# Netherlands Bach Society



## agustis (Feb 3, 2021)

What do ya'll think of the work they are doing? I haven't seen them mentioned on here too much.

Personally (especially since Bach is my favorite) I absolutely love the work they are doing. Especially with period accurate instruments. The churches they play at and the organs featured and so much of what they do is so good.

Here is a link if you never seen them before.

https://www.youtube.com/c/bach


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

I absolutely love them. Their YouTube channel is probably my most visited. The sound and production quality on their videos is superb, and I just love seeing the palpable enthusiasm and connection of these musicians as they immerse themselves in this miraculous music. The cantata performances are all top-notch, with extraordinary soloists (Maria Keohane and Tim Mead, especially), and hopefully it's only a matter of time before they start releasing some in audio format. I'm not a particularly big fan of period keyboard instruments so I don't watch those as much, but this video is just amazingly well done in all facets:


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## KevinW (Nov 21, 2021)

I think sometimes their performances overly use HIP. That makes some compositions (such as St Matthew Passion) very boring to new audiences.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

KevinW said:


> I think sometimes their performances overly use HIP. That makes some compositions (such as St Matthew Passion) very boring to new audiences.


I have no idea how a performance can be overly HIP or why a HIP performance of the St. Matthew Passion would be boring to new listeners.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

There was also a comment calling this "Baroque (head)Banging", but it's gone now:


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

(performed on fortepiano)


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

agustis said:


> What do ya'll think of the work they are doing? I haven't seen them mentioned on here too much.
> 
> Personally (especially since Bach is my favorite) I absolutely love the work they are doing. Especially with period accurate instruments. The churches they play at and the organs featured and so much of what they do is so good.
> 
> ...


Love them, try to follow them as much as I could before corona that was .


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

KevinW said:


> I think sometimes their performances overly use HIP. That makes some compositions (such as St Matthew Passion) very boring to new audiences.


Just listened to the opening of their St. Matthew Passion. It's not boring and out of the three St. Matthew Passions I know (Klemperer, Herreweghe, Gardiner), the opening is definitely better than Gardiner's. Slower and more emotional.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Bulldog said:


> I have no idea how a performance can be overly HIP or why a HIP performance of the St. Matthew Passion would be boring to new listeners.


Maybe an overly HIP performance uses castrati instead of countertenors?


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## agustis (Feb 3, 2021)

Educate me please. What does HIP stand for?


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

agustis said:


> Educate me please. What does HIP stand for?


Historically informed performance. The performers use instruments available when the music was written, and they perform in the style that we believe performers at that time actually played.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

agustis said:


> Educate me please. What does HIP stand for?


Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP)


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## agustis (Feb 3, 2021)

mmsbls said:


> Historically informed performance. The performers use instruments available when the music was written, and they perform in the style that we believe performers at that time actually played.


Ahh thank you! Well I love period accurate music! I know it's not for everyone though.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

agustis said:


> What do ya'll think of the work they are doing? I haven't seen them mentioned on here too much.
> 
> Personally (especially since Bach is my favorite) I absolutely love the work they are doing. Especially with period accurate instruments. The churches they play at and the organs featured and so much of what they do is so good.
> 
> ...


Obviously a project of this stature and scale has to be applauded - particularly because it gives people free access to the music.

What I've seen - chamber music and keyboard music mostly - has been well executed and sober. They give a good middle of the road glimpse into the Dutch conception of Bach performance today. The Dutch conception is not to be sneezed at - in Holland they take Bach very seriously. But bear in mind that there are other ways, arguably equally informed and, in some cases, equally satisfying.

Maybe what I appreciate the most are the occasional supplementary videos where the performer talks about the music and his interpretation. I also quite like some of the tricksy video work.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

agustis said:


> What do ya'll think of the work they are doing? I haven't seen them mentioned on here too much.
> 
> Personally (especially since Bach is my favorite) I absolutely love the work they are doing. Especially with period accurate instruments. The churches they play at and the organs featured and so much of what they do is so good.
> 
> ...


