Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The crack of dawn




Dawn -- and the dreadful drilling machine.

The prelude of that partita is like a brass bed--all knobs. Can't seem to smooth it out. Perhaps I can blame it on this cold I've caught. Or the fumes from the dreadful machine.

This prelude is the famous example of Bach's having written out double-dotted rhythm, without double dots, but rather with ties and rests. Neumann's argument, with which I agree, for the most part, is that because Bach can clearly write this rhythm when he wants to, we have no business assuming he wants double-dotted rhythm when he has not written it. But the whole world, it seems, has embraced double-dotting, at least for the time being. So often to do so makes a terrible hash of what should be a clear rhythmic combination of sixteenths and thirty-seconds, such as in the G minor prelude, WTC II.

Sunday, September 20, 2009




It's a brilliant day. The boaters on the river buzz up and down. The cats snooze on either side of me. Several chores wait, but first I shall play through Bach's B minor partita--yes, B minor, that great huge French Overture thing. Whether piano is my forte, or blogging, that is the question.

Rosh Hashanah - Fresh Direct