Bach's Dances
Bruce Adolphe in the liner notes of "Hilary Hahn plays Bach" CD, writes this on Bach's dances (allemande, curante, sarabande, loure, menuets, gavottes, bourree, gigue etc):
"Although the dances of Bach's suites are often choreographed (the solo cello suites have given rise to works by Paul Taylor and Mark Morris, among others), they were no more meant as accompaniments to dancing than Picasso's pitchers are meant for table service. Bach's bourrees, gigues and gavottes reverse the relationship of dancer to music, making choreography the accompaniment. This is because the music is perfectly complete, it is not a catalyst to movement - it is the spiritual essence of the impulse to dance, captured in sound."
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So here are some Bach's dances, listening to which, as Adolphe put, is equivalent to dancing:
Andres Segovia performing a Bach's Sarabande and Gavotte en Rondeau
Gigue from Lute Suite No. 2
Double from Lute Suite No. 2
Mischa Maisky playing Prelude, Allemande, and Courante from the BWV 1007.
The celebrated Prelude to The E Major Partita
Finally, Bach's famous Choral from Cantata 147, better known as "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" is sent to the future on synthesizers.
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