A redo of my old recording from 2006. Looking back I cannot understand how I dared submit such atrocious recordings - sort of like, look mom, I'm playing the organ now This one is ok even though there's some very tiny fluffs in the manual parts that I did not seem to notice while recording.

Bach - BWV 736 - Valet will ich Dir geben (4:19)

Hi Chris,

Wow! Want a majestic piece! It sounds like it's hard to play too. I think this one is one of your best. Excellent!

David

Hi Chris,

I can't say I have listened to the original, but this recording has a lot of swing and energy, I enjoyed hearing it. And regarding your joke, I think I can relate. For me, I guess it's not bad when my mother is impressed about my playing, but maybe her complimenting me is a minimum and I hope others have good things to say and not just my mom!

~Riley

Thanks ! One has to marvel at how Bach pitches a whole sinfonia against the relatively bland chorale tune. Nowhere is he more ingenious and majestic (what a unique combination, btw...) then in his organ chorales. This one's not especially hard (though I found it hard back then), it calls for manual dexterity but the pedal part is undemanding. In fact when I sat down to re-record yesterday, I had not played the piece since I last recorded it (which was actually in 2005). Needed some 2 hours, and 3 cuts, to get it right.


Yeah, swing and energy, that is what Bach is all about

For fun, here is the old recording.
Bach - BWV 736 - Chorale Prelude - Valet will ich Dir geben (5:05) (old 2005 version)
Ach, that was seriously bad... and I was so proud of it The crummy organ did not help of course.

Probably nobody here will remember this, but decades ago the Swingle Singers were a French a cappella group that specialized in singing Bach with "energy and swing". Although classical, it quickly entered the pops music culture too.

David

Did they do stuff like that arranged by Gene Puerling? (Which I love and have imitated in some of my one arrangements.)

Ooh that is priceless

Typo! Meant "own"
Anyway, ...

Hi,

I'm not sure. From the sounds of it they simply took the voices from the Bach scores and given the ranges, assigned them to the singers accordingly sometimes increasing the tempos appreciably. It was precision singing to the extreme. I do remember that there was someone in the group connected to the composer Michel Legrand (sp) of the film "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" fame.

David