probably my favourite too. and one of the ones that i think comes up best on guitar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erPwA4QP ... re=related

Yes. I also really like Eotvos' 5.

polyphony... a blessing and a curse... i love the harmonies (or the idea of them) but, gawd, that tuning is UNJUST!!!!!

if i had gone through the process of becoming a virtuoso and making that amazing transcription for guitar, i'd never let it end up sounding that badly in the end and letting all that effort and potential beauty go to waste with such dissonance.

employ a guitar with fanned frets, or get it otherwise somehow customized, because the normal instrument is not cutting it...

What do you guys think of the clips available from this arrangement?
http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Goldberg-Var ... B005P11R10

one fault of the guitar indeed. because the frets are spaced for just-tempering you cant have a well-tempered guitar that sounds any good (apparently). someone should invent one of these just for the playing of bach. but even so there must be some intervals that are so dominant in the GVs that his guitar should at least be tempered for them (assuming it wasnt). im sure this is one of the many secrets to parkenings peerless mastery of tone and control of classical guitars on his recordings

pretty damn good

I've been completely engrossed by the solo flute partita in A minor, bwv 1013. I'm in love with Bach, also Brahms again recently. Have I mentioned I love spotify?

just beautiful...
btw if you're into this kind of sound too, check out william byrd's fantasies performed by a viol consort.
there's an album with that i checked out from my local library once that blew me away... still can't find it online.
PS: this will give you a taste... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-qS7ms5apQ


that is amazing, john!! mein gott... i can't think of anything more musically beautiful than these baroque masters writing for solo instruments, be it flute, recorder, lute, violin, or keyboard.

from bach's buddy, telemann... one of my favorite clips ever...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQatlvFvGdM

i just can't get enough of the "hollow" sound of the recorder... makes me feel like i'm in a beautiful green field... in the middle of nowhere, with my little flock of sheep... (-:

That was awesome. I'll try to get it through my library. And I'm going to upload that thing I linked to when it is released.

I've been going through all those "Bach & Friends" videos on youtube. Incredibly fascinating and emotionally overwhelming, quite honestly. I was especially moved by the Joao Carlos Martins, Matt Haimovitz, and Harlan Brothers of what I've seen so far (I don't think I'm watching them in the order they appear in the movie).

Also I mean

i loved the "bach and friends" project too.... when it came out i bought a copy for myself and two for my guitar teachers as a gift. (then i lent my copy to my third guitar teacher, he loved it too)

it also introduced me to Tim Page, who's since become my favorite music writer.

glass harmonica + sebastian = win

I'll upload the rest of these to youtube if you guys want. The sixth variation will blow your mind.

Edit:
Listen to that sixth variation. Around 2:27.

thank you, drew!
i must admit i have to adjust my ears a bit... instruments from the violin family are rough on my ear and tend to tire me out, especially when there are so many constantly moving interweaving lines (and so i tend to prefer instruments with rounder tones, esp. for this type of music)... but i am enjoying it... good intonation... and vibrant performance! so how'd you discover this recording and this string trio?

I agree with you about having to adjust your ears, but it's still very interesting to me. I'm really obsessed with the variations right now but my ears have overdosed on piano and harpsichord so now I'm looking for other interpretations.

Anyway, I discovered these guys by browsing Arkivmusic's list of recommended Goldberg recordings:
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/alb ... um_group=5

From the samples I've heard, Fretwork's string interpretation of the variations(which I posted a few posts up) sounds a bit better, but I can't afford their CD at the moment (and can't find it for free anywhere ) so I'm using these Leopold String Quartet people to tide me over and they are more than doing their job.

Friedrich Gulda is a god among men