toccata and fugue in d minor visualizer
Probably you guys think I'm going to drop something spooky for Halloween. And you'd be absolutely right! Today's clip is a performance of Bach "Toccata and Fugue in D minor", which I'm sure many of you will recognize as "spooky organ riff #1", but it's more than just a spooky riff-- the entire thing is bonkers. And this version is really dynamite because of the added visualizer that helps you follow along the dizzying highs and stultifying lows. The piece is 8 minutes long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipzR9bhei_o
I love Bach and this is indeed a ripper even without the video, but damn it's nice to be able to anticipate when the gabber parts are going to come in and when the bombs are going to drop! This was performed AND animated by Stephen Malinowski, who has been working in this visualizer format for years, well before Guitar Hero. His website is here: [https://musanim.com/]. Of the 1600 (!!!!) videos on his YouTube channel there's a lot of Bach pieces-- Bach was the king of flipping a tune and it's so wonderful to be able to visually process the patterns and structures being flipped. Here's a playlist of just the fugues: [Fugue playlist, 36 videos]. Also I have to shout out my favorite of Malinowski's, which is his look at Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, which is well and truly bananas: [YouTube, Rite of Spring]. That's less of a Dracula vibe and more of a wolfman thing.
If you groove on this at all and you're anywhere near Providence Rhode Island, I strongly recommend checking out this year's Bach To The Future event, it's an all-night marathon of music by and inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach, with performances veering wildly between traditional and experimental, quiet and loud, student and professional. It's happening the day after Halloween, on All Saint's Day, that's November 1 2024, starting at 7pm and going through the night until 7am, at Manning Chapel at Brown University. It's free and there's free coffee. You can show up and leave at any time. It's recommended to bring a pillow. Here's an ad I made for the event in the Providence Pit, a new freaky newspaper:
Providence has a great scene for both classical music and noise and they really work well together at this event, and flip flopping between approaches is a proper mindbender. It's tempting to put it as like "classical vs noise" but honestly both are so lively and spirited and open, there's no separation. Metal heads will enjoy the crispy arpeggios, classical maniacs will appreciate the commitment required to truly play a trash can (Noise Nomads, 2014), noisers will groove on a cadre of 9 year olds trying their best, and everyone that enjoys the fruits of the spirit will have plenty on which to munch. And like I said there's free coffee. If you go please come find me and say hi, I'll be there the entire time wearing a green tweed suit and trying to remember how to work the coffee maker. Here's the website with directions, from local arts org Community MusicWorks: [communitymusicworks.org].
Peace everyone :)
If someone sent this to you because you are a phantom of an opera, or aspire to be one, or because they want you to drive them to Providence RI and they told you why but you didn't really believe them so you need to see something in writing, well you may also enjoy other things I've written. This is Pleasant Realms, an email newsletter for mostly unstressful non-narrative YouTube videos.