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A comment on Two recently found works of J.S. Bach presented in Leipzig [video, start 15:29]. Parent comment

Re:Two recently found works of J.S. Bach presented in Leipzi... by prmph on Friday November 21, 2025 @07:56AM (#46004038)
I disagree; I find many of Bach’s compositions to be devoid of heart, just intellectual in some mathematical way.

Now don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy many of his compositions for what they are. The thing about music and many other arts is that it is a fools errand to attempt to give them a total ordering; there are things to enjoy about wildly differing styles of music that I think people do a disservice to themselves being restrictive.

For example, some don’t like classical music because they say it’s not danceable. Well, duh it’s mostly not, but that’s not the point of it. It about enjoying the melodies and harmony and structure.

So one can compare art on specific axes, but to say such and such is the greatest composer is kind of meaningless to me.

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Re:Two recently found works of J.S. Bach presented in Leipzi... by d-lisp on Friday November 21, 2025 @08:29AM (#46004367)
What pieces do you know ? I mostly listen violin/lute partitas (I sometimes prefer them transcribed to classical guitars (I really enjoy Vidovic and Bream renditions)). I do really like the simplicity of such pieces, which I find to be very lyrical, of course in a far different manner than e.g. Vivaldi...

The chaconne from the 2nd partita in D minor [BWV 1004] I find very powerful; very different from the Brandburg Concertos, which I tend to fancy less.

I mean, of course in the thousand of pieces he wrote, there are pieces that you won't like, and "greatest composer" is an impossible and absurd proposition.

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Re:Two recently found works of J.S. Bach presented in Leipzi... by leephillips on Friday November 21, 2025 @07:51PM (#46010951)
That chaconne is one of my favorite pieces of all time. I heard it first on guitar, played by Segovia, and, probably because of that, still prefer it on guitar to the original violin. I even used to play it, pretty decently, I think.
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Re:Two recently found works of J.S. Bach presented in Leipzi... by d-lisp on Saturday November 22, 2025 @04:37AM (#46013452)
I also play the Segovia transcript more than the urtext version (some would argue that this is kitch or innapropriate, but yeah ... why would I care ?)

Well, you surely also are a Sonata No.1 [BWV 1001] enjoyer, aren't you ? I find the four movement to be exceptionnally good, and they cover a lot of ground.

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Re:Two recently found works of J.S. Bach presented in Leipzi... by telesilla on Friday November 21, 2025 @09:30AM (#46004956)
https://youtu.be/Ve8MuxS58kQ

https://youtu.be/ILKJcsET-NM?t=3m51s

https://youtu.be/nZb7FcP84CM

https://youtu.be/aAJ4Be5cMWY

and so many more

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Re:Two recently found works of J.S. Bach presented in Leipzi... by throaway123213 on Friday November 21, 2025 @11:07AM (#46005759)
Actually it's a myth that classical music wasn't meant to be danced to. There was much dancing going on.
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Re:Two recently found works of J.S. Bach presented in Leipzi... by d-lisp on Saturday November 22, 2025 @05:04AM (#46013559)
In case of Bach, we know at least that the "dance" suite weren't meant for "social dancing" due to the fact they are highly stylized.
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Re:Two recently found works of J.S. Bach presented in Leipzi... by missedthecue on Friday November 21, 2025 @03:01PM (#46008312)
jesu joy of mans desiring is such a simple melody but at least in my brain chemistry sounds like a doorway to heaven. I find it full of heart and emotion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR0GenPc2lU

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