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Hi,

I invite You to visit my channel with concertos, preludes and fugues and other pieces in Bach's style:

http://www.youtube.com/gkesik

Best regards,
Greg.

Very nice!

I like it a lot, the baroque is my favorite period.

did you go to school for music?

also, how did you sync the score up with the music?

wow - I chose to listen the toccata and fugue in G minor for organ (I love Bach's works for organ in G minor). I love it! That is so nice to be able to read along while the music plays. Great channel. I also listened to Vom Himmel Hoch, and enjoy Bach's choral preludes particularly. I've played around with Bach's variations on that theme.. I have it in the orgelbuchlein book (BWV 606).. It's one of my all time favorites in my all time favorite book .. so glorious Great job... I am SOOOOO envious of your talent. Please tell me more about your music. You are very talented!

WELCOME to piano world.

( here )

Excellent work! I visited your website and listened to some of your remarkable creations.

Have you released some of your compositons commercially?

Keep up the fine work!

Best Regards,

I love Bach's music. It was one of my first passions. Bach's music is world unto itself and incomparable in its mastery. Bach developed his style over many decades so it doesn't surprise me that listening to your music doesn't have the same impact of the mature works of the master. That, after all, is the challenge when you attempt to create new music in the style of a musical legend, you're being compared with their mature masterpieces, not their earliest efforts.

If compare your efforts to the early Bach I'd say you're doing pretty good. However, the Toccata and Fugue in D minor was composed when Bach was 18 and it's dramatic form outstrips your efforts. Your contrapuntal writing is excellent (way better than the 18 year old Bach), but you don't build up the tension that Bach does.

I suggest you analyze the dramatic structure of at least 5 Bach works from early to late mature pieces. Pick pieces that are especially dramatic (such as the organ toccata in F), but also some that aren't. For example the fugue that's coupled with the C major 9/8 prelude for organ builds incredible tension just within its harmonic structure. Explore what Bach does to build and release tension. It's not just harmonic structure, but motivic development. For example in your g minor organ toccata you never had the 32nd note movement continue past the barline.

You've done some fine work, but you're comparing yourself to one of the greatest composers of all time. You've certainly mastered some aspects of Bach's style. I wish you well in your future efforts.

Greg isn't comparing himself to Bach! He is simply writing IN THE STYLE of bach. There's a world of difference.

I'm not sure I get the world of difference, because that's the heart of the issue when composing in the style of another. You'll always be compared to original. He's put himself out there as composing in the style of Bach, that being the case he's going to be compared with Bach. It would be different if he termed his compositional efforts NeoBaroque, composing in the style of Handel would be less technically demanding (and perhaps more fun as opposed to the seriousness of Bach).

My particular issue was in regards to one of the most advanced concepts of composition, dramatic structure. Bach was a master of this. The fact that the Dorian Tocatta and Fugue for organ holds together despite its length is a testament to the strength of its underlying harmonic structure. This is why I suggested he analyse and study some of Bach's most advanced works. I made my comments because his music didn't seem to have the dramatic impact that Bach typically does. There's no great shame in that, the vast majority of contemporary composers fall short when it comes to dramatic form/impact. At least when composing in the style of another (in this case Bach) there's a model to consult, contemporary composers who create in their own unique styles have to devise their own methods for creating a musical dramatic narrative. Every composer here (myself included) could be better in this particular regard.

I apologise if I wasn't clear the first time. My impression is that when composers post here they want constructive criticism in order to improve their efforts as opposed to "Attaboys!" Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I've mentioned two Bach organ works in my previous posts, the 9/8 Prelude and Fugue in C (BWV547) and the Dorian Tocatta and Fugue. I thought I'd provide some links so you can hear what I mean. The Prelude and Fugue in C is a live performance and you can watch the organist (who does a nice job with it). The fugue (starts at 4:40) is especially brilliant from a structural point of view, Bach literally makes a mountain out of a mole hill taking a 1 bar theme and using it in inversion and augmentation and then combining all of them (rectus, inversion and augmentation).

