Live Bach Performance On Synthesizers

This performance, by Art of Moog, is an original arrangement of musical fragments by JS Bach.

Here’s what they have to say about it:

“This arrangement gathers all the canonic fragments Bach left throughout his life and tries to unify them with a Kraftwerk/Tangerine Dream-inspired sequenced backdrop. Material that is simultaneously simple and massively complex, with multiple versions of the same note sequences layering up between the musicians.

A live performance, filmed in the Baroque at the Edge series in LSO St Luke’s, London, December 2020.”

Here’s another of their “Switched On” style arrangements, this time of 14 canons on the Goldberg Ground BWV 1087. They describe it as “the most far out arrangement Art of Moog ever made”.

The rhythmic soundtrack was constructed from audio samples derived from the action and mechanics of a baroque harpsichord, and sequenced on an Akai MPC Live:

Art of Moog was a UK-based synth band that played the music of JS Bach live on analogue and digital synthesizers. Active from 2018 to 2022, they formed originally to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the seminal album ‘Switched-on Bach’ by Wendy Carlos, in the 2018 Bach Weekend at Kings Place, London.

Musicians: Robin Bigwood, Steven Devine, Annabel Knight and Martin Perkins.

9 thoughts on “Live Bach Performance On Synthesizers

  1. “with a Kraftwerk/Tangerine Dream-inspired sequenced backdrop” … Yup, that’s exactly what I was thinking when I heard it. It was like Florian and Edgar were right there playing along with them!

        1. The new Waldorf Quantum MK2 Synth. It has polyphonic aftertouch, so capable to recreate the nuances of the classic acoustic instruments (well, at least digitally 🙂

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