A Moment of Bach

Oct 07 2024 145 ep. 25 mins 43
A Moment of Bach Podcast artwork

Welcome to A Moment of Bach, where we take our favorite moments from J. S Bach's vast output—just a minute's worth or even a few seconds—and show you why we think they are remarkable. Join hosts Alex Guebert and Christian Guebert for weekly moments! Check wherever podcasts are available and subscribe for upcoming episodes. Our recording samples are provided by the Netherlands Bach Society. Their monumental All of Bach project (to perform and record all of the works of J. S. Bach) serves as source material for our episodes. https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/allofbach Artwork by Sydney LaCom

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BACHTOBERFEST: BWV 80 (Ein Feste Burg) with Eric Clausen

Oct 07 2024 37 mins  
Our fourth season was the best year yet for our downloads. Thank you for your listenership! And we still welcome your listener "moments" of Bach as ideas for future episodes. For this season closer, we invite Reverend Eric Clausen, a Lutheran pastor, to help us unpack the background of BWV 80 (A Mighty Fortress Is Our God). The bold and powerful text of the source hymn comes direc

Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (BWV 80): alto/tenor duet

Sep 30 2024 30 mins  
Martin Luther, J.S. Bach, and Reformation Sunday -- this most Lutheran of all cantatas is our subject for today. "Ein feste Burg" was the battle-cry of the Reformation: "A mighty fortress is our God!" Bach's cantata weaves in all 4 stanzas of Luther's strong hymn. We marvel at movement 1 with its "dizzyingly complex counterpoint" (as Richard Atkinson puts it in his video). This is

Geist und Seele wird verwirret (BWV 35): first aria

Sep 23 2024 25 mins  
The organ, a sacred sound, gets an unusual role in this cantata for solo voice. We hear the organ leaping all over with a virtuoso part against violins and oboes and the alto soloist. There is no better way to convey the rich concept of the "confused joy" of the believer who witnesses miracles. In this cantata, which took place during the Sunday where the story is read of Jesus he

Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist (BWV 667) with Katrina Liao

Sep 16 2024 33 mins  
Organist Katrina Liao joins us to talk about one of her favorites, this chorale prelude that is crackling with spiritual fire. The off-beat bass at the beginning is a neat touch -- could Bach have meant to signify the Holy Spirit by focusing on the 3rd division of the beat? -- but, Katrina's favorite moment comes in the second verse, when the bass gets to carry the melody with a st

Italian Concerto (BWV 971): second movement

Sep 09 2024 26 mins  
Why do we play games? Because they're fun? Or is it because they give us a sense of structure and a clear goal, a refreshing contrast to our real lives, which are messy, unpredictable, and complicated? In the same way, we listen to Bach to give a much-needed feeling of structure and clarity to our hectic, messy lives. But sometimes, he doesn't quite give us what we expect. He brea

Fugue no. 4 in C# minor (Well-Tempered Clavier Book I)

Sep 02 2024 23 mins  
An austere fugue subject here begins with a strange leap. To play this four-note opening on a keyboard is to outline a symmetrical structure, reminding us of the bare pillar that holds up the structure. Adorned on the structure are two faster, florid themes which enter later in this long piece. But our moment today is its ending -- a deceptive ending leads to a brief coda, but whe

Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben (BWV 8): opening chorus

Aug 26 2024 18 mins  
Today we bring you 24 repeated notes on the same pitch. Can you think of any other Bach piece which features this special effect? Certainly this is unique in the orchestrational context here: a high-pitched recorder, beeping out a digital-sounding alarm clock noise. Or is it a bell ringing? We explore what this all means -- because, of course, with Bach, it MEANS something. Liebst

Der Herr denket an uns (BWV 196): duet (ending)

Aug 19 2024 17 mins  
In his early twenties Bach produced this compact, delightful cantata, likely for a wedding. The text of the duet is still applicable in a religious school community: The Lord shall increase youmore and more,you and your children. Bach saves a special effect for the last two measures, where a modern technique is used: from highest of highs to the lowest note of the cello, a single l

Violin Concerto in D minor (BWV 1052R)

Aug 12 2024 21 mins  
Bach proves his mastery of the Baroque concerto here, as in the Brandenburgs -- except this time, we don't have the original music! We do have a harpsichord concerto as well as an organ concerto version of the first movement (which is actually from a cantata)... but we do not have the violin concerto version, which scholars assume must exist. The reason for this assumption is that

Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben: bass aria "Ich will von Jesu Wundern singen"

Aug 05 2024 20 mins  
"I shall sing of the wonders of Jesus." The trumpet reflects the text purely before the singer begins. The oboes and violins join in and play off the trumpet, each finishing each other's musical lines. You probably know this cantata for its most famous movement -- two verses of what we would call in English "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring." But there is much more brilliance to be ex