[lit-ideas] Re: J.S. Bach and Unchained Melody
- From: Andy <mimi.erva@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 21 Jun 2008 16:17:29 -0700 (PDT)
That very prelude. The line caught me out of the corner of my ear. I didn't
think they did a note for note copy, unlike, say, Lover's Concerto by the Toys,
and then later by the Supremes, which ripped off note for note Ana Magdalena
Bach's piece for learning piano, Minuet in G Major:
The Supremes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0uY1z0wi0s
A.M. Bach:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIKKDXCP2_M
J.S. Bach's downbeats are so strong you can almost dance to his pieces, in my
opinion. Since it's a slow news night, I thought I'd play the piece by Mozart
that I had once played, after about 3-1/2 years of studying, accurately and at
time, by Mozart, K.545. It's actually considered an easy piece, it's basically
scales and it repeats quite a bit but it is so beautiful. I once figured out
that I was hitting a ridiculous number of notes per second (1/16 notes at 120
beats per minute, my math fails me but it's a lot, maybe even 16 per second).
I stopped playing not long after that piece and never went back and couldn't
even think about playing it now. But you have to hear this exquisite piece.
Below is the first movement. The andante movement (second movement) is not on
this, I can't find it. That's very beautiful too and I thought more
difficult.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnz91LnGSD4
--- On Sat, 6/21/08, Eric Yost <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Eric Yost <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: J.S. Bach and Unchained Melody
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Saturday, June 21, 2008, 8:17 PM
>>Did the Everly Brothers rip off Bach's prelude #1?
You mean Prelude 1 from Book 1 of the WTC? No. It sounds like a simple
variation on an "alberti bass." The Bach is more complex, though
it's
easy to hear why you find it similar to the piano line.
For an interesting comparison of performance of this simple Prelude (the
simplest in the whole WTC) compare Glenn Gould to Sviatoslav Richter
(both on piano) to Wanda Landowska (harpsichord).
A much closer ripoff occurs in the soundtrack of "There Will Be
Blood"
where the screen composer almost completely steals Swiss composer Frank
Martin's Etude for Orchestra, "Pizzicato." In this ripoff, there
is of
course the usual added percussion...lotsa percussion...hoo-boy!
I think composers are under pressure to add percussion to all their
ripoffs largely because a modern audience is unable to appreciate tracks
where the instruments alone carry the rhythm. Understand that I don't
think people are becoming "stupider," but rather that their culture
is
becoming stupider.
Lapsing into silence in C Major,
Eric
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