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Mathematicians have finally proved that Bach was a great composer (www.newscientist.com)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I didn’t need proof myself, but I suppose it’s comforting nevertheless to have it mathematically confirmed.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago (2 children)

He was! But he overused the harpsichord, in my very humble and unfounded opinion, and it hurts my ears to listen to a lot of his creation. I get why he did (the piano was still a very new creation, and the harpsichord could be more easily heard in concert halls), but it sure does pierce the eardrum these days.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

To provide a dissenting opinion, I've always preferred harpsichords to pianos, which is one of the reasons I love Bach so much.

Pianos somehow sound simultaneously harsher than harpsichords with the off-putting initial clunk of the keys, and boringly muted in comparison.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

I do love a lot of his music. It’s just difficult to hear the shrill of the harpsichord, for me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Harpsichord always seems so frilly and thin. Piano has more depth and range of emotion, more dynamics.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Hmm, what percentage of his stuff was written for organ, I wonder? Wikipedia says that was his claim to fame while still alive, and there's an instrument that still holds up.