Spotted: Merrill Crissey – Bach Reimagined

Spotted: Merrill Crissey – Bach Reimagined

A couple of weeks ago, I introduced you to the artist, Merrill Crissey, from Orlando, Florida. Today, it’s time to introduce you to his latest release; Bach Reimagined!

Tell us something about Bach Reimagined!
I wrote and rewrote the B Flat prelude several times before I felt good about it. One of the hardest but most necessary things to do when you’re creating is to scrap something you have spent hours on because it’s just not working. It’s not the first time I’ve done that, but this piece just took so many iterations to land in a place I felt comfortable with. These pieces were fun to make and I hope people enjoy them. I would also encourage people to listen to the original pieces they are based on. I reimagined Bach, but there’s no improving on him.

The last couple of singles I’ve released are recompositions of keyboard works by J.S. Bach. They are taken from his Well-tempered Clavier Book 1. There are 24 preludes and fugues in the book—one for each major and minor key. The first one I chose was the Prelude in C Major which most everyone is familiar with. I used the same compositional techniques Bach used, in this case arpeggiated chords, but I wanted to give it modern sensibilities. The same is true of my second single Prelude in B Flat. The idea is to tell a different musical story but with a similar musical language.

Thank you Merrill! For someone like me, who hasn’t listened so much to “real classical music” this is a very good introduction. I will now start listening to Bach, and of course these wonderful “reimaginations”!

Please check out Merrill’s links below to learn more about him and his music:
Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Spotify