Is it just my freaky brain?

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

Or are there others that can be moved to tears by watching this piece unfold?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipzR9bhei_o

It may be that me playing this on a (simulated, but full size flight deck) pipe organ myself makes me appreciate the various voices more, but still.


Jeroen

[Phil Bunch]

Amazing...

I find myself listening to more classical music, especially organ pieces, and especially Bach, at this time of year.  Perhaps I'm just trying to dodge the massively commercialized US holiday season, or perhaps it's just my way to enjoy the season selectively.

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

I'm a polyphony nut. Counterpoint is more or less the culmination, everything after that is so-so  :mrgreen:

Maybe this is related to my preference for small teams of mainly individualists? Everybody working well in isolation, yet when brought together something much better appears, while the individual contributions remain clearly visible.

Unlike harmonic groups, where the result is great but the contributions are invisible, or homophonic stuff where one leads and the rest does background.

Hmmm. Next invention in agile programming methods: not the scrum, but the Fugue...

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

... for next UK World Flight, I'll play some scores on the pipe organ for the more "interesting" parts of the plot ...

[Shiv Mathur]

I think it might be something to do with the brain appreciating several tunes
simultaneously ... especially if penned by a master hand.

Look at the 'Gloria' from Bach's B-minor Mass.   The first section is pretty much homophonic, and brilliant.
But when it slips into the fugal section ('et in terra pax') ... aaah, that's when the hair on your hands stands !!

[size=8](My recommended recording - Karl Richter, Munich Bach Orchestra and Choir, on the ARCHIV label)[/size]

[Richard McDonald Woods]

Having just listened to the organ piece, it brought back so may memories of when I used to play it. I thought that the bar-graph showed me so much more of the beautiful patterns that Bach had in his mind at the time of writing, but that is partially hidden by traditional scoring. A great insight!

I then watched the version by Christopher Hayles in Sydney. I was overwhelmed by the thoughts of all the people over the centuries, gradually improving on organ design, plus the brilliance of Bach's conceptions, plus the training and enthusiasm of Christopher Hayles, plus those who have developed the computer technologies to enable the whole thing to be brought to us all.

I agree with the sentiments of how the result can be so much greater than the sum of parts. Quite humbling!

And then there's our beautiful B744!

Cheers, R

[jb747]

Richard,

My thoughts exactly.  Wish I'd had the bar-graph to look at when I played it.  Then again, maybe I would have decided that it was a lost cause.

Jon