In celebrations of Bach’s birthday this year, we created three(!) new music videos to share.
Up first: a music video we created to showcase Bach’s awe-inspiring contrapuntal wizardry—essentially Bach at his nerdiest. These five canons are based on the baseline of the Goldberg Variations and feature single lines of music that when flipped, stretched, squished, and staggered create musical marvels.
Second: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (“God’s time is the very best time”) BWV 106, a sacred cantata composed by Bach. Twentieth-century composer György Kurtág created this simple yet poignant duet transcription to perform with his wife, Márta. Significantly, the primo part is performed nearly entirely with overlapping arms, creating a visual representation of the cross. May this soulful music serve as a source of contemplation, healing, and hope.
And finally, here’s something we would never have thought to film were we not isolating 3,000 miles apart during the pandemic: the “Allegro” from Bach's Concerto for Four Keyboards, based on music by Vivaldi. (As arrangers ourselves, we bow down to Bach’s mastery as the ultimate arranger!)