If I could be any more of a Fangirl, this video does it for me. I've lived deeply with his music since I was a toddler, life would be so poor without him.
Wonderful video! I have The Cello Suites out of the library now and am looking forward to reading it after your review. Thank you for the beautiful music!
This was super interesting! I agree with you on The Cello Suites. It’s a great book. I have Godel, Escher, Bach on my shelves, but I have not read it yet. It is a bit intimidating. I loved to hear you playing the piano. Very well done!
Hi Tom and Elizabeth! Siblin’s book joined my wishlist when Elizabeth mentioned it a week ago or so. Hearing of an excellent book on the cello suites twice in such a short time is quite remarkable 😊
This was such a treat, Tom! Thank you🌷I used to learn playing the cello and Bach suites are among my favourite music of all time. I have heard Misha Maisky and Pieter Wispelway play the six suites live in Amsterdam and have a collection of recordings of interpretations by varous cellists, among them Yo Yo Ma’s (who I remember associated the second suite to the Carceri etchings by Piranesi). My love for Bach is not limited to the cello suites though. I heard Angela Hewitt playing the Wohltemperierte Klavier in two glorious evenings in Rotterdam and the Goldberg Variations in the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in London (pure magic!). Here in the Netherlands, the Mattheus and Johannes Passion are staple on the Easter calendars of churches and concert halls. I must admit I’m rather partial to the Johannes. James Runcies’s The Great Passion has joined my wishlist.📚🎶
@@emmavd That’s amazing! Living in the Netherlands, you’ll probably be familiar with the “Netherlands Bach Society”…. so many great performances. Thanks for your comment 🙏🏻
@@tomlabooks3263 Hi Tom😊I certainly am! As you most probably know, they’re especially famous for their yearly performances at Easter of the Mattheus Passion in the Grote Kerk in Naarden, and my experience is that they make it worth sitting on those hard church benches for a couple of hours!😍
I love Yo Yo, Casals and others, but wish to say that Anner Bijlsma's recording from the 80's is revelatory: his baroque interpretation is astounding and the dance movements wake the dead!
Bravo Tom! Great information. Marissen's book I'm afraid is so similar to so many these days where the author is espousing something I can't come to grips with and that is the desire to take authors, composers, artists, etc etc out of their time and milieu and for some unknown reason analyse and criticise them for their lack of modernity and awareness about TODAY'S world and issues! That is illogical in my view! Thank you!
@@larrybowe774 Thanks and yes, great point: it’s a generalized attitude that shows up in literature as well… It would be fair to summarize it with the word “ignorance”! So I do get the author’s frustration with that approach.
Hi Tom, Thanks for these good reviews. Like Tripp8833 I don't know a lot about classical music but would like to read about a composer. The Cello Suites will go on my wish list! Thanks for the piano concert as well - it was lovely!
Thank you for the musical ending! Every music teacher I had said that Bach is the Alpha and the Omega. ( I am also a pianist.) My favorite of his accomplishments is his unification of the French, German, and Italian musical traditions. Thank you so much for making this video. I also recommend Casal's memoir, Joys and Sorrows. It's a beautiful book and describes the moment he discovered the Cello Suites. I had the rar privilege of hearing Yo-yo Ma perform the Suites in person in the Dunster House library when I was in college. About 100 people were there. Magnificent!
@@Ferdinand314 Oh, wow … I can only imagine the goosebumps in hearing Yo-yo Ma in person! Given the lack of guidance on the music score, the suites tend to be interpreted in a fairly wide range of ways, and I feel like his interpretation is the most “balanced” that I’ve heard so far: expressive, but not too much, and played with such a control that everything is so smooth and coherent. Imho, this transpires especially in the prelude of Suite #4, which sounds so very different in the hands of each cellist. Also thanks for mentioning Casal’s memoir! I didn’t know about it, will check it out for sure.
Thank you for this video & amazing performance at the end. I don’t know much about classical music myself but have been interested in reading a biography of a composer like Bach to see if that would be a good way to get into it. Thank you!
