Guitar Collection [CD] (ONLINE ORDER ONLY)

This rich set of music by J.S. Bach (or connected tohim by attribution or publication) and transcribedfor the guitar provides a stunning example of theversatility of the composer's music, theunquestionable genius of which renders ituniversally successful on any instrument withpolyphonic capabilities (solo string instrumentsincluded).Luigi Attademo and Stefano Cardi provide an eclecticselection of Bach pieces in successful transcriptionsby themselves and virtuoso classical guitarist andarranger David Russell. This is followed by a large setfrom Anna Magdalena's Notebook performed andtranscribed by Jan Depreter, and complete sets ofthe Violin Sonatas & Partitas and Lute Suites byFranceso Teopini and Attademo, respectively. In thewords of the performer on Disc 1, Luigi Attademo:'the guitar as we know it today didn't exist in Bach'stime, and although there was certainly a baroqueguitar, it was not widespread in Germany. Thebaroque lute was the string instrument closest toBach, and there was certainly one in his collection ofinstruments, though he probably didn't play it. In anyevent he knew a number of lutenists, including L.Krebs. But we are not using Bach's proximity to thelute to justify transcriptions for the guitar, ratherpointing out that on various occasions he transcribedmusic originally composed for a given instrument inarrangements for a similar but different instrument.'In Cardi's set on Disc 2, the sound of the guitar, it'srich dynamics and full polyphonic capacity areexploited for creating performances of some of theharpsichord pieces composed mainly for teachingpurposes in Bach's Cöthen period (1717-23) or inhis early Leipzig years. The rather varied contentalso leaves room for pieces by other composers,such as a Suite by Georg Philipp Telemann (whoseCorrente is featured in this recording) and a Partitaby Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, where the centralpart of the Minuet, the Trio, was composed by J.S.Bach. Disc 3 features selections from Depreter'stranscription of the entire second Notenbüchleinfür Anna-Magdalena Bach (1725) for classicalguitar, made during his studies. The project torecord it all spanned two decades but benefitsfrom the continuity of having the same recordingproducer and engineer, Peter de Wint, and thesame microphones and recording material throughall the sessions.Teopini's recording of the Sonatas and PartitasBWV1001-6 on Discs 4 & 5 was born from hisconviction that such masterpieces are now amandatory part of a guitarist's repertoire for thesake of personal development. His transcriptionfaithfully complies with the original notation, inorder to not corrupt the implied counterpointcreated by Bach, yet his instrumental approach tothe works is conceived with the aim of justifyingan interpretation of the works on an instrument asunnatural for Baroque music as the modernclassical guitar surely is, therefore viewing theinstrument as a hybrid of both the violin and theharpsichord. The right hand takes the role of thelatter, and Teopini carefully avoided using reststroke throughout the recording, making sure thateven the most expressive passages were realized with afree stroke technique The left hand is approached as aviolinist would, holding the notes and using open stringsas much as possible and arranging fingerings to promotetonal uniformity of all phrases, especially wheresequential modulations occur.Attademo's recording of the Lute Music, on Disc 6, aimsto bring to the fore the richness of Bach's music withoutdenying the lapse of time that separates his time fromours. For that reason, the recording focuses on the studyof Baroque performance practice, on the peculiarities ofthe author's writing, on secondary sources that indicatehow Bach's music was originally played, and on themusical styles that Bach referred to and synthesised. Aswell as the four Suites for lute, the Prelude, Fugue &Allegro BWV998, Prelude BWV999 and Fugue BWV1000are included.