Johann Sebastian Bach | music clip of the day

Tuesday, December 31st

never enough

Johann Sebastian Bach, Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826; Martha Argerich, piano, live, Switzerland (Verbier Festival), 2008

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lagniappe

radio

WKCR’s Bach Festival, now in its tenth day, concludes at midnight.

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reading table

Those who love their own noise are impatient of everything else. . . . Our noise, our business, our purposes, and all our fatuous statements about our purposes, our business, and our noise: these are the illusion.

—Thomas Merton, No Man Is An Island

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no passport needed

This year folks from ninety-five countries stopped by to listen. Welcome, all.

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Saturday, December 28th

never enough

Johann Sebastian Bach, Suite No. 3 in C major for Unaccompanied Cello; Jean-Guihen Queyras, live, c. 2007

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lagniappe

radio

WKCR’s annual Bach Festival continues through New Year’s Eve.

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random thoughts

Life is one long lesson in learning how to breathe.

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Tuesday, December 24th

Last night this woman, who died of cancer in 2006, was very much alive, singing Bach on the radio.*

Johann Sebastian Bach, “Ich Habe Genug” (“I Have Enough,” church cantata), Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (1954-2006), 2003

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lagniappe

Christmas, 1948

Charlie Parker (alto saxophone), Kenny Dorham (trumpet), Al Haig (piano), Tommy Porter (bass), Max Roach (drums), “White Christmas,” live, New York (Royal Roost), 12/25/48

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*WKCR-FM (Columbia University), Bach Festival, through New Year’s Eve.

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Thursday, December 19th

Heaven isn’t somewhere else. It’s right here, right now. Don’t believe me? Put on a pair of headphones. Close your eyes. Listen.

Johann Sebastian Bach, Suite No. 5 in C minor for Unaccompanied Cello; Anner Bylsma, live, Germany (Dornheim), 2000

#2 (ends at 9:15)

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lagniappe

art beat

Lee Friedlander (1934-), Kyoto, 1984

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Tuesday, December 3rd

career plans for the next life

If none of those other things pan out (tap dancer, rubboard player, reggae bassist, guitarist in a Malian band), I might give cellist-in-a-string-quartet a shot.

Keller String Quartet, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), The Art of the Fugue (excerpts); György Kurtág (1926-), Officium Breve (excerpts)

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Thursday, October 17th

alone

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Violin Sonata No. 3 in C major, 3rd movement (Largo); Christian Tetzlaff (1966-), violin, Berlin, 6/22/13

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lagniappe

art beat

Robert Adams (1937-), Pikes Peak

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Thursday, September 12th

alone

This is something I would never tire of hearing, not even if I were to live a thousand years.

Johann Sebastian Bach, Violin Sonata No. 1 in G minor, 2nd movement (fugue)
Henryk Szeryng (1918-1988), violin

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lagniappe

musical thoughts

Music offers a respite from the mind’s incessant chatter.

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Thursday, August 22nd

alone

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Suite No. 1 in G major for Unaccompanied Cello; Anner Bylsma, live, Germany (Dornheim), 2000

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As I’ve said, I first encountered Bach’s cello suites in the ’70’s, when I was in college. Since then they’ve lost none of their magnetic power—it’s only increased. Living without them is unimaginable.