Thursday, September 18, 2014

Posting

I'm not getting as many posts up as I would like due to time constraints. I am planning to do a couple more on CPE Bach as he is such an interesting figure. Did you know that he wrote about five times as many concertos as he did symphonies? About twenty symphonies, but over one hundred concertos. Compare to Haydn who wrote over one hundred symphonies but just a handful of concertos. Not even Mozart wrote as many concertos as CPE Bach. I am going to discuss why that might be the case and delve into the concertos of CPE Bach which are usually more substantial and certainly much longer than his symphonies.

Here, to whet your appetite is a Concerto for Flute and Strings in D minor:


And if any readers have any suggestions for post topics, why don't you let me know in the comments?

Thanks!
at

5 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 18, 2014 at 3:14 PM

    Advanced harmonic analysis, i.e. from the (late) romantic or post-romantic period ?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bryan TownsendSeptember 19, 2014 at 10:17 AM

    Thanks Anonymous. That might be a good idea. I could start by talking a bit about some of the developments in harmony in the 19th century, but I would almost certainly segue into my thoughts on what harmony is about at the present.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownSeptember 20, 2014 at 4:14 PM

    {\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252
    {\fonttbl\f0\fnil\fcharset0 ArialMT;}
    {\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;\red34\green34\blue34;\red255\green255\blue255;}
    \deftab720
    \pard\pardeftab720\partightenfactor0

    \f0\fs26 \cf2 \cb3 \expnd0\expndtw0\kerning0
    \outl0\strokewidth0 \strokec2 How about you do a bit of analysis on those composers I brought up before (Lou Harrison, Alan Hovhaness, Terry Riley, etc.), just to see if there's anything they wrote that is interests or worthy to check out. I would like to also include Gorecki and Arvo P\'e4rt in that list. I don't expect you to look into all of them at once, but any of these guys at some point would be great to hear about.\
    \
    Either that, or analyses on Bach's collective masterpieces:\
    - Goldberg Variations\
    - A Musical Offering\
    - The Art of Fugue\
    - Mass in B minor

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bryan TownsendSeptember 21, 2014 at 8:57 AM

    Hi Damián, thanks for the ideas. I don't do a huge number of analysis posts as they are so time-consuming, but I should plan to do a few at least. Those are good suggestions!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bryan TownsendSeptember 21, 2014 at 8:59 AM

    I have done some posts on Bach and you might want to check out this one in which I talk about some of the fugues in Bach's the Art of Fugue: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.mx/2011/12/mirror-fugueeuguf-rorrim.html

    ReplyDelete