Bach, Johann Sebastian Books - Page 3

The Organ Music of J. S. Bach

Peter Williams

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Everything you need to know about Bach's Organ Music 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book is fundamental for every organist! Very clear and full of relevant and difficult to find information about Bach sources. A must buy.

Editorial Review:

Taking account of Bach scholarship of the past twenty-five years, the first two volumes of Peter Williams's classic study of Bach's organ works are fully revised. This work is a piece-by-piece commentary on this ever-popular repertoire, demonstrating the music's unique qualities and how we might hear and play it today. The book follows the order of the Bach catalog (BWV): beginning with the sonatas, followed by the "free works" and the chorales, and ending with the doubtful works, including the "newly discovered chorales" of 1985.

Musical Dialogue, The: Thoughts on Monteverdi, Bach and Mozart

Nikolaus Harnoncourt

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Musical linguist decodes the old masters 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a very educational read for lovers of the music of Monteverdi, Bach, and Mozart who are interested in 'how' they are performed and what is 'period-consistent' ... according to the legendary conductor.

It is not an easy read... quite technical and require that you can at least read music score and have at least some understanding of classical composition. Herr Harnoncourt discusses what he deduces from what 'is not' written in the score of these composers (ex: when there're markings that seem redundant or unnecessary, they're there to cancel out something else that was so taken for granted as 'traditional way of playing' in those times that the composers didn't feel they needed to put it on the score, etc). He also discusses some specific works like Monteverdi's 'L'incoronazione di Poppea', Mozart's 'Idomeneo', and Bach's 'St Matthew's Passion'.

Very well written (and translated)... thought provoking and helps me understand Herr Harnoncourt's style of conducting these music better. But you've gotta do your homeworks and know something about music composition before trying this book. I'd have loved it if he had included some photos of autograph scores by the composers... or a CD. But then I think the book was written for his musical colleague rather than to the general public.

Editorial Review:

These lectures, talks, and essays focus on three major composers of the 17th and 18th centuries.

The Cantatas of J. S. Bach: With Their Librettos in German-English Parallel Text

Alfred Durr

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Outstanding Resource 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Alfred Durr's The Cantatas of J.S. Bach is the "bible" for any conductor, artistic director, church musician or music performer and listener that is interested in performing or understanding Bach's canon. Hi give it my highest recomendation.

A must for all cantata lovers... 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 6 people found this review helpful.

...such as myself. Yes, yes, I know, it's bloomin' expensive for a paperback, but what a paperback! An essential companion to one of the greatest bodies of music ever written. Professor Dürr describes the cantatas in church year order, so first up is Advent cantata BWV61 "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland" for the first Sunday in Advent. In addition to the church cantatas, you also get the secular cantatas and the Christmas Oratorio, not to mention detailed historical and musical descriptions. In short, a treasure trove of a book.

Editorial Review:

A work-by-work commentary on the Bach cantatas by the world's most famous Bach scholar, now available in English for the first time. It includes all the cantata librettos in German-English parallel text. An indispensable reference book for anyone listening to, performing in, or studying any of the Bach cantatas.

Bach Interpretation: Articulation Marks in Primary Sources of J. S. Bach (Cambridge Musical Texts and Monographs)

John Butt

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Editorial Review:

This study is a comprehensive assessment of J. S. Bach's use of articulation marks (i.e. slurs and dots) in the large body of primary sources. Dr Butt analyses the role of such markings within the compositional process, how they relate to the norms of articulation of the period, and how they might assist us in a deeper understanding and evaluation of Bach's style. With its extensive catalogue of the most common slurring patterns based on a study of over 100 concerted vocal works, this book is invaluable both for performers on all baroque instruments, and for scholars with an interest in Bach's style and source studies. It also contributes to our perception of Bach's position in music history: the purpose of music in the Lutheran Germany of Bach's time and its rhetorical power; the close relationship between composer and performer within the context of 'practical' music; and the functions and development of notation.

Bach's Works for Solo Violin: Style, Structure, Performance

Joel Lester

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Editorial Review:

J.S. Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin have had a central place in the repertoire since the mid-18th century. This engaging introduction to these works is the first comprehensive exploration of their place within Bach's music, focusing on their structural and stylistic features as they have been perceived over time. Combining an analytical study, a historical guide, and an insightful introduction to Bach's style, the book will help violinists, scholars, and listeners develop a deeper personal involvement with many aspects of these wonderful pieces.

The Craft of Tonal Counterpoint

Thomas Benjamin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Great text for 18th Century Counterpoint 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

The Benjamin has a composers' viewpoint more than other counterpoint texts I've used. He speaks (well) to aspects such as rhythm and shape of line in each chapter, never sacrificing the other musical parameters to the all-too-common primacy of pitch. There is a useful balance of prose to musical examples.

Benjamin includes linear analyses of several examples. This provides a solid introduction to Schenkarian concepts for lower-division students, and yet they can easily be skipped by those who prefer.

This text has a satisfactory anthology of JS Bach pieces at the back. This is important at schools where textbook budgets for most students are slim.

I have yet to use the last few chapters in my one-semester course, but in a year-long sequence, they would be welcome.

