Thank you :)

I have a few comments and questions...if your interested.

-my first thought was ...this guy reminds me of Carl Sagan...lol

YES ! Thank you for the subsequent link !

-who speaks like that anymore?

eg Dennis Dutton,an eminent philosopher ,friend of mine, died last year, a great mind,google him.

-The best architect of music that ever lived? Is that because of the complexity of the music itself?

No. Bach's music isn't that complex when compared to music written before him.Particularly the extremely complicated structures of pre Baroque ,Ockheghem for example. But Bach is more intricately structured due to its relative high polyphonic density ( independence of voicing ) when compared with successive composers like Mozart ,where the focus is on other agendas.
But again, later in the development huge complexities arise,which are way beyond that of Bach. Webern, Sorabji, Stockhausen, to name a few from the 20th century. Bach's music though is tightly constructed,every note has a function and despite all the counterpoint that is the predominant feature ,he uses some of the most advanced harmonic progressions for centuries to come. There are no filling voices anyhwere, everything is "structural".

-I loved the end..."it's not about the finality of the music, but simply the joyous essence of being"

Bach was a firm believer in God and as such his music conveys a positive and affirmative message. Unlike Schubert or Schumann,Chopin or Tschaikowsky,all fatalists.( or those who masquerade : Mozart and Mendelssohn )

That is a good philosophy of life as well!

I won't comment on that, but all music is philosophy,though I would claim the greatest philosopher in the modern sense was clearly Beethoven,but that's another big discussion.

Yay Beethoven :=]

Glenn Gould - Beethoven 15 Variations and Fugue Op 35 (1/3) - YouTube

Now the floodgates are open !!
Here is his most radical piece ever !
Will be my funeral music and that should piss off everybody one last time as I will have it played three times in a row..lol...

Beethoven - Große Fuge B-Dur Op. 133 - Alban Berg Quartett - YouTube

Yeah, that's just lovely :=]

Although the very large organ suspended behind those guys is not quite subliminal enough- boom boom. I'll stop now :=]

Fantastic. But I don't think three times is enough.lol

Since I have no musical background, let me put this another way

"There are no filling voices anyhwere, everything is "structural".

Think about a home where the owner has filled the walls eclectic decor, just for the sake of not having a bare wall. Where the home of a designer has an overall, cohesive plan, which can even be quite minimal.

Is it like that?

"Yay Beethoven :=]"

Agreed. His fifth is my overall favorite.

If you would like to elaborate on his philosophy...feel free :)

Well I am confused...

Based purely on the first 5 minutes, I would say your intense, passionate and a bit stubborn.

Then there is this soft, melodic, beautiful transition...

hmmm...interesting

Almost like the rage of adolescence transitioning towards growth, struggle and then maturity, repetition and harmony

...then the dramatic turn

What am I missing, because I loved it!

"There are no filling voices anyhwere, everything is "structural".

Think about a home where the owner has filled the walls eclectic decor, just for the sake of not having a bare wall. Where the home of a designer has an overall, cohesive plan, which can even be quite minimal.

Is it like that?"

Sort of,yes. The structural miracle in Bach is ,that despite all the counterpoints ( every voice is sort of independent ) he still manages to have this amazing harmonic quality.So all the individual voices then form a harmonic progression to an organic mix that has hardly ever been matched ever since. Apart from that: his rhythmic inventiveness is also remarkable and there can be little surprise that these works still speak to us centuries after they were written,like a Shakespeare play still does.

Beethoven's beliefs are based on German idealistic philosophy ,mainly Schiller. Beethoven forces the musical material ( the notes ) into a mould , he is a welder , a blacksmith. Nothing flows natural,it is always "organized". He is awkward to play as he did not take much notice of instrumental limitations,his musical ideas supersede practicalities. His trademark is that he uses often the smallest of motif ( 5th Symphony,the famous ta-ta-ta-taaaaa ) and then creates a whole universe around it. He is not a melodic writer ,but he takes his audience and the poor performers through a journey with all ups and downs,the motifs are thrown around,distorted,magnified,amplified,repeated etc, He has essentially a positive message,the struggle ends usually well or is uplifting at least. Schiller is one of the keys to Beethoven's thinking, Friedrich Schiller - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
His insight into the human psyche and condition reflected in his music make him one of the greatest musical minds ever.It is a lifelong,very rewarding task to get to know and understand his music.It is not about having fun ,it's about life,and it's almost always very serious. It is very German. ( I am one of them ,so beware ! )
Key works are his 9 symphonies ( Kleiber's nr 4 and 7 a must ) , the 32 piano sonatas ( Gulda,Schnabel and Kempff to be recommended ) and the 16 string quartets ( splendid recording by the US Emerson Quartet ).
The direct line of this particular thread in classical music is : B-B-B ,Bach,Beethoven ,Brahms
( Brahms was the predominant successor of that kind of thinking in the 19th century.)
But I am a heretic. My gods are Mozart and Schubert, but that's another story.

"A tyrant's power has a limit" (a Swiss freedom fighter, in: Wilhelm Tell)
"The voice of the majority is no proof of justice." (Talbot, in: Maria Stuart)
"It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons."
"Live with your century but do not be its creature." (From On the Aesthetic Education of Man)

Dinu Lipatti was one of the most stupendous pianists ever. He had only a very small repertoire,but it was polished to absolute perfection.
This Bach chorale also featured as the last work in his farewell recital 1950 in Besancon.

Dinu Lipatti plays Bach-Hess Chorale "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring", rarer 1947 version - YouTube