Two of Bach’s chorales: Sheep may safely graze and Jesu, joy of man´s desiring, were transcribed for piano in a highly refined 20th Century romanticized lyrical style.Sheep may safely graze is one of Bach’s few secular cantatas, written in a pastoral style. However, the words describe how committed a faithful shepherd keeps watch over his flock and hence have obvious allusions to Biblical material. Dutch-German pianist Egon Petri’s transcription is a fusion of his two lifetime musical passions: Bach and Franz Liszt’s transcription-genre. The celebrated icon of our concert, Myra Hess (1890–1965),wrote her transcription of Jesu, joy of man´s desiring in 1926. It is a wedding favorite, a quiet celebration of the Son of God and the 10th movement of Bach’s Cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, (BWV 147).Elina Viljanen
Classical Music | Piano Music
Johann Sebastian Bach
Sheep May Safely Graze Play
Recorded on 11/02/2011, uploaded on 04/03/2012
Musician's or Publisher's Notes
Two of Bach’s chorales: Sheep may safely graze and Jesu, joy of man´s desiring, were transcribed for piano in a highly refined 20th Century romanticized lyrical style. Sheep may safely graze is one of Bach’s few secular cantatas, written in a pastoral style. However, the words describe how committed a faithful shepherd keeps watch over his flock and hence have obvious allusions to Biblical material. Dutch-German pianist Egon Petri’s transcription is a fusion of his two lifetime musical passions: Bach and Franz Liszt’s transcription-genre. The celebrated icon of our concert, Myra Hess (1890–1965), wrote her transcription of Jesu, joy of man´s desiring in 1926. It is a wedding favorite, a quiet celebration of the Son of God and the 10th movement of Bach’s Cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, (BWV 147). Elina Viljanen
More music by Johann Sebastian Bach
English Suite No. 2 in a minor, BWV 807
Prelude and Fugue in d minor, Book II
Prelude and Fugue in E Major from Well-Tempered Clavier Book II
Concerto in d minor BWV 1052
Prelude and Fugue in e minor from Well-Tempered Clavier Book I
Harpsichord Concerto in d minor
Prelude and Fugue in B-flat Major from Well-Tempered Clavier Book I
Prelude and Fugue in B flat minor, Well Tempered Piano Book 2
Prelude and Fugue in A minor (audio)
Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645 from Cantata BWV 140
Performances by same musician(s)
Nocturne in c-sharp minor Op. Posth.
Gretchen am Spinnrade
Widmung
Quejas, o la Maja y el Ruiseñor, from Goyescas
Reflets dans l’eau, from Images, Book 1
Prelude Op. 32, No. 10, in b minor
Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18
Spanish Rhapsody
Piano Concerto No. 1 in e minor, Op. 11
Polonaise Op. 44 in f-sharp minor
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