The Music Post is here! Episode 1

10/17/2014

Listen above to the Music Post, episode 1: Bach's Art of Fugue, Contrapunctus 1

Alternatively, you can download the mp3 version of the episode by right-clicking here (ctrl+click on Mac) and "saving link as."

Note: this website isn't the best, so sometimes the player takes a while to load.
Podcast will be available for subscription in iTunes soon!

Click here to see video of the organ version played in the podcast.

Okay, now why would I do such a thing?

In the past five years, I've played a lot of performances, and received a lot of feedback from audiences. A fair amount of this feedback comes in the form of praise for the feat of performing, things like "That looked so difficult" or "I can't believe you memorized that whole piece." Of course, I appreciate this type of praise, but as a musician, it's definitely not what I'm going for, because music, after all, isn't a sport. It's art.

What I'm really shooting for in a performance is to have the audience fall in love with whatever I'm playing, to seek it out. I know I've really, truly connected with an audience when people say something more like "That piece was so great! Where can I listen to it again?"

Even more effective than simply playing, I've found that walking people through a piece, pointing out features and motives, beautiful moments, is the surest way to get them to connect with it and seek it out later. Even more so than my playing, people appreciate these mini-explanations of the music I'm playing (or at least, that's what they claim!), telling me they've never been able to listen more closely or more attentively.

So I figure why restrict that to the recital hall? It scales perfectly well to a podcast, where you can listen while you drive, cook, or get ready for bed.

Hope you enjoy!

2 Comments

The Music Post

The Music Post is a blog / podcast for reflecting on all things musical, informed by years of writing, playing, and teaching music.

Martin

10/25/2014 08:25:36 am

Sam, great that you'll perform the complete work live. (as I did and will do again in 2 weeks on organ in Germany..).
I think it's a bit difficult on organs with electrical traction (as nearly all organs in the States have - we in Europe/Germany do have so many great instruments for baroque music, and the more interesting church acoustics.. but for the AOF fewer is better), because the beginning of the tone is so unorganic, be the traction itself so precise as it could be.
For me your CP1 on organ sounds too "strong", it should have more mystery... And doing a legato to the measure one sounds strange IMHO (1950 they did it...). If you play on organ you could use the pedals as a help (just coupled, no own stops..); I do play after Helmut Walchas edition (but not really in his style.)

all the best for the concert! (which instruments are you using exactly? will you play also for 4 hands?)

Martin, Germany

PS The cembalo version from Robert Hill (also on youtube) is great IMHO, the right balance between "strong","mysterious" and "like improvised"...

(PS Sorry, my english really isn't the best)

Sam Post

10/26/2014 02:20:45 am

Hi Martin, thanks for your thoughts! My organ playing is definitely a work in progress, and I think maybe you're right about that particular version. The continuo organ we're using in the upcoming concert will probably be better in this regard!

For the concert, we'll be alternating between piano, harpsichord, and the smaller, continuo organ. (We'll also be doing the old version of the CP 12 for two keyboards on two pianos, that is, CP 13 in the original edition, as well as CP 14 on two pianos, with each of us covering two voices). We haven't decided 100% which others to do on which instruments, but probably a pretty even split. It's very hard to decide for me, the piano and the organ each highlight completely different aspects of this music....