Bach for banjo? Just like he intended

Robert King says:

Thanks so much for the link to the Passacaglia transcription on YouTube – wonderful sonorities. There was a brilliant programme recently on BBC Radio 3 presented by Lord (Colin) Low in which he played a variety of transcriptions, including Bach’s Brandenburg 1 on synthesiser (so compelling that we sat in the car outside our house listening right up to the final bar), the Swingles singing Brandenburg 3 (equally wonderful) and suchlike. Which all went to prove once again that the greatest of music will work in many different guises. I’ve always had mild regrets that Bach didn’t have the saxophone around during his lifetime as he’d have written brilliantly for it.

HugoPreuss says:

I love Bach transcriptions for “weird” instruments. He also sounds great on the bandoneon. In fact, IMHO there is absolutely nothing you can do to Bach. No matter how “alienated” the setting is, he will still be Bach and the music is glorious on every single instrument and in every ensemble. And Bach is the only composer for whom this is the case.

Scotty says:

And somewhat more compelling: https://youtu.be/TzMdzp31wH8

John Borstlap says:

Oxford English Dictionary:

“Banjoizing (verb / social / professional): a) attempting to destroy another person’s musical perception framework by performing established classical works on a banjo without any ethical concern about the author or received traditional family values; b) recovering period from serious injuries after military service; c) uninhibited writing by a music critic after an enraging concert of classical music; d) illegal courting of underage girls by serenading under their window; e) using a banjo for entirely different functions than the one for which the instrument had been carelessly designed.”

The Webster’s dictionary, after rendering the above-mentioned explanations with some spelling deviations, adds to this:

Phrases: ‘swing the banjo’, informal use of the instrument in the manner of a shovel, especially in a vigorous way.
‘I hope to be swinging the banjo around some of those stony ridges’
‘After swinging the banjo for eight hours, I sit down to write a few lines on what I think to be right.’

Informal use of the instrument itself in different contexts:
‘At the scene, no DNA could be detected but the banjo which was left on the kitchen table gave the officers who conducted the investigation a definite clue as to the murderer’s identity.’
‘At the opening of the tomb, Prof. Hofstädter immediately saw the banjo on top of the sarcophagus, proving his theory that the Aztecs had a frivolous musical tradition accompanying their human sacrifices.’

Webster’s also offers a ‘Dream Dictionary’:

To dream that you are playing a banjo, symbolizes that your time spent with friends the other day will signify the beginning of long feuds and profound alienation. To see someone playing a banjo in your dream, foretells of a dangerous escapade of which you will be the inevitable victim, possibly in the form of having to listen to some Bach arrangement. Dreaming of a banjo being strangled by a gorilla means that your new love will meet an untimely death for which you will be held responsible without perspective on justice being done. If you dream of a banjo being thrown under a bus or train, this predicts promotion on your day job, but with the result that you will have to sacrifice your secret pleasures at night.
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One wonders what the instrument has done to deserve such reputation.

http://www.zubeworld.com/crumbmuseum/hisselfbanjo.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvyySW3c5jU