Prelude and Fugue in C BWV 547
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKUILpQZzUk&feature=related

I've only included a link to the Dorian Fugue because this recording is almost 9 minutes long. It's not really in Dorian mode, for whatever reason Bach neglected to note a key signature for a piece that's obviously in d minor. I've heard this piece played faster and it makes an impression but this tempo allows the structure to come through more clearly.

Dorian Fugue BWV538
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwDeKK30sWs&feature=related

Hello everyone after a long break. I present new preludes and fugues, which have published since 2011:

in E-flat Major:
http://youtu.be/-ueVeCRBEl8

in d-sharp minor:
http://youtu.be/ikrkOmuJaLc

in e-minor:
http://youtu.be/Qgn5Dt0ZHPo

in F-sharp Major:
http://youtu.be/zjbO-lVGO5o

in G Major:
http://youtu.be/UZnd4HVrick

I try to complete my 24 preludes and fugues in J.S. Bach's style, so now I work more regular

Greg, your works are great! I wish I could try to compose music in Bach's style as you do.

Thank you, Iori. Bach's music fascinated me in 2000. Then I tried to explore it by often listening to and watching scores. After a few months I started to compose some new pieces in this style. This is my way to learn - maybe original, maybe not...

Greg,

Welcome back 3 years later. Where have you been? We like it when composers stick around and join the conversation. Three years ago I had a number of comments about your pieces and I won't rehash them now.

I've listened to a number of your preludes and fugues (somewhere between 6 and 9). The contrapuntal writing is very good, quite inventive. Most of them are at moderato tempo, so you may want to consider trying presto and adagio. My biggest concern is that the recordings are pretty obviously rendered by a notation program. This denies your pieces almost all interpretation and nuance. I was going to comment that the pieces seem to lack climaxes, but realized a lot of that could be the performance. It's difficult in a notation program to make the notation perform a piece with any sense of drama.

I have a fugue which I composed last year which I'll post in a separate thread. The recording was also rendered by a notation program (the give away is the abrupt ending of the final chord). I would welcome your comments.

Steve,

You're right that notations programs are not good in interpretation :), but I hope, that when I finish my 24 preludes and fugues, suddenly will appear a very good pianist, who will play them on 100%... In neo-baroque music maybe a good method is to present it as playing the harpsichord, but I started these movies on youtube as the piano versions, so now I have to complete them in that way. In the next 4 preludes and fugues I'll work at the other tempo, than moderato - for example a next prelude (A-flat Major) will be very fast.

In the last 3 years I had more other responsibilities, than composition - my doctorate (in political sciences) and my new job as a lecturer in the Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw

I've listened to your Prelude and fugue in G Minor - very interesting and of course interpretation is much better.

Echoing Steve, here, only I'm less kind, perhaps. It's very, very hard to tell what's happening here musically. The reason, crudely expressed, is that bad midi will WRECK even the best compositions.

So PLEASE respect your music: take that midi file, which in every case, sounds to me very promising, and render it through a really well sampled instrument (there are many terrific organ samples, and an increasing number of passable piano samples on the market). That's the easy part.

Then take your work and INTERPRET it musically. (Dynamics, etc....)

JG

New prelude and fugue - in A-flat Major:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qi5AyWsS0E8

I love this prelude and fugue. It has Bach's taste. It is smooth and lyric. Great!

Greg,

Your A flat prelude shows more facility and the fugue could be delightful. However, I'd like to point out that in bars 39-42 and 91-94 you don't have any sixteenth note action to keep the motion going. That's something Bach would almost never do and certainly not for 4 consecutive bars.

I'll also reiterate that the performance is seriously lacking especially in the fugue. The fugue sounds flat and it sounds like if it was played with excitement and expression it would be so much better. I understand if you're not good enough to perform the piece at that level, but performances can be manipulated in a good sequencer to get a much better performance. If you have a Mac, get Logic or Digital Performer. If you're on PC there are many digital audio workstation applications that can do the job Cubase or Cakewalk being two that I'm aware of. There's also Reaper which also has audio and midi recording and editing capability and costs much less, a discounted license is $60 and is available to any noncommercial user. Finally there's Audacity, but I don't believe it has any midi recording nor editing capability. Any of these applications would allow you to build a virtual performance as part of the composition process.