CyberGene know this will be a rather sacrilegious opinion from a Bach aficionado such as me but I find it difficult to listen through an entire passion and while it’s undoubtedly Bach, I don’t think it’s his best. OK, crucify me, fellow Bach-brothers ✝️
I will spare thee from crucifixion, and perhaps I should also admit having trouble getting through anything demanding my full attention nowadays. It’s that darn internet!
Now, from what I’ve heard, it seems like Bach was always on a tight schedule and pressured to produce one masterpiece after the other; which he attempted, but not always succeeded at. That being said, if we look at Bach in his entirety; the limited resources available, and the overall crushingly difficult circumstances surrounding him, it is still an outstanding body of work, and even if we judge by the mere amount of notes he managed to put on paper (by hand), it is still a monumental achievement that still baffles me….how the hell did he do it?
Rumor goes that he had some minions working out the minor details, and at least one of his wives supposedly ‘helped’ him out; nonetheless, the pathways were always set by Bach; IMHO!
I truly hear ‘a bit of Bach’ in music worth listening to (whether classical, jazz, pop, or otherwise), and this influence is so deeply embedded into our subconscious, that most musicians aren’t even aware of the fact that they are frequently invoking Bach through their own compositions/improvisations. I also believe he is indeed the father of ‘modern music’ as we know it; and without him we might’ve never had a Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, nor even a Jones, Quincy Jones!🙂