A Moment of Bach

Ihr werdet weinen und heulen (BWV 103): opening chorus

Listening to this, perhaps Bach's weirdest opening chorus (and that's saying a lot!), Alex and Christian get tangled up in the forest of the complexities of this music.  We untangle some, but we also sit in and admire the thorniness of this piece of music, which perfectly portrays its text.  And we talk about how Bach can make us feel existential fear, not through flashy orchestral effects, but through the deep mysterious complexity of the music itself.  The special moment comes in a sudden bass recitative in the middle of the movement, like a clearing in the forest.  But this clearing is not free of thorns either...

Netherlands Bach Society plays BWV 103, directed by Shunske Sato

 

Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes (BWV 40): ”Christenkinder” aria

Bach's Christmas cantata "Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes" is resplendent with the joy of the season with its festive horns throughout. But in the tenor aria, Bach offers a more delicate excitement from the horns. In dialogue with the oboes, the horns offer the child-like wonder and excitement of the "Christenkinder" (Christ's children). A middle section contrasts starkly with a scary "frighten" (erschrecken).

 

We also explore the marvelous closing chorale harmonization with its "joy upon joy" and "bliss upon bliss."

 

BWV 40 aria "Christenkinder": Netherlands Bach Society

Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr (organ chorale prelude, BWV 663)

Bach's organ chorales are some of his best-known works for the instrument.  He had a way of clothing the simple hymn tunes with layers of heavy material.  The final product becomes something almost unrecognizable, and yet you can feel the essence of the tune hiding in there somewhere...  When you look for it, it's woven into the fabric of the work.

If you want to hear the previous episode on the first of the three organ chorale preludes on this hymn tune, see Episode 16 of this season of A Moment of Bach.

Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr (organ chorale prelude, BWV 663) by Reitze Smits for the Netherlands Bach Society

Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht (BWV 105): opening and closing

Sir John Eliot Gardiner writes about this cantata: "[Bach] recognized that small lives do not seem small to the people who live them." Bach had an interest in portraying the ordinary anxiety of the guilt-ridden person. Nowhere is this more evident than in Cantata 105 where he focuses on the human rather than the divine. Voices plead "Lord! Lord! Enter not into judgment with your servant." The first two voices seem to shout early! This jarring effect overlaps the apparent beginning of the next section of music. 

In the closing chorale, a quickly pulsating string heartbeat is fast and anxious. Bach incrementally slows it down using longer and longer note values. The result is a  gradual release of pressure, a bizarre and experimental structural device for its time.  "Now, I know, Thou shalt quiet my conscience that torments me."

BWV 105: Netherlands Bach Society

Netherlands Bach Society companion video on the obscurity of the Corno da Tirarsi

Fugue no. 23 in B major (Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2)

Bach the composer, Bach the educator, Bach the church music director, Bach the scholar, Bach the instrument inventor... Johann Sebastian Bach was so many things.

In this episode, we focus on Bach the innovator of keyboard technique -- specifically, a style of playing which facilitated the complexities of the music he put on the page.  Familiar with the great keyboard composers of the past, Bach built upon standard clavier technique and developed his own, which his son and his first biographer both recorded after his death.  This little compilation of information on how Bach played, down to the specifics of how the fingers bent and exactly what time each finger arrived at and left each note, is a real gem.  It might even be more precious to Bach performers than some of his manuscripts themselves -- because it can crack the code of how to actually play the music (or at least, to play it well). Indeed, many players of Bach nowadays owe a lot to this description of Bach's keyboard technique, not because they have necessarily read it themselves, but because all of the best music teachers have passed on its secrets over the years.

Fugue no. 23 in B major from the Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2, performed by Christine Schornsheim for the Netherlands Bach Society

Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich (BWV 150) (part 2 of 2)

Bach's first church works were anything but plain and dull. Untouched by Italian style, firmly in German Lutheran tradition, this very first known Bach cantata shines and surprises at every turn through its mazy passages. 

This is the second part in a two-part miniseries on the masterwork BWV 150 (Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich). See the previous podcast episode for part 1. In this episode, we discuss the last three movements: the shaking trees of the trio (Cedern müssen von den Winden), the frantic escaping of the net in the chorus (Meine Augen sehen stets), and the towering final Ciaccona.

In this episode, we reference Bach's most famous choral works. We see how in his early works he was more experimental, and we explore how the seeds of his later masterworks are yet already there. 

 

BWV 150 as performed by the Netherlands Bach Society (recordings used with permission in this episode)

Musical score to BWV 150 referenced in this podcast miniseries

Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich (BWV 150) (part 1 of 2)

Grab a score (or open the link) and follow along with us in an exploration of Bach's first known cantata. This straightforward psalm setting keeps us on our toes as it changes with almost every line of text, including the sublime and ancient sound of the "Leite mich" (lead me) chorus moment. Why doesn't Bach follow the rules of harmonic progression here? In this first episode of two, we will explore the first four parts of the cantata. This brilliant work of a very young Bach has a host of all-star moments within.

 

BWV 150 as performed by the Netherlands Bach Society (recordings used with permission in this episode)

BWV 150 as recorded by VOCES8 and the Academy of Ancient Music

Musical score to BWV 150 referenced in this podcast miniseries

Mass in B minor: Confiteor/et expecto (part 2 of 2)

Welcome back -- this is Part 2 of our 2-part series on a pivotal moment during the "Et expecto" section of the Mass in B minor. If you haven't caught Part 1 yet, which was released last week, we suggest you start there.

In this episode we go more in-depth with harmony than we ever have on this podcast. If you want to follow along with the twists and turns, get out your Mass in B minor score and read along with us! (Or use this link for a vocal score reduction from IMSLP.  The "Et expecto" bridge starts on the bottom of page 118.)

Jump to the "Et expecto" bridge, where we start this episode (performance, as always, courtesy of the Netherlands Bach Society)

Mass in B minor: Confiteor/et expecto (part 1 of 2)

Always know where you're going.

Today is part 1 of a 2-part series on one of the famous moments of Bach -- the transition from "Confiteor" to "Et expecto" at a dramatic moment in the Mass in B minor.  Rather than jump right into the final, festive section that describes the eternal joy of the resurrection of the dead, Bach first gives us a slow, searching, harmonically unstable bridge.  This section contains some of the most unusual sounds in all of Bach's work.  But... he always knows where he's going -- and when he gets there, it is glorious.

This week we focus mostly on the "Confiteor", which is a lead-up to the real moment.  Next week we get to the bridge.

Jump to the "Confiteor" from the Netherlands Bach Society performance of Mass in B minor

Vocal score for Mass in B minor (public domain) from IMSLP -- "Confiteor" starts on page 113

 

BONUS: J.S. Bach-Stiftung BWV 61 ”Amen, amen!” recording review and comparison

In this bonus episode, we return to the transcendent joy of the final chorale of BWV 61 "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland" to review a recording from the J. S. Bach Foundation (J.S. Bach-Stiftung). The lightning speed pleads for Jesus the "Crown of Joy" to return without delay in this performance directed by Rudolf Lutz. 

 

Thank you to the J. S. Bach Foundation for permission for A Moment of Bach to utilize this recording for a podcast episode.

 

"Amen, amen!" chorale, Bachstiftung (J. S. Bach Foundation)

Bach explained: Workshop on cantata BWV 61 "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland": Bachstiftung (J. S. Bach Foundation)

For further information on the Bach Foundation, go to: https://www.bachipedia.org/en/

 

Comparison: "Amen, amen!" chorale, Netherlands Bach Society