The reason we study history is not because we don’t want to repeat it. It is because you
learn about yourself. The reason we study the classics is because the authors of the
past know us better than we know ourselves.
We will start with Canadian pianist, Glenn Gould.
He speaks eloquently and deeply about Bach, and performs just as beautifully.
1. Use Google to find text and the translation. Write about how the music and the performance reflect the meaning. See if you can feel what Gould means about: “… and both of the outer movements of this cantata are full of that wonderful and torturous art of intense cross-relation and suspension which Bach always reserved for those subjects
2. What does this arrangement and performance by Frankfurt Radio Band do with the same cantata?
3. What about this take by Nicolas Godin? Metal, zombies, surfing… how is Godin using Bach to speak to himself or the present?
