the online treasury of the nederlands bach society
Some of the great benefits of the internet are that things distant come close, the truly beautiful and done to God’s glory can be enjoyed, and the complex is made clear. In terms of good music the Nederlands Bach Society’s website does all these things.
The Bach Society’s aim is to play and make available the music of the great musician, J S Bach. Furthermore it goes to great lengths to explain the technical qualities of Bach’s music in simple terms. Bach’s faith and Bible knowledge is also featured, all of which helps to show why this music is so very beautiful and spiritually uplifting. If you do not already love Bach’s music, here is a warning: once you’ve listened to a few productions a world will open up and you will be ever thankful for the amazing talent the Lord gave to Bach.
The Bach Society was founded in 1921 with the performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion. The society’s ensemble grew in skill and fame; each year it now performs some fifty concerts in the Netherlands and abroad.
In 2013 the society made a very grand plan: to perform and video record all of Bach’s one thousand and eighty works and put them on-line! The first recordings were made available on their website on 2 May 2014, still followed by a new Bach recording every Friday.
The website states: “Each piece of music by Bach has its own page where site visitors can choose: the recording, interviews, background information or audience reactions. You can watch and listen to every single piece in its entirety. Musicians will talk about what the music does for them. Background information is provided for each work and all the facts about the recording are compactly summarised. To stay close to Bach, we perform his music in hand-picked locations: cantatas in a church, chamber music in living rooms, and so on.”
With the All of Bach project the Nederlands Bach Society’s wants to make available an online treasury where music lovers can enjoy music written for large orchestras, intimate house concerts and solo works. All the pieces are performed by the Nederlands Bach Society supported by many guest musicians. The society gladly shares the music of Bach around the world. The concerts are recorded with high quality video recorders and expert cameramen so that anyone can freely enjoy Bach’s wonderful music.
The website is HTTP://WWW.ALLOFBACH.COM