Hello again Tom ...it seems strange not to be talking about Dante ....I read The Great Passion and agree it gave a real sense of Bach's family life ....I've often wondered what it's like to live with a genius ....certain aspects of the novel worked less well for me however and the novel didn't live for me , as a non musician and Bach Newbie. I read it for a book club and might not have finished it but for that ....
@@hesterdunlop3982 Hello Hester ! I think I can understand why you’re saying that, about “The Great Passion”: there are a lot of pages devoted to the infatuation of the boy, and that part didn’t resonate much with me either.
Thank you so much for sharing with us. I think I'll go with "Music in the Castle of Heaven" for my future read. Interesting to see how such a man, achieving such heights, seeked God. Glory to God only, makes me think Bach sought God through music, which might have been his form of prayer. I loved hearing you play the piano. Very beautiful.
@@tomlabooks3263 Tom, I love how you play the Prelude in C minor, BWV 847 (Beginning), very majestic. Why is it so different than what I can find on RUclips? Theirs seems different. Thank you
@@Paul9443 Thanks! 2 main reasons: 1). I play the left hand louder (bass) just because I like it better that way; 2). the pianists on youtube are most likely much better than me! 😂 I just love to play as a hobby, but I don’t have the time to commit to a steady improvement. I can barely find the time to do my Dante videos ! 3). I would also add, I noticed that “pros” tend to play Bach at the “speed of light”…. maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be played
@@tomlabooks3263 I like more your style, it's more present, more lively, organic. I was going to say the same! Now way! They do play at the speed of light! Which me personally I like a bit more slow, like to live in the moment. Thanks for explaining!
If I could be any more of a Fangirl, this video does it for me. I've lived deeply with his music since I was a toddler, life would be so poor without him.
Wonderful video! I have The Cello Suites out of the library now and am looking forward to reading it after your review. Thank you for the beautiful music!
@@jf8559 Thank you 🙏🏻
Wonderful video! Nice to see you again, Tom. I love Bach but haven’t read a thing about him. Now I am inspired! Thanks and take care.
Lovely playing!
@@faithbooks7906 Thanks, Faith, I hope you’re well. My 5 months boy is keeping me busy! 👋🏼🙏🏻
This was super interesting! I agree with you on The Cello Suites. It’s a great book. I have Godel, Escher, Bach on my shelves, but I have not read it yet. It is a bit intimidating. I loved to hear you playing the piano. Very well done!
@@bouquinsbooks Thanks so much ! 👋🏼🙏🏻
Hi Tom and Elizabeth! Siblin’s book joined my wishlist when Elizabeth mentioned it a week ago or so. Hearing of an excellent book on the cello suites twice in such a short time is quite remarkable 😊
This was such a treat, Tom! Thank you🌷I used to learn playing the cello and Bach suites are among my favourite music of all time. I have heard Misha Maisky and Pieter Wispelway play the six suites live in Amsterdam and have a collection of recordings of interpretations by varous cellists, among them Yo Yo Ma’s (who I remember associated the second suite to the Carceri etchings by Piranesi). My love for Bach is not limited to the cello suites though. I heard Angela Hewitt playing the Wohltemperierte Klavier in two glorious evenings in Rotterdam and the Goldberg Variations in the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in London (pure magic!). Here in the Netherlands, the Mattheus and Johannes Passion are staple on the Easter calendars of churches and concert halls. I must admit I’m rather partial to the Johannes. James Runcies’s The Great Passion has joined my wishlist.📚🎶
@@emmavd That’s amazing! Living in the Netherlands, you’ll probably be familiar with the “Netherlands Bach Society”…. so many great performances. Thanks for your comment 🙏🏻
@@tomlabooks3263 Hi Tom😊I certainly am! As you most probably know, they’re especially famous for their yearly performances at Easter of the Mattheus Passion in the Grote Kerk in Naarden, and my experience is that they make it worth sitting on those hard church benches for a couple of hours!😍
I love Yo Yo, Casals and others, but wish to say that Anner Bijlsma's recording from the 80's is revelatory: his baroque interpretation is astounding and the dance movements wake the dead!
@@fmfm9846 Thanks for your comment! I’ll listen to Anner’s interpretation.
