This entertaining concert aims to revisit some of classical music’s Master Pieces, as a succession of musical quizzes. The performer, following the concept of his “Bach Panther” Fugue, imagines what J.S. Bach would have done with miscellaneous musical ideas and themes. 

The Bach Panther fugue aims to portray Mancini's famous Pink Panther theme (with its dotted rhythms reminiscent of the second fugue from the Art of Fugue) as it would have been seen by Bach, inverting the common practice of jazzifying a theme from the past.  Many other motives from music posterior to Bach's time (from the 18th to the beginning of the 20th centuries) can be treated in a similar fashion, reborn as chorals, inventions, preludes and... fugues, many of which are based on national anthems.  The compilation's title evokes the irreverent feelings one has when faced with the manipulation of such revered themes, and not less with applying them to Bach himself (as in the Sarabande).  But, as he generously partook in the tradition of transcriptions, let's not be more Catholic than the Pope...

ESTHETICAL

FUN

EDUCATIONAL

All the pieces are written using the contrapuntal language of Bach, with a texture that is both complex and harmonious.  Alternating forms allow for a certain contrast in the program.

Sometimes the musical form can make the famous theme hard to recognize.  The fun is in having the audience decipher it.  The title of each piece gives a clue as to the original theme, but not to its composer.  The audiences is first presented with an enigma, then an explanation, then a second chance, which allows them to finally discover the theme for themselves.

The celebrity of the themes used allows them to be easily identified in the contrapuntal fabric of fugues.  The audience is able to hear the opposition of colors (major/minor) and to understand the general construction of this revered form.  Through the use of other forms, audience members learn how to listen to classical music.