155 Days With Bach and Me

There’s a line in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark in which Indy (Harrison Ford) outruns a pack of bloodthirsty natives, jumps into a river full of crocodiles, and climbs aboard a water plane that narrowly outruns the poison darts and spears thrown by his pursuers. As the plane takes to the sky, Indy looks down at his feet, sees the pilot’s pet serpent, and says, “I hate snakes, Jock! I hate ’em!”

Later, when Indy and his friend Sallah discover the hidden chamber that houses the Ark, a torch reveals the floor of the chamber is literally crawling with snakes. Indy says, “Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes?”

I know how Indy feels. Only not about snakes.

As soon as I popped today’s CD into my changer, the first sound I heard — despite the title Violin Sonatas — was (you guessed it) the harpsichord. The exact words out of my mouth were, “Why did it have to be the harpsichord?”

Today’s music violates the Three-Instrument Rule. There are just two instruments here: Violin and harpsichord. To my ears, they do not blend well. The violin is at once serene and mournful, soaring and earthbound, sweet and brash. The harpsichord just chatters like a skeleton’s teeth.

Both instruments are played with passion and precision. Luis Otavio Santos is on violin. Pieter-Jan Belder plays the harpsichord.

There is one piece that I especially like: The fourth movement (“Allegro”) from Sonata No. 3 in E major (BWV 1016). The harpsichord plays a refreshingly minor roll while the violin dances and twirls and soars in a distinctly allegro way.

The rest of today’s compositions, at best, aren’t memorable to me. But to each his own, eh?

The compositions on today’s CD are:
BWV 1014 — 1717
BWV 1015 — 1717
BWV 1016 — 1717
Bach was 32 when he composed all three of these pieces of music.