Music Discussion thread

[Bridge]

Improvising a four figure fugue is impossible. I'm sure I could do it if I practiced until I can dream four voice-harmony in my sleep, but I wouldn't be able to do it well. Not as well as Bach, that's for sure, as he tends to add a ton of other articulations. I think Bach's also done seven-figure fugues (something was up with his brain).

It takes unthinkable genius to compose like he can. But to be honest, I still don't find Bach's compositions that enjoyable to listen to. Maybe I'm just too much of a romantic, but as I listen to and analyze his fugues (and many of his other compositions, like his suites and toccata) voice by voice, I find Bach to be rather mechanical. I can best describe it by saying that his pieces are amazingly fun to play. When you hear each individual voice harmonizing together under your finger tips, it's an astounding experience. But what these pieces lack is ambiance, and the energy derived from that ambiance. When I listen to something like Beethoven's tempest (3rd movement) or his moonlight sonata, although they might not be as complex as Bach's compositions, there is just some hidden energy within that clicks with me, and I can feel its sheer raw force. Once I tap into that music, I feel like I'm painting the world. Same thing with Chopin (and perhaps to an even greater degree). But not Bach.

A fugue leaves me satisfied, but it does not energize and empower me.

Huh, in my opinion Bach's fugues are nothing more than raw energy.

I try to say this with the least amount of condescension possible, but I think it's possible you see only the notes and not the music. Bach's music shows admirable restraint (which is one of my favorite things about his music) but not in a way that there is a lack of emotion in my opinion. As for your problems with the music being too mechanical, I hope you realize that counterpoint can only be achieved in a certain way. After a composer has reached fluency in free counterpoint the style offers a remarkable amount of freedom, but it is always going to sound a certain way (the definition of a style). That style is rigid because if great care is not taken it's not even possible to write good counterpoint, never mind a fugue.

Anyway as always I can't tell you what to think, I can only give you my take on it. Just know that the raw energy is there, because it's something I feel whenever I listen to Bach, and it's no different than the one I perceive when I listen to Chopin.

P.S. Don't know if you've heard it but his lute and cello music is among the most emotional I've ever heard. Something about the contemplating tone of the lute (and guitar, as the suites are commonly arranged for) perfectly accompanies the stoic I'd almost say melancholy of Bach's music.