Who is the composer for: "Suite No.3 in D, BWV 1068: Air" (SEVEN soundtrack)?

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwitel 

All it says on Amazon is "Stuttgarter Kamme Rochester/Karl Munchinger". 

 

Is Munchinger the composer?

J.S. Bach. Anytime you see "BWV", it is Bach. 

I recommend listening to Karajan's version and Voices of Music's (on youtube). 

Stuttgart Kammerorchester is the chamber orchestra and Karl Munchinger is the conductor.

Karajan's Bach isn't necessarily the best. It's quite overblown. Here is a great MP3 box set of Bach- 6 1/2 hours of great performances from the audiophile BIS label for only $1.99!

http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Supreme-Classical-Masterpieces-Masters/dp/B005WW94ZS/

Amazon is MP3 LAME 256. It is a little better sound- AAC 256 VBR at iTunes, but it's three bucks more. Still a bargain.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/bach-100-supreme-classical/id407520516

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwitel 

 

I had no idea.

I know NOTHING about Bach...and find this piece to be incredibly beautiful.

 

What would you suggest I start with considering my feelings about this one piece?

His most popular pieces tend to put greater attention to the melodies, though not always. Such works are easier to understand, and therefore more popular. I'll list some:

: BWV 1068 (Air), BWV 1007 prelude, BWV 1006 prelude, double violin concerto, Sheep May Safely Graze BWV 208, Sleeper's Awake! BWV 645, 6 Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1042 

Bach's catalogue is an ocean to explore... don't be overwhelmed. It is not an exaggeration to say that even his worst works are of higher quality than the best works of others'. 

Most listeners unfamiliar with classical music find Bach's keyboard music - which is arguably his "main" compositions -  to be less accessible, which is why I didn't list any. I'll list some accessible ones but you're free to PM me anytime for any recommendations

: Italian Concerto, chromatic fantasy and fugue, Goldberg Variations (Aria, Variation 1)

It's important to note that if you dislike something, you dislike the performance itself, not the music. It might sound like fanboyism but it's definitely an aspect of music that is almost always true regarding Bach. Here are two great performances to get you started:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2laUv3y7OfA  (0:00 to 7:21) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5YMKK-Typo

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot 

Stuttgart Kammerorchester is the chamber orchestra and Karl Munchinger is the conductor.

 

Karajan's Bach isn't necessarily the best. It's quite overblown. Here is a great MP3 box set of Bach- 6 1/2 hours of great performances from the audiophile BIS label for only $1.99!

 

http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Supreme-Classical-Masterpieces-Masters/dp/B005WW94ZS/

 

Amazon is MP3 LAME 256. It is a little better sound- AAC 256 VBR at iTunes, but it's three bucks more. Still a bargain.

 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/bach-100-supreme-classical/id407520516

Some of my friends thought they liked Karajan's version the best when I let them try out different versions. To me it sounded a little too heavy but they liked the fullness of it compared to other baroque renditions (or even other modern ones). I guess they have an intuitive side of this music that I have lost. 

That CD set is quite nice... must have been picked out by an expert. None of the renditions are particularly radical, especially rhythm wise. It's a good introduction for first time listeners. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwitel 

 

I had no idea.

I know NOTHING about Bach...and find this piece to be incredibly beautiful.

 

What would you suggest I start with considering my feelings about this one piece?

You could try to find a good version of his mass In B minor

here's one :

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwitel 

Bigshot-excellent reply/reco as usual but I think this may overwhelm me a bit. Even though its dirt cheap I am am going to see fi I like any other works and hten come back and get this in the future. Thanks again.

LV-points taken and thank you for the recos.

So does Baroque tend to not focus on melody? I am a pure Romantic/post-Romantic/Modern listener and know very little about the Classical or Baroque periods.

That said, I am by no means looking for the "easier to understand" pieces as I listen to quite a bit of complex music and have been for some time and as a result, welcome a good challenge.

I do think it would be best to start with some of the more melodious pieces, if that is indeed what you listed above.

Much of Baroque works do focus on melody. But Bach was unique because he often composed pieces that were simply a combination of form, rhythm, and harmony. 

Start with the "easier to understand" pieces and  narrow them down. This is simply to develop an affinity for Bach's music. A lot of complex music also happens to be mostly arbitrary as well but with Bach, this is never so. The reason why his keyboard works are the least accessible are:

1) contrapuntal (many voices) - the clarity of the voices depends largely on the performer's technical abilities and the limitation of the instruments. Believe it or not, both are huge restrictions towards understanding Bach, especially the latter. To love Bach, one must use his/her imagination and look beyond the performance itself, for that really is the essence of Bach's abstract art. It's like looking at an incomplete jigsaw puzzle... if you try hard enough you can imagine what it would look like in its complete form. 

2) harmony - there is always some kind of immediate harmonic effect that Bach intended, which means that the listener has to listen vertically. Of course, there is also the difficulty of listening to his music horizontally, hearing how one voice interacts with another. A lot of performers do not do a great job conveying this horizontal motion, focusing too much on the unweaving on the harmony. Once again, the listener is left to imagine this motion. 

By the way, I just realized the Swingle Singers' rendition of various Bach works are a great way of listening to his music. 

Oh and every beginner needs to be introduced to BWV 565 Toccata and Fugue in d minor:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho9rZjlsyYY&feature=fvwrel

It's not fully proven that Bach composed this piece but if he did, he was around 18 years old.