I subscribe to their YouTube channel and regularly listen to their performances. I think they are doing great work and hope they continue to post new videos until they achieve their goal of "All of Bach". I vastly prefer their performance aesthetic over groups/recordings that ignore the issue of period practice. Performing Bach with period instruments and appropriate sized ensembles and choirs makes a huge difference, all for the good.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

mmsbls said:


> Historically informed performance. The performers use instruments available when the music was written, and they perform in the style that we believe performers at that time actually played.


Minus castrati, amateur performers, and rowdier audiences...


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

ORigel said:


> Minus castrati, amateur performers, and rowdier audiences...


I honestly wish we included these things, at least occasionally.


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

hammeredklavier said:


> There was also a comment calling this "Baroque (head)Banging", but it's gone now:


Man, if I shook my head starting out with a work like that, it would turn into semi-conscious Hindemith real fast.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Shunske Sato








As a baroque violinist, Shunske is concertmaster of both Concerto Köln and the Netherlands Bach Society, and has appeared as soloist with the Orchestra Libera Classica in Japan, and Berliner Lautten Compagney. In 2011 he gave the first performance in recent times of Paganini's second violin concerto on historical instruments with the Academy of Ancient Music. Shunske regularly plays chamber music with partners such as Christine Schornsheim, Hidemi Suzuki and Richard Egarr.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Count me as another fan. I watch/listen to them on YouTube as much or more than I play my Bach vocal CDs.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

Could one kindly change the title to the correct "Netherlands Bach society"...?


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Kreisler jr said:


> Could one kindly change the title to the correct "Netherlands Bach society"...?


Done :tiphat:


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

KevinW said:


> I think sometimes their performances overly use HIP. That makes some compositions (such as St Matthew Passion) very boring to new audiences.


Which makes me _so_ glad I never had the opportunity to experience an actual J.S. Bach-supervised performance of the passions, masses, or cantatas.

Whew! From such an "historical" perspective as being "live with Bach himself and his orchestra and vocalists", one can only assume that BOREDOM exuded from every note. No wonder Bach fell into disfavor with the launch of the "classical" period, partly launched by his own sons. They, I suspect, had little use for their father's HIP practices. It took ol' Mendelssohn to resurrect ol' Bach in the public's eye (and ear), apparently. And who likes Mendelssohn's music either? Especially when _it_ is historically informed in performance.

Gotta go. For some reason, my tongue is currently stuck in my cheek, and I'll need to pry it loose.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

ORigel said:


> Minus castrati, amateur performers, and rowdier audiences...


That is a bit harsh, isn't it?


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

vtpoet said:


> Man, if I shook my head starting out with a work like that, it would turn into semi-conscious Hindemith real fast.


Imagine doing this with a Baroque wig


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## KevinW (Nov 21, 2021)

hammeredklavier said:


> Imagine doing this with a Baroque wig


Tech Guy Bach!


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

uploaded in *2160p[SUP]4K[/SUP]* resolution


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## Marc (Jun 15, 2007)

KevinW said:


> I think sometimes their performances overly use HIP. That makes some compositions (such as St Matthew Passion) very boring to new audiences.


After years of deliberations and internal meetings, the Netherlands Bach Society did explicitly choose for HIP and PI (period instruments) back in 1983. This meant that conductor/leader Charles de Wolff left the society and formed his own choir (Bachkoor Holland). Until that year, the Society only had a choir, not an instrumental ensemble.

This all changed in 1983.
Jos van Veldhoven became artistic leader in that year of both the (much smaller) choir and of the new orchestra.
In 2018 he was succeeded by Shunske Sato.


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## Marc (Jun 15, 2007)

Bulldog said:


> I have no idea how a performance can be overly HIP or why a HIP performance of the St. Matthew Passion would be boring to new listeners.


Fo years, I've been taking newbies to concerts of HIP Bach passions and they were very moved, despite the fact that it "lasts very long."

I guess they would have preferred Klemperer tempi then.
Or maybe Klemperer tempi with a huge load of deleted parts (as was, in many live performances, common practice in the pre-HIP days). My parent's generation hardly knew arias like "Gerne will ich mich bequemen", "Können Tränen meiner Wangen" or "Komm, süßes Kreuz." But thankfully they could enjoy 12 minutes of "Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen".


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

hammeredklavier said:


> Imagine doing this with a Baroque wig


Great entertainment for a hot day when the AC is not working. Hire the guy!


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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