The first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier, by J. S. Bach.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ks9Q8AF4Do
As interpreted by pianist Maurizio Pollini.
Glenn Gould would no doubt have spat out his milk and arrowroot biscuits in distaste at being made to listen to this particular recording, but for those with a broader aesthetic taste there is much to admire here.
Andrew Sullivan touches on one of my favourite topics – the music of JS Bach and his unparalleled interpreter, Glenn Gould.
George Stauffer appreciates that John Eliot Gardiner’s recent book on the great composer has insights into his personal character:
Moving beyond the hagiographies of the past, he presents a fallible Bach, a musical genius who on the one hand is deeply committed to illuminating and expanding Luther’s teachings through his sacred vocal works (and therefore comes close to Spitta’s Fifth Evangelist), but on the other hand is a rebellious and resentful musician, harboring a lifelong grudge against authority—a personality disorder stemming from a youth spent among ruffians and abusive teachers. Hiding behind Bach, creator of the Matthew Passion and B-Minor Mass, Gardiner suggests, is Bach “the reformed teenage thug.” In the preface we read: “Emphatically, Bach the man was not a bore.” Neither is Gardiner.
(Video: Glenn Gould plays Bach’s Keyboard Concerto No.1 with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic in 1960)
A real treat today. A complete performance of Handel’s “Messiah” oratorio, performed by the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge under the direction of Stephen Cleobury:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZTZRtRFkvk
“My Song Is Love Unknown”, hymn by Samuel Crossman (1664), tune by John Ireland (1879-1962).
Performed here to great effect by the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge.
Piano Sonata no. 31 (Op. 110), first movement, by Ludwig van Beethoven:
This pure, incandescent live performance is by the inimitable Canadian pianist Glenn Gould, recorded in Stockholm in 1958.
Semi-Partisan Politics 