The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: If you are saddened by the deaths of Robin Williams and Lauren Bacall, YOU MUST HEAR THIS: Johann Sebastian Bach’s keyboard transcription of the slow movement from the famous oboe concert by Alessandro Marcello.

By Jacob Stockinger

Not a lot of words today.

I feel like hearing music, not talking or writing.

Maybe I feel like hearing soulful and quiet music because of the sad news about the deaths of comedian Robin Williams (below top) and actress Lauren Bacall (below bottom), two losses — the first a suicide, the second natural — that make my world smaller, less beautiful and less fun.

So here, in a popular YouTube video at the bottom, is the French pianist Alexander Tharaud (below, in a photo by Marco Borggreve)  – an artist I really like, especially in Baroque repertoire like the Johann Sebastian Bach, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Francois Couperin and Domenico Scarlatti works that he has recorded.

Here he is playing the transcription that Johann Sebastian Bach made of the profoundly beautiful slow movement from the Baroque oboe concerto by Alessandro Marcello. He has also recorded it on CD for Harmonia Mundi. Such beautiful music, and not so hard to play, at least technically.

Mr. Bach (below) knew a good thing when he heard it and wasn’t afraid to transcribe this wind and orchestra work to the keyboard, which was his forte. Bach was no purist.

So enjoy as you will.

And leave your own suggestions, with a link if you can.