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Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, organ

smalin
Music
YouTube
3 HN users recommended this music video3 months2010–2026 score 3
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Recommended as a music visualization that makes the structure easier to follow than sheet music.

Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor on organ, shown with a Music Animation Machine bar-graph score instead of traditional notation.

“videos are eye-opening” (HN, 2021)

3 recommendations · 1 citations · Music

4 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@boredguy8 Feb 2010 Recommends
on HN thread Piano music visualized on a logarithmic spiral
Personally, I love the "Music Animation Machine" visualizations, especially of Bach. Toccata and Fugue [this video] "Little" Fugue [link] Also enjoyable: Debussy's Clair de lune [link]
Music Animation Machine visualization of Bach.
@quercusa Sep 2021 Recommends
on HN thread Beneath the surface of Bach’s music is a world of numerology and cunning craft
For those who are not up to reading music at Bach's level, Stephen Malinowski's Musical Animation videos are eye-opening, e.g., from the Musical Offering mentioned in the article: [link] Toccata and Fugue in Dmin: [this video] I was directed to Malinowski's work by Edward Tufte (you may be able to figure out why) and feel I should pass it on.
Animated score of Toccata and Fugue.

Citations, criticism and jokes

@Fluorescence Aug 2026 Cites it
on HN thread The Title Cards in Blade Runner Are Fucking Amazing
Read more
I have never been able to follow a score despite music lessons and playing in an orchestra (I faked it). I find such a striking difference between notation that just swims in front of my eyes: [link] And a bar graph which I can hear when muted: [this video] I have a similar issue with algebraic notation, the signifier and signified never connects. So much misery spending hours with a mass of punctuated greek in a cs paper to discover it describes a triangle. The decryption is not even sticky, I look away for a second and it immediately re-encrypts back to soup. I don't understand why since programming languages having always felt natural and something I learned as a pre-teen just by being left alone with a BBC micro and a "type in a game" book.
Bar-graph visualization easier to follow than notation.

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