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


[YouTube - Link]
If you are familiar with this piece performed on an organ, you may be surprised by this virtuoso performance on an accordion - especially at about the 5:40 mark.

- via b3ta

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Minnesotastan.


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.
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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...
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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*
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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