Apr 10 2009
Bach’s Lunch…Yum Yum For Your Cerebrum
It’s Friday. Let’s have some fun.
What we’re listening to today
Unfortunately, it would appear that this album is no longer available in the US, however you can download it off iTunes. It is well worth it in my opinion.
And…
I loathe the term “New Age.” It hearkens slightly rotund white guys sporting pony tails, sitting around in hemp clothing with nary a zipper in site, listening to Ravi Shankar. In fact, why must we classify music at all? As broad a category as Classical is, so is New Age, and with just as many preconceived notions.
After all, Classical isn’t just a bunch of crazy men in powdered wigs, and New Age isn’t always about the pan flute.
So let’s move to break both molds in one post. Let’s take a classical top 40 piece by JS Bach, and remix and revamp with a notable New Age string quartet. Let’s take plain old tomato soup and make it rock.
Are you familiar with The Rules? If not, check them out now.
Get ready to rock…
We’re going to start with our roux. JS Bach is quintessential Baroque and one of the most famous figures of Classical music. Even if you’re staunchly anti-Classical, chances are pretty darn good you’ve heard something composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. You simply cannot avoid it, and if you took a little time to listen to his extensive library of works, you would hear themes that have been mixed into thousands of pieces of music that has been written since him, including rock and hip-hop. Heck, a Skid Row singer named himself after Bach. Even a metal hair band singer knows the old chap was a master.
Bach wrote a multitude of chamber music. These were scored for a smaller group of musicians, and was thus named because they would typically play in a smaller room or chamber. The music is more intimate, and the talent of the individual players is better showcased. This is the Double Violin Concerto in D Minor. It features 2 violins and a harpsichord along with an orchestra, but much smaller then the scale of the orchestra we heard in Beethoven’s Symphony No 6.
If you’re unfamiliar with the harpsichord, it is a fascinating instrument. Structurally, it resembles a piano, but as you can hear in this piece, it produces a very different kind of sound. A piano has hammers that strike the strings in the instrument, but in a harpsichord, the strings are plucked. It has the pizzicato tone of a string instrument, with the notably rhythmic distinction of a percussion instrument.
We’re listening to the first movement of this 3 movement piece, the Vivace movement. Without a lot of preamble, we launch right into the meat of the piece, with our first theme in unison by both our violins. They play the motif, before launching into a series of variations of the motif. On our second round, one violin begins spinning the theme, twisting it up a bit.
The violins sing harmoniously with each other, tossing the theme back and forth, and without actually seeing the performance, it is difficult to tell which one has it.
At about :55 in, we get our first real distinction between the pair and our introduction to the second distinct theme. Our tempo never changes, but our dynamic shifts from a loud forte to a softer mezzo-piano. A solo violin sweetly sings, while our trusty harpsichord accompanies with true Baroque style. The second violin joins in, and together they sing a duet with more distinctive voices than our first :50. One calls out and the other answers in a polyphonic orgy of seamless harmony.
As we approach 2:00, we return to our first theme for a round, before embarking again on a third theme. Once again we are treated to a softer approach from just the double violins and the harpsichord, with soft bass punches from a cello and bass. You can barely hear that cello and bass, but the mellowness of those baseline beats give it away.
Alright, so you’ve heard Bach’s themes. Ready to add some sauciness?
The Turtle Island String Quartet is a fascinating bunch. They have a whole gambit of original pieces and funky twists on some pretty stuffy originals. They’ve been around a long time, and their members have changed up over the years, but it doesn’t change the quality of the music they produce.
For this one we have a fun video. I was hoping to avoid using videos because I didn’t want to affect your experience by introducing suggestive images. Sometimes it’s more fun to just hear the music, rather then see the mechanics of it being produced. However, in this case, these guys are just having such a good time performing the piece, it really enhances the experience.
You also get a visual taste of the difficulty and skill it takes to play at this level of performing. It sounds so easy, but look at those bows and fingers fly. Note that there are no note markers or tapes on the necks of those instruments. These guys are so skilled that they know precisely where to press the string to hit the right note without going sour. If you’ve ever tried to play a string instrument or guitar, you can appreciate how challenging that is.
With appropriate parody, this piece is titled Bach’s Lunch.
Right away as we start, we hear a familiar theme. Oh yeah, that’s the Bach. It moves rapidly from instrument to instrument with increasing tempo, until they almost announce they’re tired of it. No, we’re not playing THAT again. Been there done that with the Bach. Let’s mix it up.
Quickly, we move from variation to a jazzier version. There it is…the second theme at about :50 in. It’s teased for just a few seconds on the viola, as if to say “wait guys, we’re supposed to be playing Bach here.” For about :10, the others try to behave, but then our cellist lets out some funky pizzicato and we lose control of our Baroquie-ness.
Note that even with just the four instruments, the enthusiasm of the performers almost creates its own percussion section. You have the rhythm of the violist hitting the strings with his bow, and the slaps of the cellist as he pizzicatos along with his rockin’ plucking.
Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I saw a violist have such a good time. Usually they just get to play dull accompaniment parts, and it’s hard to even discern them from a small group of four.
So we go from Baroque chamber music, to smoky jazz lounge…all within 3 minutes. Glorious.
I wonder what Bach would think about this little rewrite. Would he appreciate the zeal, or would he just chastise them for being too nontraditional? It’s hard to say. Even during his time, he was considered a little old-fashioned. Perhaps this would make him lose his lunch, but that’s the nice thing about dead guys. They don’t get to have much say.
