# "Back to Bach" - A different take on the Brandenburgs (2nd of 2)



## itywltmt (May 29, 2011)

This is the second of two _Podcast Vault_ selections in our _Back to Bach_ look at the Brandenburg Concertos. This week, we will have HIP, and "so hip that you can't stand it", 70's style.










Our look at Brandenburgs 1 and 2 is as HIP as they come - two performances from the great set by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; this is the set that is on my iPod, and probably my favourite of all the sets I have heard.

And now, for Brandenburg 3 - and to do so, step into _Pierre's time machine_.

Music and technology (you can ask our good friend Science) is a curious combination. As an Undergraduate in Physics, I remember courses that the Department offered for "artsies" - like _Physics of Photography_ and _Physics of Music_. As Physics majors, we weren't allowed to take these for credit, but I did sneak in a few lectures… Physics of Music was more about "acoustics", and things like the frequency range of the ear, or harmonics and overtones, what is an octave, or even how to position speakers in a room. Lectures, try as they may, cannot avoid getting mathematical, and this topic is certainly no exception, to the chagrin of many a Psychology major looking for an easy course!

Invariably, the subject of sounds takes us to waves and to the work of one Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier (1768-1830) and his unique approach to wave _superposition _- what we have come to know in Math and Physics as "Fourier Analysis" or the _Fourier series_ and the _Fourier Transform_.

In their pursuit of the exploration of superposition of waves, many a scientist has concocted bits of apparatus to achieve the creation of specific waveforms through adding waves of different frequencies. A quick search on the web yielded a few surprises, such as this late 19th century giizmo and this tinker toy for geeks we know as the Fourier Synthesizer .

Although Fourier synthesis is only one of the many techniques that are employed in the 20th century instrument we now have come to call the _Sythesizer_, you can see how the obsession started by Fourier takes us to the labs of Dr. Robert Moog, whose gizmo combines music and the use of analogue computing into a Rat's nest of patch cables that would make Rube Goldberg proud.

An early champion of Dr. Moog's products was a brilliant musician and Ivy League Graduate Physicist by the name of *Walter Carlos*, who segued his science background into the new area of _electronic music_. Walter (known today as Wendy after gender reassignment surgery) not only created new compositions for the electronic medium (we can most notably point out his brilliant score for _A Clockwork Orange_ and the Disney scientific fantasy _Tron_) but also reinvented the music of the great masters - *Rossini*, *Beethoven *and most especially the Baroque masters and *Johann Sebastian Bach* - as a way to display the potential of the new medium.

According to Carlos (she says so in her short commentary included in the montage), Brandenburg 3 was the first work she and her colleagues had identified for her project "Switched on Bach", and she went on to record not only Brandenburg 3, but eventually all 6 Brandenburgs. The original commentary (link below) also discussed more about the approaches that "analog era" studio artists had to use to achieve their aim, a good 20 years before digital electronics became the vogue.

Carlos' work is viewed as pioneering a new medium, and was shortly copied by other artists, thiough in my mind with more commercial intent than musical exploration…

The montage is completed by some Glenn Gould solo piano selections and more Carlos adaptations of the music of Bach and *Scarlatti *(which you can compare to our Kirkpatrick set of a few weeks ago).

Happy listening!

*ITYWLTMT Podcast Montage #84 - Brandenburg Perspectives, Part 2
(Originally issued on Friday, December 14, 2012)​*
*Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)* 
Short Preludes and fugues for keyboard

Fugue In C Major, BWV 952
Fugue In C Major, BWV 953
Fughetta In C Minor, BWV 961
Praeambulum In C Major, BWV 924
Praeambulum In D Major, BWV 925
Praeambulum In D Minor, BWV 926
Praeambulum In F Major, BWV 927
Praeambulum In F Major, BWV 928
Glenn Gould, piano

Brandenburg Concerto no. 1 in F Major, BWV 1046
Brandenburg Concerto no. 2 in F Major, BWV 1047
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Brandenburg Concerto no. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048 (Arr. W. Carlos)	
Wendy Carlos, Moog Synthesizer - followed by a Commentary

Jesus bleibet meine Freude (Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring), BWV 147, no. 10 (Arr. W. Carlos)
Prelude & Fugue In C Minor, BWV 847 (Arr. W. Carlos)
Sinfonia, in D Major, BWV 29, no. 1 (Arr. W. Carlos)
Wendy Carlos, Moog Synthesizer

*Domenico SCARLATTI (1685-1757)*
Keyboard Sonatas (Arr. W. Carlos)

G major, K. 455
D major, K. 491
E major, K. 531
D major, K. 96
Wendy Carlos, Moog Synthesizer


Original Bilingual Commentary: http://itywltmt.blogspot.ca/2012/12/montage-843-brandenburg-perspectives.html

Detailed Playlist: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/137354393/pcast084--Playlist

Podcat Link (Internet Archive): http://archive.org/details/BrandenburgPerspectivesPart2

Poscast Link (Pod-O-Matic): http://itywltmt.podomatic.com/entry/2013-10-08T00_00_00-07_00 (Link valid until 31 October 2013)


*October 11 2013, "I Think You Will Love This Music Too" will feature a new podcast "Back to Bach - Transcriptions & Arrangements" at its Pod-O-Matic Channel . Read more October 11 on the ITYWLTMT Blogspot blog.*


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