Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Played on an Accordion

1. Alex
   April 22nd, 2009 at 2:01 pm

   That is amazing. Good find, Minnesotastan!

2. Christophe
   April 22nd, 2009 at 2:23 pm

   Wow.

3. Ric
   April 22nd, 2009 at 2:24 pm

   wow, I've heard it NOT sound that good on an organ. Considering it's written for two hands AND two feet he managed to hit most of the notes! Great Job.

4. Rene ala carte
   April 22nd, 2009 at 3:13 pm

   Wonderful!

5. Orpheus
   April 22nd, 2009 at 4:07 pm

   Hehe, considering the fact the dude's out of this world, the crowd don't clap much, do they?...'Is it done now? Can we applaud?'

6. Lindsay
   April 22nd, 2009 at 4:16 pm

   That was amazing. I almost cried.

7. Towers
   April 22nd, 2009 at 5:31 pm

   That has left me speechless, I don't know what to say. It was awesome!

8. DaveL
   April 22nd, 2009 at 5:49 pm

   Bravo! If you have RealTek audio on your computer, open up the options, try the "Stone Room" environment, "classical" EQ (I smoothed it out into a downward sloping curve), close your eyes and it'll make you go "Muahahahaa!"... lol...

9. Frau
   April 22nd, 2009 at 6:43 pm

   heh - I favorited that two years ago.

10. Frau
    April 22nd, 2009 at 6:48 pm

    You might also like Alexander Dmitriev playing Flight of the Bumblebee on a chromatic accordion > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVbuIZ-5-8o

11. Ali S.
    April 22nd, 2009 at 9:31 pm

    That was mindbogglingly awesome! I faved this so I can use this to wear my vampire attire on in style. Muahahahaha!! *turns into a bat and disappears into the night*

12. Allen Garvin
    April 22nd, 2009 at 9:46 pm

    You know, the authenticity of this famous piece is doubted by some people, based on successive fifths which are rare in Bach's keyboard pieces. The most interesting theory, perhaps, is that it might be a Bach violin piece, transcribed by one of his students for organ. Andrew Manze, a few years ago, recorded a reconstructed transcription of this piece for solo violin, which can be found on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9reoUinXgA

    It's great to hear the suggestive fugal parts on what is essentially a monophonic instrument (the modern "Bach" bow nonwithstanding).

    For other wacky instrumental transcriptions, there was a trio a few years ago that performed Stravinsky's rite of spring on hurdy-gurdy, tabor pipe, and concertina. Now that was GREAT.

13. Kalel
    April 23rd, 2009 at 2:01 am

    Truly marvelous and moving!

    Glad he's not my neighbor, though.

14. DaveL
    April 23rd, 2009 at 2:18 am

    Bah... all music went to hell after counterpoint Allen. Gregorian Chant FTW!

15. Poly
    April 23rd, 2009 at 2:46 am

    check Vitaly Dimitriev's performance

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEtXsa5rny0

16. The El Bee En
    April 23rd, 2009 at 3:15 am

    Somewhere Virgil Fox is smiling....

17. bajakirch
    April 23rd, 2009 at 3:08 pm

    Impressive. I had to look closely to verify he didn't have 6 fingers on each hand. If you watch his hands long enough, they start to look like 2 spiders. Kinda goes along with the creepy music portion.

18. BuriedCaesar
    April 24th, 2009 at 12:49 pm

    Brilliance. Pure, unadulterated brilliance!

19. ted
    April 25th, 2009 at 8:59 am

    Very nice. The accordion, as a reed instrument, doesn't quite have the same oomph as a pipe organ, but he did a great job.

    This toccata is used by organists as a fairly easy but impressive-sounding piece.

    Another is Widor's Toccata. I wouldn' mind hearing him play that on his accordion.

20. Claude
    June 24th, 2009 at 7:00 pm

    It's amazing how one man can still inspire such hot debate and interpretation. I found an interesting discussion on Pandalous about how using the pedal can alone change so much to a Bach piece. It's here: http://www.pandalous.com/nodes/bach_and_the_pedal

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