilber took Bach (and some other saints of music) to New Orleans.  They later played souvenirs of that visit for an audience in China.  Bach goes marching in about 12 minutes into the 14 minute YouTube video; the whole thing deserves to heard and heard again.

The image below is a screenshot (with a link to the video) that is better than what I got with the YouTube embed code.  U can click on the image to follow the link and then click on “SHOW MORE” (just before the YouTube comments section) for easy access to each variation on the great song that is like an anthem for New Orleans.

JSB-NewOrleans

Happy Birthday, Johann Sebastian!  Hope U enjoyed the jambalaya.

Acknowledgement: I appreciate being pointed to the video from a post on the WQXR Blog by James Bennett, II.

 

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humor, music

Captain Counterpoint at Age 332

Posted on by Mellow Curmudgeon
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Yes, this post is a few days late for JS Bach’s birthday.  After 332 years, a few days late is timely enough.

E-mail from WQXR (sent 2017-03-23) alerted me a recent post on the WQXR Blog by James Bennett, II.  Bennett’s Here’s a ‘Happy Birthday’ Fit for Bach gives Bach a great nickname and birthday tribute.  Here is a short excerpt, along with an image that fits the nickname.

Giovanni Dettori reimagined the birthday song … .  His treatment of the hit tune is a 91-bar fugue-fest that proves that no melody is too simple to become something much more complex.  We’d like to bet that Bach, Captain Counterpoint himself, would be partial to this arrangement … .


Apart from an ending that sounds like something from the Haydn/Mozart era, Dettori’s fugue is a delightful reworking of the familiar ditty as a Big Fugue-ing Deal in true baroque style to celebrate Bach’s birthday.

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