This will be the FAQ page for the site going forward, so I will try to keep it updated (including with links to longer posts as I write them).
What is Bach at Bond?
Bach at Bond was a weekly recital series presenting the complete organ works of Bach over the course of the 2023–24 academic year. The recitals were held on Mondays at 3:30PM at Bond Memorial Chapel on the Reneker Organ, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in the space in 2013, and which was built 40 years ago, in 1983. For more on the series, see https://events.uchicago.edu/event/222121-bach-at-bond. The first concert was held on Monday 2 October.
Bach at Bond wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible support and effort of the entire Rockefeller Chapel staff. When I was drafting this FAQ, I kept writing “special thanks to...” lists, and then deleting them when I end up with the entire chapel staff, so I'll just leave it at that.
What is Left on Reed?
This site has three main purposes. First is to serve as a replacement for printed programs and spoken remarks during recitals: there will be weekly posts giving the recital program (in order) and some comments on the music. Unlike, say, Ray Nagem’s excellent blog for his Orgelbüchlein project, I don’t plan on giving exhaustive commentary or analysis, or even necessarily discussing every single piece—rather, I'll give slightly longer versions of the kind of remarks I would make orally during the recitals.1
Second, I’m using this space to address a number of topics related to the series, including questions I get asked (even before it’s begun!) frequently. Some of these can be addressed quickly in this post, but many of them warrant a little bit more space. So, after the section on “this week’s music,” I’m including a section more related to the series as a whole—related, if the opportunity strikes, to that week and/or its music. Again, this is not meant to be an academic exercise, and it's not meant to be exclusively for musicology/theory PhDs and/or professional organists. (I apologize if those constituencies find some of those posts a little basic: I expect at various points to end up giving gentle overviews of organ construction, Baroque organ forms, etc. Hopefully I will neither bore nor confuse too many people.)
Third, I hope this site will make it possible to “follow the series from afar,” especially since I don't expect even local Hyde Park residents with too much free time to be willing or able to attend every recital. So I’ll also post clips “from the practice room,” updates on (advertisements for) other musical/academic activities I have going on, and a selection of what I'd likely bring up while chatting after the concert—expect some comments on “What I’m listening to” and some links to “What I’m reading.” (That kind of thing is also a bit more fun to write, which is motivating for the project as a whole.)
Finally, in case you’re wondering: I turned on the option for paid subscriptions on a whim, but I only plan to write freely accessible content.
Who are you?
I’m a PhD student in music theory and history at the University of Chicago, and organ scholar at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. I have biographical info, some live recordings, and a schedule of performances/talks at my website.
What does the name “Left on Reed” mean?
It’s time to make this joke 100x funnier by dissecting it!
Yes, the name is a pun on my surname and “left on read,” the texting practice of viewing a message without replying. But there’s also the nice added layer that several Bach pieces are often performed with “left [hand] on [a keyboard with a] reed [stop pulled],” typically to make a chorale melody stand out. The most famous of those is also one of Bach’s most famous organ works in general:
(Credit and/or blame for the name goes to Christine Gu.)
Shouldn’t you be writing your dissertation instead of blogging?
I’m so glad my committee members are reading this!
How much music is this? What pieces are being played when? Why?
I have a spreadsheet that lays out all of the recital programs. (Navigate to the “Programs” tab at the bottom left.)
The total time for all the recitals comes out to between 18 and 19 hours.
The columns of the spreadsheet hint at the logic behind the programming: pieces are being performed roughly where they belong in the Lutheran calendar (when applicable). But there’s quite a lot of fudging necessary due to time constraints (no more than 40 minutes per program) and calendar issues (no concerts over the summer or on Christmas). Deciding where a given piece “belongs” on the liturgical calendar is also often quite arbitrary. (I usually went with the week corresponding to a cantata in which Bach used that chorale.)
It’s very possible I’ve made an outright mistake on the spreadsheet, and if you have suggestions or comments, I’d be happy to hear them! (Much more likely to make changes if you suggest an easy fix like “swap piece X from program M with piece Y from program N.”)
