Tadao Sawai - J. S. Bach Is Alive And Well And Doing His Thing On The Koto (1971)

Info

• Artist:: 沢井忠夫
• Album:: J.S. Bach Is Alive And Well And Doing His Thing On The Koto
• Year:: 1970
• Label:: RCA Red Seal
• Catalog:: LSC-3227

Track Ratings

#	Title	Rating
A1	Toccata And Fugue In D Minor
A2	Jesu, Joy Of Man’s Desiring	★
A3	Prelude No. 1	★
A4	Fugue No. 1 (From The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I)
A5	Sleepers, Wake!	★
A6	Polonaise (From Orchestral Suite No. 2)	★
A7	Bourrée I (From English Suite No. 2)
A8	Two-Part Invention No. 1	★
B1	Air On The G-String (From Orchestral Suite No. 3)
B2	Minuet In G (From The Notebook For Anna Magdalena)	★★
B3	Arioso (Sinfonia From Cantata No. 156)	★
B4	Gavotte I (From English Suite No. 3)
B5	Bourrée (From Partita No. 1 For Solo Violin)	★
B6	Minuet In G Minor (From The Notebook For Anna Magdalena)	★
B7	”Little” Fugue In G Minor	★

Log

2024-07-26

i really wonder what bach’s influence upon japanese composers was, since i tend to hear bach’s shadow in their music.
maybe there’s a difference in how the classical canon is both composed and weighted there? because here the big three are bach, mozart, and beethoven; yet it feels like they’re taught as if their relative importance increases chronologically.¹ and in hindsight, i’m not sure how true that judgment really is – if anything, it just reflects a shift in priorities as to what we want out of music, collectively.² but maybe over there it’s different?³

★ jesu, because always jesu. does it being jazzy add to it? detract from it? i dunno, but it distracts me from where i want to be.
★ prelude no. 1
★ sleepers, wake! i’m not sure if i’ve heard this one before!
★ polonaise
★ two part invention no. 1
i always forget that bach composed air. and, while i dislike when other artists stuff air into their albums, here it makes sense. so here and only here it gets a pass.
★★ minuet in g. formative attachments never die.
★ arioso
★ bourree
★ i’m not sure if i ever heard the minuet in g minor either
★ little fugue in g minor

Footnotes

1. or maybe that’s just how my piano teacher did it³ ↩

2. or it just reflects piano teachers’ own priorities, since beethoven heavily used both the forte and the piano out of his fortepiano, and bach didn’t really compose for the instrument at all¹ ↩

3. i kinda wonder how i would’ve developed, were i taught by someone else and put through like the suzuki method. i probably would have greater hand-independence, since it’s easy to automate the left hand with romantic-era works and, whenever i was handed a fugue, it would absolutely filter me. but i also could see myself hating it all the while and giving up on music entirely, since the rigidity and precision it demands appeals to me very little, and i like being both forte and piano! it’s what i want out of music² ↩ ↩²