Saturday 17 April 2021

Bach BWV 530 transcribed by The Herschel Trio

 

Bach Trio Sonata for treble recorder, treble viol and harpsichord, played by The Herschel* Trio. This piece begins at 48:17

This is a transcription of one of my absolute favourite pieces of music - the Vivace (first movement) from JS Bach's G Major Trio Sonata for Organ BWV 530. The whole thing is pure delight - but the three extended descending sequences are so absolutely delicious as to bring tears to the eyes. (The first of these begins at 49:09).

In the first version of this sequence the recorder does rapid semi-quavers while the viol does triplet quavers in syncopated support with the bass note coming on the first beat. The second sequence switches the lines with triplets in the recorder and semi-quavers on the viol. And the third sequence has both recorder and viol playing semi-quavers in mirror movement, with the bass note coming on the third ('off') beat.  

If you want to take a look at how the music 'works' - then the first part of this scrolling version of the original organ piece is very useful. 


If you want to watch the music being played (especially the bass line - articulated in beige socks...) then try this one:



*William Herschel started as a musician (composer, conducter, violinist) and for a while led the Durham militia band and Charles Avison's Newcastle Orchestra in my part of England. He then switched his efforts towards astronomy where he managed to discover Uranus, infrared, various planetary moons and much other stuff; to become the third most influential astronomer in history (ranked after Galileo and Kepler - according to Charles Murray's Human Accomplishment). Talented chap... 

1 comment:

R.J.Cavazos said...

Now that is genius! Beautiful. Makes me lament for the gray epoch we are living in. Reminds me of Heinlein, " A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
Specialization is for insects.” Few people in the west are up to doing much. I was thinking of your prior post on books and ideas. I read a few years ago the Autobiography of Ulyses S. Grant. It was simply astonishing. Beautifully crafted, showed a mastery of ideas. It was so good, readers thought that Mark Twain ghost wrote it. On a separate note, I do think maybe Steiner was on to something when he said the Slavs would be the saviors of civilization--they are a bright and competent bunch..