The first movement Allegro from Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto number 1 is built upon the conversational interplay among the 4 instrument groups: horns, reeds, high strings, and continuo. Bach mixes and matches them in all possible ways in between their simultaneous presentation and dismissal at the works beginning and end. It was therefore important for me [...]

With 10 solo parts divided into three trio groups and continuo, this semi-lengthy movement required the use of at least 9 individual video tracks in order to make it work. Because of the natural size restrictions that embedded video presents, I needed to make three sets of individual movies with 3 soloists each and then [...]

This is the first Bach project that can accurately be called an arrangement.  There are several elements in Bach’s brief yet jubilant finale from the Fourth Brandenburg Concerto that are problematic for the purposes of direct transcription.  First, the solo violin part is exceptionally virtuosic, with long roulades and distinct bowed arpeggios.  This doesn’t transfer [...]

I have recently discovered that the complete contents of the Bach-Gesellschaft, containing all the published works of Bach, are availablle online. Wikipedia lists three sources, one of them has PDF files, but the link is busted, hacked, or both.  The other resource is located at the IMSLP, but the files are listed separately, and the user [...]

I had originally intended to use an Andes 25 F flute melodica for the recorder part, but it’s an octave too high, so I ended up with the minor sin of using the instrument that was intended! This recording introduces 4 new melodicas into the mix, all produced by Suzuki. The distribution of parts is [...]

All parts played by one melodica. Full quality MP3 below: [Audio clip: view full post to listen] Music by J.S. Bach.. More Bach on Melodica: [link]