@@tomlabooks3263 It's difficult to find the early recordings, the later ones he did are more romantic and less remarkable (imho).
Thanks for these recommendations. Ive had the Castle of Heaven on my shelf for a while. I can't imagine calling the cello a "crude instrument".
@@JamesRuchala Haha agree! It’s a magnificent musical instrument.
Bravo Tom! Great information. Marissen's book I'm afraid is so similar to so many these days where the author is espousing something I can't come to grips with and that is the desire to take authors, composers, artists, etc etc out of their time and milieu and for some unknown reason analyse and criticise them for their lack of modernity and awareness about TODAY'S world and issues! That is illogical in my view! Thank you!
@@larrybowe774 Thanks and yes, great point: it’s a generalized attitude that shows up in literature as well… It would be fair to summarize it with the word “ignorance”! So I do get the author’s frustration with that approach.
Hi Tom,
Thanks for these good reviews. Like Tripp8833 I don't know a lot about classical music but would like to read about a composer. The Cello Suites will go on my wish list! Thanks for the piano concert as well - it was lovely!
@@gerriegriffin5735 Thanks so much 🙏🏻
Thank you for the musical ending! Every music teacher I had said that Bach is the Alpha and the Omega. ( I am also a pianist.) My favorite of his accomplishments is his unification of the French, German, and Italian musical traditions. Thank you so much for making this video. I also recommend Casal's memoir, Joys and Sorrows. It's a beautiful book and describes the moment he discovered the Cello Suites. I had the rar privilege of hearing Yo-yo Ma perform the Suites in person in the Dunster House library when I was in college. About 100 people were there. Magnificent!
@@Ferdinand314 Oh, wow … I can only imagine the goosebumps in hearing Yo-yo Ma in person! Given the lack of guidance on the music score, the suites tend to be interpreted in a fairly wide range of ways, and I feel like his interpretation is the most “balanced” that I’ve heard so far: expressive, but not too much, and played with such a control that everything is so smooth and coherent. Imho, this transpires especially in the prelude of Suite #4, which sounds so very different in the hands of each cellist.
Also thanks for mentioning Casal’s memoir! I didn’t know about it, will check it out for sure.
Thank you for this video & amazing performance at the end. I don’t know much about classical music myself but have been interested in reading a biography of a composer like Bach to see if that would be a good way to get into it. Thank you!
@@tripp8833 Thanks Tripp 🙏🏻
Hello again Tom ...it seems strange not to be talking about Dante ....I read The Great Passion and agree it gave a real sense of Bach's family life ....I've often wondered what it's like to live with a genius ....certain aspects of the novel worked less well for me however and the novel didn't live for me , as a non musician and Bach Newbie. I read it for a book club and might not have finished it but for that ....
@@hesterdunlop3982 Hello Hester ! I think I can understand why you’re saying that, about “The Great Passion”: there are a lot of pages devoted to the infatuation of the boy, and that part didn’t resonate much with me either.
Thank you so much for sharing with us. I think I'll go with "Music in the Castle of Heaven" for my future read. Interesting to see how such a man, achieving such heights, seeked God. Glory to God only, makes me think Bach sought God through music, which might have been his form of prayer.
I loved hearing you play the piano. Very beautiful.
@@Paul9443 Thanks, Paul!
@@tomlabooks3263 Tom, I love how you play the Prelude in C minor, BWV 847 (Beginning), very majestic. Why is it so different than what I can find on RUclips? Theirs seems different.
Thank you
@@Paul9443 Thanks! 2 main reasons: 1). I play the left hand louder (bass) just because I like it better that way; 2). the pianists on youtube are most likely much better than me! 😂 I just love to play as a hobby, but I don’t have the time to commit to a steady improvement. I can barely find the time to do my Dante videos ! 3). I would also add, I noticed that “pros” tend to play Bach at the “speed of light”…. maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be played
@@tomlabooks3263 I like more your style, it's more present, more lively, organic.
I was going to say the same! Now way! They do play at the speed of light! Which me personally I like a bit more slow, like to live in the moment. Thanks for explaining!