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I think that's a particularly stressful one, because the main section is so long.

Actually I heard it once in concert, years before I knew the piece well. For some reason, and this has never happened to me before or since, I was completely stressed out during the entire performance, thinking that the pianist was going to get derailed. I don't know why that suddenly became a major concern of mine. Something about that piece.

-J

With all due respect to Mr. Mulroney, I think that's quite a stupid thing to say.

As you say, harpsichords are capable of producing a variety of colors using the stops and the different keyboards. I heard Rosalyn Turek on a few occasions get almost as many colors out of the harpsichord playing the Goldberg as she did on the piano. Both were equally satisfying in their separate ways.

Hearing Prof. Moroney play was amazing because he was able to get some variation in the initial pluck as well. I tried to replicate it but it is incredibly difficult to do.

Makes me kind of want a harpsichord to play Bach on.

Many years' ago I competed against Davitt Moroney in a harpsichord competition. (I lost, of course) He is a fine musician, worthy of respect and as trigalg693 indicates, expression in a harpsichord is not solely, or even mainly, about changing stops/manuals. Articulation, speed of key depression, rhythmic subtlety are just some of the ways in which the harpsichord comes alive. Any player who relies on changing stops/manuals does not understand the instrument. Apart from anything else, changing stops is very often difficult to impossible whilst playing. Pianists can indeed learn something about playing Bach by experimenting with playing all parts at the same dynamic level - not for a final version, why not use the qualities of the modern piano - but to explore the more subtle ways of differentiating the parts without mere dynamic contrast.

Yes

I do believe I know what you mean, but, alas! I can never get Bach "right"! Every time I hear a colleague play (well) a work of Bach on the piano, I am inspired to play Bach. While I am a man of perseverance and patience and have dutifully and conscientiously worked on some Bach, somehow I can never satisfy the great gulf between what I want my Bach to sound like and what it eventually does sound like.

Are some of us just not Bach players, I wonder? More is the pity when the will and desire are there!

Regards,

This pretty much sums up my experience playing Bach as well. When I start learning a Bach piece I go through an initial "honeymoon period" where I make good progress and feel more comfortable than I do with almost any other repertoire... but then I hit a wall. It's so frustrating!

I absolutely agree with the original poster. Something about Bach is just so soothing and enjoyable.


Also, it seems to me that the performer actually has to exert far less effort into playing a piece by Bach because, while often technically challenging, he is one of those composers where simply playing the right note at the right time will make it sound VERY good (as opposed to more romantically inclined composers).

You're spot-on.

For me, nothing quite says "YOU'RE NO GOOD" like practicing Bach does!

That piece...the Bach-Siloti prelude, is just the most haunting beautiful thing ever. Especially played by this gentlemen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXbBOWlkR9g

It's also a wonderful example of how difficult 'simple' music can be to perform. This is not an easy piece because the slightest lack of delicacy and beauty kills it.

Where is that banghead emoticon?

I agree about going into a trance like state when playing Bach,
I recorded this recently on the organ

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nU41xcRiplg

I would half agree with him, the music strikes me as nigh-indestructable. Playing it well though obviously takes a lot of effort, as it would to play anything well. And I find just learning the notes to a Bach piece harder than for other composers I've checked out.

I love Bach, I really do. But I must say, nothing drives my stress level up like playing Bach. This has happened ever since I was 6. I don't why. The counterpoint of other composers doesn't bother me, nor does having to maintain a clear texture. But something about having to play Bach, even the homophonic works, makes my brain go haywire.

Really? It's the opposite for me, maybe it's psychological since I feel technically secure with Bach. I feel like when I learn Bach, I go through the music and think for a while about how I want to play it, and then playing it is a very relaxing, kind of meditative experience where I am just having fun with the music and enjoying making it sound the way it does. It makes me feel like I'm almost improvising even though it's completely prepared.

I guess that's my attitude towards playing music in general, but with other music there's maybe some expectation that I think the audience has that adds some stress to it.

Then enlighten us, professor.
No, I'm serious. I'm curious.

Oh my goodness, same here! I seem more anxious to make the perfectly harmonized notes sound... (I hate to say this) more... musical? Please don't crucify me! I mean to say, make Bach's technicality and structure sound more beautiful and fluent and... passionate? Beauty, fluency and passion is relatively easier to pull from Liszt, Chopin, etc. But Bach...? I highly revere Glen Gould because I feel he's the only pianist I know who can make a stoic Bach invention sound like a love song. (or something of the sort) Just my opinion.

Bach is different because his whole concept of music is different than what I'm used to. When I'm playing him, I always think - which line is the most important? Which line is accompanying the other? Where is the climax of the piece?

Sometimes there aren't answers to these questions...

A harpsichordist's answer to those: They are all equally important.

Wait, I forgot I wanted to say something helpful lol.

I was struggling with BWV 849 C# minor Prelude today. It's so hard to figure out what to do with it. Listening to recordings was a hopeless exercise in expecting something different and not getting it. I feel like it sounds great if you just play it evenly with the right sonority, but that's what everyone does and I feel like it needs more spice than that.