As for exactly which pieces constitute “the complete organ works of J.S. Bach”: see the Week 1 post. I address concerns about whether certain pieces are actually by Bach when they are programmed; see, for example, the discussion of Toccata and Fugue in D minor here.
What is the Reneker Organ like? Why not give the recitals at Rockefeller Chapel?
Answered in two posts: Part 1 and Part 2.
How did you make interpretive decision X?
I ended up writing more than I thought about this!
I wrote about playing arrangements and “string-style” music here.
I wrote about various kinds of “additions” and reinterpretations: meter, articulation, actual pitches, and cadenzas.
What recordings of Bach's organ works do you recommend? What about editions?
To answer the question indirectly, the two “complete Bach organ” recordings I've found most inspiring are Ton Koopman’s and Hans Fagius’s. She hasn’t made a complete set, but I've also learned a lot from Kimberly Marshall’s recordings (not just of Bach).
That said, my favorite “Bach organ” recordings are played on string instruments: this album by Fretwork (starring a breathtaking Passacaglia), and this spectacular recording of the trio sonatas by the Brook Street Band. And for Bach in general, I always aspire to the stylishness and excitement of Reinhard Goebel's Musica Antiqua Köln. More on my relationship to these recordings and that style of playing here.
My favorite organ recording, which includes several pieces by Bach, is discussed here.
As for editions, I’m mostly playing from Bärenreiter’s set (Neue Bach-Ausgabe), but I would strongly recommend George Stauffer’s edition, published by Wayne Leupold, to anybody looking to get Bach organ scores.
Shouldn't you be practicing instead of blogging?
I’m so glad my organ professors are reading this!
How much of this music did you learn specially for the series?
Roughly 8 hours out of 19 is music I haven't performed publicly before, mostly consisting of the smaller and earlier works—although I've been working on many of those pieces for years and just hadn’t programmed them yet. Of course, I’ve also played a lot of Bach since first having the idea to do a “complete Bach series,” so another answer to the question could be “almost all of it.”
What’s Bach’s hardest organ piece?
Answered here. (Of course, this is just my opinion/technique speaking.)
Is J.S. Bach your favorite composer?
I've always been surprised how often I get asked this question. (Including after recitals where I programmed 1 or even 0 pieces by Bach!) Maybe it’s an expectation or stereotype for organists? Anyway, in the spirit of overcomplicating things, I have two answers:
No, and he might not even be my favorite organ composer to play. (Either Sweelinck or Franck would get the nod there.) Of course I like his music a lot and think he’s very good, but probably not “favorite,” which leads to the second answer....
I’m not sure if I have a “favorite” composer, since there are too many different ways to like and appreciate music. So, to be even more longwinded, here's a short list of different possible answers:
Composer that usually impresses me most when I'm listening: Igor Stravinsky or Josquin Desprez
Composer I listen to most often to improve my mood: Arcangelo Corelli or Franz Schubert
Composer I’m usually most excited to talk about/share: Fanny Hensel
Living composer I’m most consistently impressed by: Jessie Montgomery. (R.I.P. Kaija Saariaho)
If we broaden the range to singer-songwriters, the answer is of course IU:
Why Bach? Why now?
I only answer this question in a really lame and indirect way at the end of the series, because it’s just too big to give a single pithy answer to. Some related posts:
Who else would you like to thank?
How much time do you have? My organ teachers: Martin Jean, Thomas Murray, and Van Quinn. Other musical mentors: Patrick Allen, Doris and Richard Cross, and Grant Herreid. Other music teachers: Karen Allred, Allen Anderson, Arthur Haas, Tonu Kalam, Randall Love, and Brent Wissick. And a litany of organ colleagues far too long to name—huge thanks to all of you. And of course my family for their support and forbearance.
Are there any other organ-related projects you'd like to shout out?
Too many, and I'm sure I’ll be mentioning lots in weeks to come. For now, I'll refer you to Carolyn Craig and Janet Yieh’s Amplify Female Composers, a fantastic project producing and boosting sacred music by women.
If you want a more exhaustive treatment of Bach's organ works, it appears that George Stauffer's book on them will be published quite soon by OUP. I'm sure I'll discuss it here when I get the chance to take a look! For now, Peter Williams' dry but informative text (same publisher) will probably do.