An essential compendium for any guitarist, this collection includes all of Johann Sebastian Bach's solo cello music, transcribed by Jade Synstelien for solo guitar. It is an exceptional tool for guitarists of any genre or skill level to sharpen their finger picking technique, improve their sight reading, and do so with an elegant, straightforward study book of the most beautiful, mostly monophonic, music ever composed.

This edition of the Bach Cello Suites is appealing to both the scholar and the performer. The genesis of this edition was the alignment of the relevant manuscripts for easy comparison and study using a line-by-line layout. It has resulted in the ultimate scholarly approach to the study of these manuscripts and has led to many discoveries concerning notes, trills, dots, dynamics, and rhythm. In the scordatura version of "Suite No. 5," pitch names are given above the notes for the re-tuned top string, clarifying confusing elements in the notation. Fingerings and bowings in this edition reflect those used on the DVD set of Starkweather's performance of the suites (item number 730150). Reference to the manuscript edition makes it possible to visually assess the ambiguity of many of the slurs and to reach one's own conclusions.

An award-winning journey through Johann Sebastian Bach’s six cello suites and the brilliant musician who revealed their lasting genius. One fateful evening, journalist and pop-music critic Eric Siblin attended a recital of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suites—an experience that set him on an epic quest to uncover the mysterious history of the entrancing compositions and their miraculous reemergence nearly two hundred years later. In pursuit of his musicological obsession, Siblin would unravel three centuries of intrigue, politics, and passion. Winner of the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction and the McAuslan First Book Prize, The Cello Suites weaves together three dramatic narratives: the disappearance of Bach’s manuscript in the eighteenth century, Pablo Casals’s discovery and popularization of the music in Spain in the late nineteenth century, and Siblin’s infatuation with the suites in the present day. The search led Siblin to Barcelona, where Casals, just thirteen and in possession of his first cello, roamed the backstreets with his father in search of sheet music and found Bach’s lost suites tucked in a dark corner of a store. Casals played them every day for twelve years before finally performing them in public. Siblin sheds new light on the mysteries that continue to haunt this music more than 250 years after its composer’s death: Why did Bach compose the suites for the cello, then considered a lowly instrument? What happened to the original manuscript? A seamless blend of biography and music history, The Cello Suites is a true-life journey of discovery, fueled by the power of these musical masterpieces. “The ironies of artistic genius and public taste are subtly explored in this winding, entertaining tale of a musical masterpiece.” —Publishers Weekly “Siblin’s writing is most inspired when describing the life of Casals, showing a genuine affection for the cellist, who . . . used his instrument and the suites as weapons of protest and pleas for peace.” —Booklist, starred review

Bach's masterpieces transcribed for classical guitar.

Although Johann Sebastian Bach did not write any music for the guitar, transcriptions of his unaccompanied string music and music for lute have long been a part of the guitar repertoire. Despite the respect that this music commands among musicians and audiences debate still exists as to what constitutes an appropriate means of transcribing, interpreting and performing this music on the guitar. It is this debate that prompted this long-awaited edition of Bach's unaccompanied cello suites by scholar and concert guitarists Stanley Yates. This definitive work includes performance scores, comparison scores an an invaluable 40-page guide entitled Arranging, Interpreting, and Performing the Music of J.S. Bach. Furthermore, the author offers comments on his arranging process and suggestions on using this edition including: ornamentation, slurs, fingerings, notation, and implementation of the comparison scores. Written in standard notation in guitar-friendly keys.

A much more effective approach to Bach's works for the modern guitarist is to transcribe and perform the solo violin and cello music. Both instruments are essentially monophonic yet Bach, in one of music history's great feats of compositional resourcefulness, created contrapuntal textures through implication in his solo music for these instruments. Given the relatively greater polyphonic capabilities of the guitar, these implications can be made explicit through transcription. In fact, satisfactory transcription can almost be achieved by simple transposition and even the most uninformed reading of such a transcription on the guitar will yield a richer, more fully realized texture than is possible with the original instruments. The process in this case is often one primarily characterized by expansion and clarification; notes are easily added and implied voices clarified in the notation to create textures more in alignment with the polyphonic resources of the guitar.

(Bass). All six of J.S. Bach's essential suites for unaccompanied cello are arranged here for bass guitar in standard notation and tablature. Includes: Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007 * Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008 * Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009 * Suite No. 4 in Eb Major, BWV 1010 * Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011 * Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012.