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Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring- J.S. Bach (Christmas 2024)


Ross Smithe

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Back in the 1990's, I played and recorded with a popular Christian artist Las Vegas, NV, by the name of Annie Meadows. She had a wonderful Christmas album she released at the time called Memories. This modern arrangement of the well known and beloved piece by J.S. Bach was the prelude for the album (arranged and performed on the album by an fellow musician from the area, Brian Hicks). I remember those days fondly, and wanted to re-record this piece for Christmas this year!

All done in CbB as always, and I was really happy with the quality and realism of the piano samples (combination of Keyscape and my Korg Kronos).

"Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" is the popular English title of this piece from an Advent chorale Bach composed in 1723. This enduring work is often heard at weddings, as well as during Advent, Christmas, and Easter.

 

Edited by Ross Smithe
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One of my top favourites of J S Bach. Nice rendition where you wouldn't expect this beautiful melody to be more than three hundred years old. 

Edited by equality
Added the word "of"
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8 hours ago, Ross Smithe said:

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

Very nice. It's a cool version. Btw, I actually played this song on guitar for my end-year performance when I was in Strings in Junior High. All three judges gave me high scores but all three said the feel wasnt quite right in one of the sections. 

In my defence, I had never heard the song. This was back in the mid 80s and my local record store didnt have a cassette of it. 

I'm sure a great sight reader wouldnt have had a probem but oh well. I just blame it on my Strings teacher. In the words of Mr Miyogi... "No such thing as bad student, only bad teacher".  😄

 

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On 12/7/2024 at 2:51 PM, treesha said:

Sounds great, very clean. 1723 wow, still works today. The chorus and instrumentation are nice when you fill the song out. Enjoy your nice memories !

Thanks so much Treesha, appreciate the listen and comment!

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On 12/7/2024 at 6:38 PM, equality said:

One of my top favourites of J S Bach. Nice rendition where you wouldn't expect this beautiful melody to be more than three hundred years old. 

Thanks so much for the listen and comment! Bach was seriously a trailblazer in all aspects, but really a very melodic and rhythmic composer

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On 12/7/2024 at 7:18 PM, T Boog said:

Very nice. It's a cool version. Btw, I actually played this song on guitar for my end-year performance when I was in Strings in Junior High. All three judges gave me high scores but all three said the feel wasnt quite right in one of the sections. 

In my defence, I had never heard the song. This was back in the mid 80s and my local record store didnt have a cassette of it. 

I'm sure a great sight reader wouldnt have had a probem but oh well. I just blame it on my Strings teacher. In the words of Mr Miyogi... "No such thing as bad student, only bad teacher".  😄

 

Funny story, lol! I'm sure you did fine, they were just being picky. Better than I would have done! I started on a traditional track with piano when I was a kid and was a terrible sight reader, or any music note reader for that matter! I could play by ear, so when I got older I just started playing and arranging based around chords

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On 12/9/2024 at 4:07 PM, bjornpdx said:

Ross, just an excellent arrangement and performance that brings out the beauty of the melody.
-Bjorn

Sincere thanks for the listen and comment Bjorn. Really enjoyed your new piece as well!

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2nd listen.  Bach is my main music inspiration and guide.   This is a very nice piano arrangement and the piano sound is great!  I was hoping for the part B in the piece that goes into minor mode etc,  but this is short and sweet and will work perfect for the appropriate occasion or event that needs a little Bach, but not too much.  

If you get the chance check out my When They Built Cathedrals inspired by Bach, which I'll be posting soon. 

Very nice!  

 

 

 

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On 12/18/2024 at 9:06 PM, MichaelJohn said:

2nd listen.  Bach is my main music inspiration and guide.   This is a very nice piano arrangement and the piano sound is great!  I was hoping for the part B in the piece that goes into minor mode etc,  but this is short and sweet and will work perfect for the appropriate occasion or event that needs a little Bach, but not too much.  

If you get the chance check out my When They Built Cathedrals inspired by Bach, which I'll be posting soon. 

Very nice!  

 

 

 

I will definitely listen to your new piece when it's posted!

Thanks so much for listening and commenting on this! Yes it is Bach, but just barely, lol! Seriously though, Bach translates so well to more modern music, as his composition style tends to be very rhythmic and melodic. I did another Bach thing a while back, just for fun I put a 4/4 hip hop beat behind Invention 8, which is in 3/4. Was a nice little experiment, and really worked well (that may be open to opinion)!

 

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