Editorial Review:

The Craft of Tonal Counterpoint is an introductory text to the analysis and composition of tonal counterpoint. Tonal counterpoint is the basis of all classical music composition; students of music theory and composition are all required to take a course on this topic. Using examples from the music of J.S. Bach - the master of this style - the author takes students through a series of carefully graded, cumulative exercises that stress both analysis and writing. Benjamin covers chromaticism and fugal writing in exceptional detail. The exercises cover a wide range of formats, including error detection, linear pitch reduction, analysis and composition. The book also incorporates a 100-page anthology of scores, effective for analysis, in-class performance, and compositional models.

The True Life Of J.s. Bach

Klaus Eidam, Hoyt Rogers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Shame on you Basic Books! 1 out of 5 stars.
20 of 35 people found this review helpful.

What a shame! That a respected publisher like Basic Books would release a text in such a sorry state. As a translator, I don't like to criticize my colleagues, but the language of this translation is appalling. It reads as though the translator, in many places, just put English words in place of the German. When I ran some of the sentences by some colleagues, they all agreed that they could see the German syntax through the English text.

While the translator is at fault, the publisher is guilty of not taking the blue pencil to this text. This gives such gems as:

Legend has praised one of the Bachs to the skies in particular:

... they made music that was not to be sneezed at.

That the sons would also become musicians was taken for granted.

Of their childhood there was nothing left.

Though time-consuming in any event, the experience was nonetheless rewarding...

To Luther's Reformation belonged above all the lively participation of the congregation in the worship service, especially the German hymns that were sung together, and therefore the cultivation of church music.

These sentences, all taken from the first couple of chapters, stand out like potholes in the road of reading. I couldn't go any further than page 18.

Save your money...

Editorial Review:

This comprehensive biography contrasts 250 years' worth of legend with the real facts of Bach's life as uncovered through the author's extensive research.

In this new biography of Johann Sebastian Bach, Klaus Eidam brings the icon of Baroque music into focus as never before.

Interpreting Bach at the Keyboard (Clarendon Paperbacks)

Paul Badura-Skoda

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

For the Pianist 4 out of 5 stars.
17 of 17 people found this review helpful.

Here is performance information for the pianist without apologies. There are numerous excellent books for organists and harpsichordists from which I have been forced to extrapolate to the piano. Badura-Skoda exhaustively covers all facets of Bach performance on the piano: rhythm, articulation, tempo, and that endless bug-a-boo, ORNAMENTS! He is fearless in expressing his insight and opinion on ornaments and their execution. Musical examples are plentiful, avoiding the need to fetch scores. Of particular interest is his section on the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, a short chapter on 18th c. organ-barrels(!), and a Gouldian Imaginary Interview on the "Urtext Problem". "Interpreting Bach" is an informative reference book reminiscent of Rosenblum's "Performance Practices" in scope and ease of use. Well worth the investment for the pianist knocking on Bach's door seeking entry. Badura-Skoda can help open it for you.

Editorial Review:

The ever-increasing number of performances of Bach's music is a sign of its enduring vitality. But perhaps no other composer is subject to such a wide diversity of interpretation. In this important book, Paul Badura-Skoda draws on forty years of studying and performing Bach to present startling new insights into many different aspects of Bach's music. Sometimes contentious, always stimulating, Badura-Skoda's book conveys a passion for an informed interpretation of Bach's music based on a recognition and respect for Bach's actual intentions. Copiously illustrated with musical examples, the book will take its place as a standard work for all students and performers of Bach's ever-popular keyboard music.

Bach: Essays on His Life and Music

Christoph Wolff

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Editorial Review:

Step into the classroom with Christoph Wolff

Johann Sebastian Bach holds a singular position in the history of music. A uniquely gifted musician, he combined outstanding performing virtuosity with supreme creative powers and remarkable intellectual discipline. More than two centuries after his lifetime, Bach's work continues to set musical standards.

The noted Bach scholar Christoph Wolff offers in this book new perspectives on the composer's life and remarkable career. Uncovering important historical evidence, the author demonstrates significant influences on Bach's artistic development and brings fresh insight on his work habits, compositional intent, and the musical traditions that shaped Bach's thought. Wolff reveals a composer devoted to an ambitious and highly individual creative approach, one characterized by constant self-criticism and self-challenge, the absorption of new skills and techniques, and the rethinking of riches from the musical past.

Readers will find illuminating analyses of some of Bach's greatest music, including the B Minor Mass, important cantatas, keyboard and chamber compositions, the Musical Offering, and the Art of Fugue. Discussion of how these pieces "work" will be helpful to performers--singers, players, conductors--and to everyone interested in exploring the conceptual and contextual aspects of Bach's music. All readers will find especially interesting those essays in which Wolff elaborates on his celebrated discoveries of previously unknown works: notably the fourteen "Goldberg" canons and a collection of thirty-three chorale preludes.

Representing twenty-five years of scholarship, these essays--half of which appear here in English for the first time--have established Christoph Wolff as one of the world's preeminent authorities on J. S. Bach. All students, performers, and lovers of Bach's music will find this an engaging and enlightening book.