# how to find the same pieces but without voice?



## DenisAfanasyev (Jul 10, 2021)

for example "Bach - Mache dich, mein Herze, rein from St Matthew Passion BWV 244". I've heard this first time on the radio Pure Bach with no voices but it;s hard to find it without voice and there are a lot of pieces of Bach with voice which i'd prefer with no voice. 
What requests in the browser should i type so i could find voice pieces without voice? 
I mean cantatas, choir etc.


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## 59540 (May 16, 2021)

DenisAfanasyev said:


> for example "Bach - Mache dich, mein Herze, rein from St Matthew Passion BWV 244". I've heard this first time on the radio Pure Bach with no voices but it;s hard to find it without voice and there are a lot of pieces of Bach with voice which i'd prefer with no voice.
> What requests in the browser should i type so i could find voice pieces without voice?
> I mean cantatas, choir etc.


Maybe use the term "instrumental version" or such.


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

how to find the same pieces [by Bach] but without voice?

You can opt for the transcriptions by Leopold Stokowski. Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra did a nice album of Bach transcription by Stokowski, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Webern. The Canadian Brass did some wonderful Bach recordings as well. I'm sure there are other options that shouldn't be too hard to find.

For years or even decades I too avoided Bach's "vocal" music, which is really all of his religious music, essentially the heart of his oeuvre. I too preferred to listen to the highlights and often in instrumental form; whatever was catchy enough to appeal to average listener without much effort. I kept reading how Bach's _St. Matthew Passion_ has been hailed as the greatest piece in classical music; perhaps in ALL of music history, and was frustrated because I considered myself to be a fairly sophisticated enthusiast of classical music; but as much as I liked the _Brandenburg Concertos_, and the cute little excerpts from this or that, I couldn't make heads nor tails of the _St. Matthew_. It took me years or even decades, and much effort, for me to start enjoying the _St. Matthew Passion_, and now I like the more raw and solemn, _St. John Passion_ even more! In fact, now my experience with Bach has gone topsy-turvy as I now see how Bach's musical vision is grounded in his faith; and even as someone who can't adhere to a literal interpretation of the Bible and finds parts of the Bible to be problematic; I can't help but be inspired and comforted through Bach's sense of devotion. As much as I still, enjoy "Bach Lite", the _Brandenburg Concertos_, the organ works, the Stokowski transcriptions and so forth; I find the passions, the cantatas, the motets, etc, to be the heart and soul of what Bach meant to say.

Even so, "Bach Lite" is a good place to start the journey.


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## progmatist (Apr 3, 2021)

Add to your search, "Symphonic Sketches." It works for instrumental versions of Wagner operas. Similarly, adding "Symphonic Dances" will turn up an instrumental version of Bernstein's West Side Story. And adding "A Symphonic Picture" will find an instrumental version of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.

*EDIT:* Also add the search term "Symphonic Synthesis." That's what the instrumental version of Musorgsky's Boris Godunov is called.


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