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Title: Works for Violin: The Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin and the Six Sonatas for Violin and Clavier
ISBN: 0486236838
Author:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Publicate Date: 1978-09-01
Publish: 1978-09-01
List Price: $14.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $10.04
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $4.50
Amazon Merchant Price: $13.45
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Bach is a river, not a brook
Bach has to come pretty much at the top of any list of composers. We seem to be in a bit of a Dark Age of classical music these days when, as Giles once remarked to Buffy, "singers are chosen for their ability to dance." So it is rather important that some of us at least keep the candle of musical beauty burning in the dark.
Well, after that bit of effusion, perhaps I should review the book! This is an inexpensive reprint of the Bach Gesellschaft edition and as such is unimpeachable. There is no finer music than this and it's cheap. Also, nice reproduction of the best portrait of Bach on the cover.
Oh, the title of my review is something Beethoven once said about Bach. In German, a 'bach' is a brook.
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2: Great Music
A few years ago I purchased an inexpensive violin with the intent of learning to play it. Not expecting any kind of virtuosity, I thought I could learn enough to perhaps play in an amateur string quartet or something like that. I knew it would take time and be a lot of work, but I've been playing the piano for a long time and figured a different instrument would be a good change of pace.After a few months of cramped fingers, a stiff neck, and a bow arm that was more suited to sawing lumber, I gave up. Not that I'm a quitter by any means, but I am a realist. Besides, the sounds that I produced would cause every feline in the neighborhood to congregate outside my window. Don't know what my 'music' sounded like to them, but do you realize how much noise a herd of howling cats can make? But all was not lost. The violin hangs above the piano, next to a copy of a Renoir painting. It looks very nice there, and there it shall stay. But I'll always have a fascination for violin playing. Hence, I bought this book, primarily for the Chaconne for solo violin. I was familiar with the Busoni transcription, and even flirted with the idea of learning the Brahms transcription for left hand only (by the way, I'm a lefty, but that didn't make the Brahms any easier!). But I wanted to see for myself the demands Bach made on the poor fiddle player. Bach can be a very demanding composer, but the demands are always in service to the music he wrote. The Chaconne deserves every accolade and legendary status that it has. It is a truly phenomenal piece of absolute music that taxes the interpreter absolutely in every way. It is one of those pieces that exists in the stratosphere, positively unique in its makeup and emotion. Dover does it again! There is much music in this volume besides the Chaconne, which would be worth the price itself. If it's true you get what you pay for, then you get a lot of music for not much money with this edition. Recommended for music students, performers, and even for people that have a violin hanging on the wall!
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3: No separate piano parts
I bought the book and thought to have both violin and piano parts on separate sheet. Unfortunately, the violin sonatas are printed in form of score containing both violin and piano. I have to copy the score for my piano accompaniment. Other than that the Fugue and Patitas are great. Overall this book is good for personal collection and I can never stop playing them.
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4: Mmmm, not a good edition for a violinist
First, I studied the Bach Partitas from the Carl Fisher Edition, and some day I lost it. I see the portrait of this work, and I liked and buy. Bach is phenomenal; and an important part of the violinist life, and this edition has a good distribution of the work, but the edition is not good, for example the Arpeggios of the Ciaccona are edited in a very old style, and not depured the different legato, sincerely is very difficult to undertand the intention of the editor; for the sonatas the edition could be better if the work includes the violin part separated from the Piano.
I choose three stars because, this work is very important, and the edition not help so much to explore all the work, because some passages will generate to a new violinist many ambiguities.
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5: The brilliant mind of J.S. Bach
I have been a musician for 30+ years. I was a theory and compostion major in college. But I just took up the violin about a year ago. Of course, everything in this collection is way over my head, but I have considered it a joy to plow through a few bars at a time, picking up what I could of the craftsmanship of the guy who virtually invented music as we know it. It's amazing to watch him compose with complete anticipation of the performer. He gives you breaks when you need breaks. He gives you open strings when you need to hear intonation. He gives you a hold just in time to move to another position. Yet, if you listen to the partitas on CD, it sounds totally spontaeous, seamless, and fluid. It is a fulfilling exercise simply to listen to the CD, with violin in hand, as you follow along in the music. I will be learning these pieces for the next 30 years. I will never cease to be challenged by them. And their mastery will always be a very satisfying quest. The more I look into the mind of J.S. Bach through these compositions, the more I appreciate his genious!
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