The Enduring Power of Classical Music
Music: Flute partita BWV 1013 in A Minor
Artist: Johann Sebastian Bach
Shared by: James for his father
There are three pieces of music that I most remember my father by, who died in 2021. Two of these he played to a highly accomplished and professional level. The first is the last movement of Handel’s F Major Recorder sonata which he recorded on CD. The second is Johann Sebastian Bach’s flute partita BWV 1013 in A Minor, although he played this on the recorder. The third is Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, but the lesser-known Vienna edition has a couple of rewritten arias that include Basset Horns, which use a much lower register. These arias most closely represent both perfection and genius as a composer something we both agreed on.
I am pretty sure that Bach, Mozart and Handel were my father’s favourite composers. In that order; Bach first, Mozart second and then Handel. I agree with the assessment of this order and have always thought the same despite more recently being much fonder of 20th-century composers such as Messiaen and Malcom Arnold in a way that my father I don’t think ever was.
Ultimately however it is the JS Bach that I remember him by. Why? Well, the Handel is the most effortless and joyful of the pieces and it invoked happiness and ease. It evokes memories of warm summer days when he learned this piece during the school holidays. As a freelance teacher and classical musician ‘working from home’, whilst bringing up three children was a straightforward answer to requisite childcare requirements back in the sunny uplands of the early 1990’s.
The Bach however is more of a struggle in all senses. It is a highly complex piece for both the performer and the listener reflecting the profundity of the music. Also, far more difficult to learn for my father during a different summer holiday I seem to recall. Perhaps more poignant and metaphorical is that the Bach also reflects a personal struggle my father Alan went through in many ways. Alan was a professional recorder player and blind from early adulthood due to a condition called retinitis pigmentosa. I suppose he would have finally lost any meaningful vision around the time he was learning to play these pieces; when he was approaching the age of 40 and I would have been around 15.
“It is something I miss but the enduring power of classical music has been a source of joy throughout my life...”
Growing up in Birmingham, our household was permeated by classical music and offered a richness for which I am grateful. It is something I miss but the enduring power of classical music has been a source of joy throughout my life even though I never learnt to play an instrument to any level of competency or proficiency as my Dad. The beauty of the recorder played well remains one of life’s delights be it Bach, Berio or Benjamin Britten’s Noah’s Flood. More recently, visiting Orford, where the Britten was first performed, I was delighted to find a music book by my father called ‘Enlightened’ at Snape Maltings in one of the shops there. I hope someone has since bought it.