A Moment of Bach

Concerto in A minor for four harpsichords (BWV 1065)


Listen Later

A Moment of Vivaldi! This week, we look at Bach's transcription of Vivaldi's concerto for 4 violins. The crisp and elegant style of Vivaldi gets magnified by Bach here.  4 violins become 4 harpsichords, and the snapping and clicking of the harpsichord strings become a delightful metaphor for the clockwork precision of the composition and the structure of the music.  We quote a character from a Douglas Adams novel, who, along with us, sits down to listen to a piece by Vivaldi and marvels that something could be so sublime and yet so mechanical at the same time.  Also, listener Will gives us a great moment of violin shredding, and Alex chooses his favorite moment of dissonance from the end of the second movement, where a multiple trill on a diminished chord gives us one of the crunchiest sounds in all of baroque music.

Listeners!  Do you have a question you'd like us to answer "on-air" next week on our BACHTOBERFEST season closer episode?  Let us know -- ask it directly on our website page.

Performance of BWV 1065 by Netherlands Bach Society

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams (book quoted in this episode)

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

A Moment of BachBy Alex & Christian Guebert

  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9

4.9

56 ratings


More shows like A Moment of Bach

View all
Common Sense with Dan Carlin by Dan Carlin

Common Sense with Dan Carlin

11,298 Listeners

In Our Time: Science by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Science

707 Listeners

Making Sense with Sam Harris by Sam Harris

Making Sense with Sam Harris

26,312 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,471 Listeners

Science Vs by Spotify Studios

Science Vs

11,995 Listeners

Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast by Joshua Weilerstein

Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast

2,075 Listeners

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History: Addendum by Dan Carlin

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History: Addendum

8,207 Listeners

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat by New York Times Opinion

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

6,724 Listeners

Classical Breakdown by WETA Classical

Classical Breakdown

200 Listeners

The WTF Bach Podcast by Evan Shinners

The WTF Bach Podcast

52 Listeners

The Ancients by History Hit

The Ancients

2,944 Listeners

The Science of Birds by Ivan Phillipsen

The Science of Birds

781 Listeners

The Rest Is History by Goalhanger

The Rest Is History

12,483 Listeners

The Nietzsche Podcast by Untimely Reflections

The Nietzsche Podcast

184 Listeners

Ones and Tooze by Foreign  Policy

Ones and Tooze

339 Listeners