I would second absolutely everything that Yvonne has beautifully said. I like both of these ideas of transcendence: that Bach's music speaks to us across time through the lenses of other composers and even other genres of music, and that the more we study his craft, the more we can continue to learn from it. J. S. read more
Bach’s music sounds transcendent because it is not only a fabric of musical and structural perfection, but it is a musical expression of the incompleteness that lies in the human condition despite embodying this formal perfection - so it is pure art in representing the world as we experience it. read more
Well, if you asked me to define transcendent music, I would have named the Chaconne and Heiliger Dankgesang movements first, so I guess we're on the same page. But unfortunately I can't really put anything else on the list. Nothing else reaches those heights. read more