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#8 - Freuet euch, ihr Christen

#170 - Nun komm der Heiden Heiland

I like these.

Beautiful!!
Until now (and I really mean just now), I never thought of the chorales as pieces that might be performed, or, to tell the truth, even really played, or studied as pieces to be played. And I don't mean about the "playing Bach on the piano" issue; I would have thought the same thing about it on any keyboard instrument. I always thought of the chorales almost as abstractions, things that just "are."

You changed my mind.

Probably my view came about from my 1st year theory teacher in college, who viewed the chorales as quasi-holy; maybe even forget the quasi. He referred to them constantly. When he spoke of them as a group, it was never "the chorales," it was always "the three hundred seventy one chorales."

Do you know/play a lot of them?

@Mark_C,

You haven't yet seen the composition for "10,000 pianos" in the other thread as I have posted a very important question for you, there. Looks as if there might be some delusions of grandeur floating around.

New piece for 10,000 pianos?

Do apologize for taking you away from the original post, here.

Please stop hijacking my thread. Joel and Mark_C, thank you for your genuine comments.

To PV: I don't do semi-professional work here unless I have to.

@Polyphonist,

Sorry for the distraction (although that was directed at Mark only) and I wanted to add that your playing appears to be quite accomplished, above. Very nicely done.

Questions:

1) Do you ever give reviews or comments on other members recordings? And, if not, why?

2) Can I request a review of the recording, below?

Members Recordings

Please note:

So far, it appears that hardly anyone is interested in posting comments as I see very little involvement.

And, it's not just one recording - as many others in that forum remain or go unanswered, also.

Otherwise, it may be a waste of time posting recordings!

I used to, but I have mainly ceased to do so.

Very nicely done. Beautiful lines and voicing. A pleasure to hear. Thank you.

Nice job!

I bought a book of the chorales a while ago to see what I could learn. This makes me want to pick it up again and try to perform them.

Poly - Thanks for sharing these. Well played !!

Mark - I as introduced to the "371" in Freshman theory class as well. "Holy" or not, they are all wonderful little musical gems. I've played several of them over the years in various Protestant churches - both on piano and organ. Certainly not uncommon.

Just like all of the other critics that have reviewed recordings with it present, is there any reason no one said anything about all of the rolled chords.

According to my recent correspondence with Robert Levin of Harvard, it is an expressive device that has been utilized from the pre-Baroque period until the Impressionists.

By the way, even though it is a transcription, I think it could be played a little more forcefully. It is a chorale, and in my world that means song-like (as in Bel Canto Aria style).

Schutze, Scheidt, and Schein were incorporating Italian vocal styles into German music before the time of Bach.

I knew Louis would be around at some point with the rolled-chords business.

While Louis is busy rolling his chords, we're rolling our eyes.

Please excuse my naïveté, but why should we be discussing the use of rolled chords? Are you saying it was appropriate, or inappropriate? I would certainly roll chords on a harpsichord as a means of increasing sustain and reducing the intensity of the attack. On the piano, there are other reasons for rolling chords in a Bach Harmonized Chorale. What Poly did certainly was musical. Please explain.

I think the issue might be that if we all do as you do above then no one will end up receiving any replies or feedback on their recordings. Looks like posting a recording for review may very well be a lost cause in the "Members Recordings" forum as many of us still have "0" replies to date.

Are most members not interested in the recordings being presented?

And, what are your reasons for not contributing?

Any other ideas on this?

I honestly think the Members Recordings sub-forum should be trashed and people should just post their recordings in the Pianists Corner forum. It gets more view traffic, and a sub-forum for member recordings is really quite unnecessary in my opinion.

@JoelW,

You bring up a good point as we might as well post recordings in some of the other forums - and, see how it goes.

Good advice!

yes


I think you'll regret asking.


Louis: In case you really don't realize, the reason is that nobody else here regards this as a major thing. It's just one of many, many details of performance practice that could be mentioned in almost anything -- as are those many many other things.