J.S. Bach

Any notion that Bach's music is mechanical and dispassionate probably arises from a lack of familiarity with the body of his work and a lack of understanding of the prevailing concepts of his time. Indeed, Bach's is some of the most passionate work in music history. The Toccata and Fugue in D minor was deliberately written to put the fear of God in the hearts of the congregation, the cantatas were meant to convey the majesty of God, and so many of the chorals express the pathos of the suffering of Christ. I think the notion of a "mechanical" quality comes from two aspects of the music. One is that there is a strictness inherent in imitative polyphony and, indeed almost all aspects of Baroque part writing. I think this is indicative of an overal fascination with the notion that the universe is structured and ordered, a concept pervasive in all Baroque art. Bach tried to make his music convey that structure and order. To the Baroque mind order=God, disorder=well, the other guy. I don't think structured necessarily means mechanical. The second aspect that I think may seem mechanical is the fact that the piano had not been invented. The piano allows the musician to play at different volume levels. Bach's keyboard works were really written for harpsichord and pipe organ so the dynamic ranges are limited. In fact, many of Bach's keyboard compositions have no dynamic markings. If you can get around these two aspects I think you'll find that it isn't mechanical at all.

Regarding P.D.Q. Bach (i.e. Peter Schickle), he's a must hear for anyone who wants a good laugh at classical music. One of my favorites is his "Grossest Fugue", a spoof on Beethoven's "Grosse Fugue". I also love his little madrigal "My Bonnie Lass, She Smelleth"