Bach and the High Baroque by Robert Greenberg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wowsers. So. I'd been joining my buddy reader on a musical journey with Greenberg's wonderful lecture series and I'd been accustomed to 4-5 hours per lecture. A nice bite-sized immersion in musical history.

And then we get to Bach and the High Baroque, assuming we'd get a quick little masterwork on some masterworks.

I immediately had to change my tune -- indeed, all my tunes -- when I realized that this one was a true honker of a lecture cycle. It was only 4-5 times longer than all the rest. And then it slowly dawned on me that Greenberg must have started out with this particular period, even sharpening all his musical keys on Bach's whetstone.

And, indeed, I've never been so steeped in notation as when he showed me Bach's brilliance.

Ok. Back up. I admit I've always been a huge fan of Bach. Give me those concertos any day, or maybe the fugue, or, hell, any piano. It always spoke to me, even sharpened my mind, and I used to muse on how many future artists, even rock-n-roll artists, roll with him. It's just one of those constant idle musings, you know? I and I always enjoyed going back to Bach for the pure pleasure of it.

Fast forward to now. I've never been filled this high to the brim in musical theory, enthusiasm for the Baroque, or amazement at Bach's tonal masterpieces.

And for the future, if any ya'll pick up Greenberg's lectures, just know that this one is a definite outlier. It's great, but wow, it's overflowing, almost too much so, with composition and nitty-gritty. :)

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