Presto! Bach's Italian Concerto

It was impossible, when I was in grad school, not to be aware of Switched-On Bach.  Now, thinking back, I remember that Walter Carlos (aka Wendy Carlos) released albums called The Well-Tempered Synthesizer, and then Switched-On Bach II, all of which had tracks that were really great.

Then, when a friend played for me the Bachbusters album, which, unlike the Carlos albums, had drum tracks in them, I just freaked out with delight.  I had been interested in the first work on that album, in its original form: the "Italian" Concerto, and I learned to play bits and pieces of it on the piano.  When I heard Don Dorsey's version on Bachbusters, I was blown away.

Then, along came a fellow called Brian Slawson, who played Bach on Marimbas, and other percussion instruments, on the album called Bach On Wood.  I went on a Bach on Percussion jag for many years, and completely forgot about Bachbusters.  But now, because of Archie's Archives, I've gotten hooked on the Italian Concerto once again.  So, in between classes, I built an mp3 of the last movement of the Concerto, the Presto.  (This is the cut on Bachbusters with the drum track.)  After the mp3 was ready, I made a video, of the software playing the piece, and uploaded the combination to YouTube.  And here it is:


The bass line is not faithful to the original notes; it has been simplified to sound more like a rock bass line.

By the way, if you're interested in Don Dorsey, he worked for Disney in Florida, as their music director for several exhibits, and apparently helped with various Disney musical projects.

P.S.  And here is a performance of the Italian Concerto --originally written for solo harpsichord-- as a recorder and orchestra concerto!  It is gorgeous; who knew this could be done?  Note the pretty lute (or archlute; archlutes have extra resonating strings) that plays with the continuo:



The Presto, the movement I uploaded, corresponds to the last part of the video above; starting about 9:13.

Archie