The lute pieces are actually Bach's own adaptations of his “Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin” which are probably among the most-played Bach imaginable. He actually wrote them as combination music theory and technique lessons for his violin students, but they happened to be some of the finest baroque music ever written - nobody knew it at the time, there wasn't anything called “baroque music”, they didn't even know they dressed funny yet. Every single classical violinist looking to blow big has taken a shot at recording the cycle (takes two CD's) and quite a few of them revisit them after a few decades because they feel they can play them better after some life and maturity and gravitas whupped on 'em. A lot of guitarists have poked at them, most classical guitarists have recorded at least one piece or an excerpt - they're actually each a four or five-part suite written in common dance forms of the time. On Paul Gilbert's last CD he ran off a highly distorted, face-making, “emotive” speed-up-and-slow-down one, I think Vai's got one down too.
Eliot Fisk was Andre Segovia's personal protege and he's the only classical guitarist I know of who's recorded the entire six-piece cycle. Pretty much kick-ass stuff. The CD's used to be all over, but??? I just found them on CD Universe for $36!?! 1999... I bought a little pile of them for guitar students when I joined a “classical record club” for just that sort of thing - if you happen to come up with a list of a dozen symphonies or sonatas you're lacking, that introductory “12 free” stuff'll kick ass. I still have a few, listen to some links and if you want I can sell you one cheap.
(Should I mention I'm a little freaky here? Total coincidence, I had mandolinist's Chris Thile's brand new CD of the first three suites playing when I first read this, and this afternoon I had just run off a bit of sheet music and burned a few parts for two of my new guitar students who may, actually, eventually, GET IT. You would never, ever escape Berklee School of Music or North Texas State or the University of Miami without having a real good familiarity with these - the most interesting reading practice imaginable. Ask, um, Morse.... Petrucci, Julien Kasper, Metheny etc.)
By the way, Chris Thile just scored a $500,000 MacArthur “Genius” freebie grant, just for being, like, ridiculous.
Here's Thile, then Fisk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSZ40V0teGM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt7sDsmIJ9Q
For me, it's very, very worth it to listen to the violin versions too. I HATE “ROMANTIC” SWOOPY PUFFY-SHIRT POOFY VIOLIN PLAYING! Ahem. Like Itzak Perlman, massacred everything he touched. JUST PLAY THE FRIGGING TUNE, PLAY IT STRAIGHT! My favorite violin S&P's are the 1968 set by Henryk Szerzyng, a drunken Polishman with this huge, incredible foghorn tone. He sounds like John Coltrane or Duane Allman's ”Fillmore” tone. Nathan Milstein's ain't bad, Gideon Kremer's set is OK if you can get past the ridiculous amount of reverb.
Itzak Perlman sucks dog-butt.
The lute suites are the same basic pieces, but Bach changes a few keys, there are different repeats - Nigel North has quite a respectable set out. Here's a friend of mine playing the "Chaconne" on a 14-string NON-pedal steel guitar. This is completely, utterly impossible:
http://www.mediafire.com/listen/bbusiak3s7f7oua/Chaconne+Bach+14string+lap+steel.mp3
If you like even peppier classical guitar, Eliot Fisk is also the only guitarist who's ever recorded the entire cycle of Paganini's 24 Caprices for solo violin. That's some real paint-peeling stuff - Vai's famous "Crossroads" trainwreck is an intentional boofup, Jason Becker also ruined the 5th Caprice... kids today. :sad1: Today 30 years ago. :dontknow:
The violinists all had to play Paganini too. I like Salvatore Accardo's 24 Caprices the best. Big, Loud & Perfect, no diddly “romantic” swoopy crap or tweezy vibrato. Eliot Fisk also transcribed some Vivaldi solo harpsichord music, where he plays all the keyboard parts at once on a six-string (classical-guitar student Steve Morse can do that too). At the time a number of other classical guitarists, who had been very comfortable playing the same old stuff that everybody'd been playing for 40 years, accused Fisk of being a showoff and showboat. Well, hey, hey, hey. If you've got it.... :icon_biggrin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTd7UZOTO4o
I have the sheet music for that too, as if that could make any possible difference. Yes - there's a lot of notes. :toothy12:
Szeryng (Hank to me) used to wobble up to the podium with his hair poking out, swaying around and talking to himself, sweating waves of vinegar... uh-oh! A bit of consternation....? Then pick up his violin and do this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rOuaAMzhCA&list=RD3rOuaAMzhCA
Hey, hey, hey.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSZ40V0teGM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPnuU8NN1b8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYTYZGoLuSg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonatas_and_partitas_for_solo_violin_%28Bach%29
