August 11, 2012
Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring, Sheep May Safely Graze, Air in G, all the Brandenbergs, Arioso – playing these pieces is like eating home-made split-pea soup on the third day of chilly rain, book in hand, and a woodfire toasting your damp toes.
Bach is ‘home’ to so many of us – harmonious, reassuring, refined, warm and impossibly full of promise and good will. Incredible that these were a product of his day job. He fed 16 children by playing the organ every day and writing pieces like these:
Cello Suites (- by Yo Yo Ma in these recordings. I play bits of these every day)
Brandenberg 3 (which we played for Edouard Bartlett in highschool)
Air in G (you’ll recognize this)
Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring (and this)
The Goldberg Variations (Glen Gould – stay with him if you can – he’s an eccentric genius & he actually talks about the Goldbergs here)
Thanks Richard, Donna and Amber, for playing this afternoon. I am so very lucky.