Bach Can’t Help Himself

#music #pianoacoustic

0:00 Introducing Bach's C minor Prelude, the Bach symbol, T-shirts etc.
2:52 Damian LeGassick's wonderful riddle
5:10 What was going on? 2nd playing in C minor
7:38 1st & 2nd Preludes have very similar scheme
8:43 Bach's C minor prelude. Not like Einaudi
10:17 Bach's groove and harmony turned into 'writhing' lines
11:47 A slow, descending lamenting line
12:37 Turning things around. Dominant pedal.
13:37 A pensive singe line. A cadenza in the form of canon
14:26 Adagio lament, turbulent voyage and Odyssean return
16:14 Bach C minor Prelude complete performance
18:07 Conclusion: harmonic templates. What do you think?

In this video, Matthew King discusses Bach's 2nd Prelude in C minor from Book 1 of the Well Tempered Clavier. He makes a fascinating discovery about the strikingly similar harmonic schemes of the first and second preludes (prompted by an inspired musical riddle sent in by the composer, Damian leGassick). Matthew goes on to explain the journey of the prelude and performs it at 16:14.

The video features a short excerpt from a performance of the prelude by Víkingur Ólafsson, and from the title music of The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) by Bernard Herrmann.

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