Bach

Music in the Castle of Heaven

De: John Eliot Gardiner

Narrado por: Antony Ferguson

Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the most unfathomable composers in the history of music. How can such sublime work have been produced by a man who (when we can discern his personality at all) seems so ordinary, so opaque - and occasionally so intemperate? John Eliot Gardiner grew up passing one of the only two authentic portraits of Bach every morning and evening on the stairs of his parents’ house, where it hung for safety during World War II. He has been studying and performing Bach ever since, and is now regarded as one of the composer's greatest living interpreters. The fruits of this lifetime's immersion are distilled in this remarkable book, grounded in the most recent Bach scholarship but moving far beyond it, and explaining in wonderful detail the ideas on which Bach drew, how he worked, how his music is constructed, how it achieves its effects - and what it can tell us about Bach the man.

Gardiner's background as a historian has encouraged him to search for ways in which scholarship and performance can cooperate and fruitfully coalesce. This has entailed piecing together the few biographical shards, scrutinizing the music, and watching for those instances when Bach's personality seems to penetrate the fabric of his notation. Gardiner's aim is "to give the reader a sense of inhabiting the same experiences and sensations that Bach might have had in the act of music-making. This, I try to show, can help us arrive at a more human likeness discernible in the closely related processes of composing and performing his music." It is very rare that such an accomplished performer of music should also be a considerable writer and thinker about it. John Eliot Gardiner takes us as deeply into Bach’s works and mind as perhaps words can. The result is a unique book about one of the greatest of all creative artists.

©2013 John Eliot Gardiner (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Great insights, unfortunate narration

As a lover of Bach, especially his choral music, Gardiner's insights deepened my appreciation of his genius. I kept wishing for a musical soundtrack that would bring these insights to life alongside the author's written words. On the other hand, I was utterly frustrated by the reader's butchered German and (often) Latin, and his consistent mispronunciation of "affect," so different in meaning from "effect." A book about J. S. Bach read by someone who hasn't the foggiest about how to pronounce German words??? The production people should hang their heads--and, even at this late date, re-record this book. (I'd be happy to volunteer.) The text is certainly worth it!

Fire the Reader!!!

Gardiner's book is fascinating, personal and based on current research, but it would be hard to imagine a reading that was less cognizant of musical or theological terms. In nearly every paragraph, the reader mispronounces terms in Latin, Italian, German and even English! It was infuriating at times, making it a struggle to listen to the end.

A Deep History of Bach

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I listen to about three books a week, so I have a broad experience in the varying qualities of books of various genres. I've listened to longer histories, Toland's biography of Hitler, for example, and I have to say that this history of Bach must be one of those books that just needs to be read, not heard. The narration is very precise, which does not necessarily equal pleasant reading. I ended up returning this book, simply because there was not enough movement in the narrative to maintain my interest.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

I did appreciate the scholarship in this book, but it does not make for interesting listening.

Did Antony Ferguson do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

None at all.

Could you see Bach being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Not a chance.

Narration debacle

It was hard to listen to for straight sentences in this book because the narrator knows neither German nor music. It seems both of these topics would’ve been at the top of a list when looking for somebody to narrate Gardeners. It’s laughable, Really

A mixed bag

This is a wonderful book. Not a traditional biography, but with plenty of insight into the music from a famous conductor who turns out to be a great writer, too.
However the narration by Anthony Ferguson is pedestrian. He’d be entirely fine with a book that has no foreign words. However, the production on this “Audible Only” recording is unbelievably shoddy. There are - surprise! - many German words in this book, as well as Latin, Italian, and French ones. Mr. Ferguson renders the German words unintelligible, butchers the Latin, mangles the names of French composers, and can’t even get some of the musical terms right. A trip to the dictionary could have fixed many of these errors. It’s the “we don’t care” attitude from the entire production team I find most lamentable. No quality control. Did anybody listen to this? Apparently the Hollywood-movie-approach was applied. The words sound foreign, so it’s good enough.
In my opinion, a disservice was done to this book.

Great insight, ok reading

The book itself gave a fresh perspective on JS Bach - the man behind the music. Will be purchasing the physical book to reference the excellent content.

The reading was good except for several errors in pronunciation - especially Latin.

Written by an Artist for Artists and Connoisseurs

Any additional comments?

An excellent biographical treatise on the complex life circumstances that go into creating the sublime. Any creative will be grateful to the author for fleshing out the details of Bach's life and music with purity of intent and love for our artistic evolution....skg

Great book about J. S. Bach

An excellent book. Some music words mispronounced. Well written and author extremely knowledgeable about the subject and made parts of the text personal.

Monumental Work on JS Bach

The content is superb. Perhaps too detailed and in depth for casual Bach lovers and even many professional musicians.

Gardiner displays his extensive, lifelong experience and understanding of JS Bach and many other facets of Western Music History. It's not surprising that his recordings are so illuminated and musical. He has studied countless details that only reinforce his skill at recreating great performance of JS Back, Monteverdi and many others.

The narration is clean, precise and well paced, but some unfortunate pronunciation errors. I imagine reviewing and preparing a work of this size, was not possible.

Slightly irritating to hear pharisee pronounced as fuhREEsee, among other Italian and German word errors, but overall, very good and an impressive effort.

Much easier to absorb the material aurally than visually, so thank you for this audio version.

Interesting

The author is a well known Conductor in England. He is the founder of the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists. In some ways this book is an autobiography of Gardiner and his search for information to understand Bach, wrapped in a biography of Bach.

Gardiner tells of the difficulties Bach had with his employers throughout his career and his recurrent refusal to accept authority. He tells of Bach’s life as an orphan and his problems with schools. Gardiner book is dense with fact and full of diversions. The book is also rich in informal conjectures. He writes of Back’s gradual turn from what listeners today might consider “the parochiality of the liturgical context” to “music that shows more and more signs of an almost limitless appeal.” Gardiner speculates “It is entirely possible that Bach’s growing disenchantment with Cantatas in the 1730s arose from a since that the communality of belief that he had once shared with his congregation was breaking down, and that, for whatever reason, he was now failing to make his mark.”

The author writes in a lively, conversational style. Gardiner has done an excellent job of painting us a picture of Bach considering how little information about him is available. Antony Ferguson does a great job narrating the book.