Don Bradner- Arrangement Comparisons

I chose to search for arrangements of the most famous organ piece every written, JS Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Besides this piece having the great significance that it has, I look at it and reminisce of my days in theory class and how Bach wrote the rules on counterpoint and voicing. With that knowledge, it is hard for me to listen to this great work without a baffled look on my face. To see how other musicians interpret and perform Toccata and Fugue is impressively entertaining.

The first video I chose to write about was an acoustic guitar arrangement performed by Michael Fix. I looked forward to seeing how well the guitar could cover all of the voices, especially the full chords near the end. Fix had to use multiple picking techniques to accommodate the varying styles of the piece. The tempo related liberties taken were very characteristic of the organ at times which was nice to see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUmyxpEXtTw

The second video was perhaps the most interesting musical performance I have ever seen. The performer was Robert Tiso playing the “Glass Harp”, commonly known as a collection of pitched wine glasses. The virtuosity shown by Tiso was purely amazing as he moved his hands effortlessly across the glasses while playing an arrangement that stayed close to 100% true of the original composition. To me, the best part of a Glass Harp is the resonance that the glasses give off. The tone is very similar to that of an organ or chimes in a church.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKRj-T4l-e8

The last video is certainly my favorite as it is an arrangement for trombone quartet. The group is known as the Trombone Quartet of Costa Rica. Before viewing, I had many questions as to how a trombone quartet could perform this intertwined fugue while breathing and passing the passages from one player to another. The synergy of the quartet has to be perfect to avoid rhythmic inaccuracies and inconsistent intonation. I have to say, the quartet did a great job sticking to the original composition as much as their instruments allowed for it. The darkly thick and powerful chords were wonderfully supported by the bass trombone player, thus helping the quartet to produce a sound characteristic to an organ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRSA48Njh7o