Prelude Posters - Bach Cello Suites

"I was obliged to be industrious. Whoever is equally industrious will succeed . . . equally well."  - Bach

Bach Cello Suites are staples of the cellist, guitarist, double bassist, violist, and bassoonist solo repertoire.  The music captures an incredible introspective quality and to hear them performed as an entire set is always an enlightening experience.  J. S. Bach's oeuvre is truly remarkable as a synthesis of the Baroque idiom.  As we designed this visual to accompany my listening experience, we explored the performances of Casals--the earliest proponent of these as complete works rather than technical etudes--, Fournier, Starker, Wispelwey, and Isserlis.  We also delved into the double bass recordings by Edgar Meyer and the guitar transcriptions.  Each performance is unique and true artistry essential.

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Dmitri Shostakovich

Today we are celebrating the birth anniversary of Dmitri Shostakovich, born 1906.  His life is one of the most well-known and historically iconic in all of classical music.  The creative life of people in Soviet Russia was surely traumatic and that is heard throughout the defiant and at times tortured music of this composer.  The "DSCH" musical motif is incorporated into many of his most famous pieces as a kind of musical signature.

Here's a great performance of the Symphony No. 5.  It is an emotional, epic piece which has an often quoted history of its own. 

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Schoenberg - Verklarte Nacht

Today we are celebrating the birthday anniversary of Schoenberg, most notably known as the inventor of 12-tone music, was also a composer of lush post-romantic works before his transition to modernism.   This work, Verklarte Nacht, was inspired by a Dehmel poem which is well worth the time to read and study as it captures something of expressionism in this form.  I've attempted to approximate the scene set at the outset of the poem.

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