Johann Sebastian BACH Cello Suites • 1 arranged for guitar Jeffrey McFadden Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) the Suite with enormous depths of stillness, sadness, and and Courante are followed by a dignified Sarabande, with a Cello Suites • 1: BWV 1007–1009 (arr. guitar) expressiveness. Its characteristic feature (similar to the repeated Menuet II framing Menuet II. The Suite ends with Polish mazurka), is that with three beats to a bar the middle an extremely lively Gigue. The Cello Suites of J.S. Bach were hardly known even recorded both suites in December 1958 for his debut album beat is the accented one. Suite No. 2 opens with an extended Prélude, building up among professional musicians for a century and a half after on the Delysé label. These two Suites were published by Menuets, bourrées, and gigues remind us of the to a magnificent finale of arpeggiated chords. An Allemande their composer’s death. It was the great Spanish cellist, Schott Music in 1965 and in due course Duarte completed rhythmic momentum of the original dances. The menuet and Courante lead to a Sarabande of considerable variety Pablo Casals, who discovered (on the day his father arrangements of all six Suites. Since then a considerable (Suites Nos. 1 and 2) is a graceful movement with three both melodically and rhythmically. Menuet I is repeated to purchased for the young prodigy his first full-size cello) ‘at quantity of Bach’s pieces arranged and edited for guitar beats to a bar, sometimes followed by a second menuet, frame Menuet II, before the final vigorous Gigue. an old music shop near the harbour’ in Barcelona, a copy have been published including the so-called ‘lute suites’, the first menuet then being repeated. The bourrée (Suites Suite No. 3 presents a powerful Prélude that covers of the Six Suites for Violoncello. violin sonatas, and partitas for keyboard, etc. Nos. 3 and 4) is another French dance, similar to the almost the entire range of the guitar. A very intricate Casals studied and worked at these pieces every day Over the years more than a dozen new arrangements gavotte but quicker, followed by a second bourrée and then Allemande is paired with a Courante (made famous by for the next 12 years and waited until he was 25 years old for guitar of the Cello Suites, whether single suites or a the repetition of the first one. The gavotte (Suites Nos. 5 Segovia in terms of the guitar). A magnificently expressive before he dared to perform them in public. As Casals complete set of six, have been published. The reason for and 6) is bright in mood and starts halfway through the first Sarabande, leads on to a pair of well-known Bourrées, with explained in his autobiography: this is surely that transcription, as with translation from one bar providing an energetic rhythmic pulse. their unforgettable melodic inventiveness. The concluding language to another, carries concepts that have to be re- Each Cello Suite opens with a Prélude. Suite No. 1 has Gigue is a virtuosic work with both momentum and ‘Up until then no violinist or cellist had ever played visited periodically to bring contemporary thinking and fresh an introductory movement in arpeggiated form which has contrapuntal complexity. one of the Bach suites in its entirety. They would just research to bear on the art of arrangement. Thus we are gained great popularity among guitarists. The Allemande Graham Wade play a single section – a Sarabande, a Gavotte or a pleased to applaud Jeffrey McFadden’s extension of the Minuet. But I played them as a whole: from the Bach tradition with this superb transcription of all six Suites Prélude through the five dance movements, with all of which this recording is the first volume. the repeats that give the wonderful entity and pacing Bach is believed to have written the Cello Suites while at Jeffrey McFadden and structure of every movement, the full Cöthen, a town in Saxony some 19 miles north of Halle, Jeffrey McFadden has established a place among the most admired guitarists of his generation. Since his debut at the architecture and artistry. They had been considered where the composer was employed as Kapellmeister to legendary Guitar ’87 festival he has performed across North and South America and Europe. His debut recording followed academic works, mechanical, without warmth. Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, between 1717 and 1723. a Silver Medal from the Guitar Foundation of America Competition, and was the first guitar recording in the Laureate Imagine that! How could anyone think of them as The original manuscripts for these have been lost and the Series on Naxos. He has since made ten highly acclaimed recordings exploring the works of Sor, Coste, Barrios Mangoré being cold, when a whole radiance of space and earliest source is in the handwriting of Bach’s wife, Anna and others. Jeffrey McFadden’s doctoral dissertation formed the basis of his groundbreaking book, Fretboard Harmony poetry pours forth from them! They are the very Magdalena. (Common Practice Harmony on the Guitar), which is used worldwide. He is chair of guitar studies at the University of essence of Bach and Bach is the essence of music.’ Structurally, each of the six Suites contains six Toronto, and was recognised as the 2018 Teacher of Distinction by The Royal Conservatory of Music. He is also founder – Joys and Sorrows, Reflections by Pablo Casals, as movements, beginning with a prélude and ending with a and artistic director of the Sauble Beach Guitar Festival. told to Albert E. Kahn, London: Macdonald, 1970, gigue, while in between are old court dances, allemande, www.jeffreymcfadden.com pp.46–47 courante and sarabande. Following the old dances Bach brought into the suite a more modern dance, either a Francisco Tárrega (1852–1909), the great guitar menuet, a bourrée, or a gavotte. maestro and foremost arranger for his instrument of the The allemande was a popular dance form originating in late-19th century, transcribed the Bourrée I–II from Cello Germany in the 16th century. By the 18th century the Suite No. 3, BWV 1009. Andrés Segovia (1893–1987) later allemande had become a stylised concept well removed became particularly captivated by the Prélude from Suite from dancing. The pace of the dance is quiet and steady. No. 1, BWV 1007, and the Courante from Suite No. 3, BWV The courante is invariably rigorous and rapid, providing a 1009 (published 1928), recording them in 1935. contrast to the allemande. With the courante’s title derived In the late 1950s the English composer and critic, John from the French verb ‘to run’, this is a bubbling, effervescent W. Duarte (1919–2004) arranged Suite No. 1 and Suite No. movement of a brilliant kind. The sarabande, a slow, stately 3 with the assistance of John Williams (b. 1941) who dance which originated in Spain, is the emotional centre of Photo © Michael Culpepper The six Cello Suites represent J.S. Bach’s genius at its most distilled, with the composer confronting the enigma of writing counterpoint for a monophonic instrument at its core. Jeffrey McFadden’s arrangement for guitar enhances the music, adding a harmonic dimension and making the implied interaction of voices explicit. The Suites contain some of the most fascinating and beautiful movements in all of Bach's oeuvre, and remain one 8.573625 of the most important works in the history of Western music. ‘Jeffrey McFadden not DDD only is an extraordinary guitarist – he’s also an inspired musician’ (ClassicsToday.com on Naxos 8.554354, works by Napoléon Coste). Playing Time Johann Sebastian 50:32 7 BACH 47313 36257 (1685–1750) Cello Suites • 1 BWV 1007–1009 arranged 2009 for guitar by Jeffrey McFadden Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, 9 III. Courante 2:10 BWV 1007 (c. 1720) 15:43 0 IV. Sarabande 3:18 8 Made inGermany Booklet notesinEnglish ൿ 1 I. Prélude 2:20 ! V. Menuet I–II 2:16 www.naxos.com 2 II. Allemande 3:42 @ VI. Gigue 2:17 & 3 III. Courante 2:42 Cello Suite No. 3 in C major, Ꭿ 4 IV. Sarabande 2:05 BWV 1009 (c. 1720) 19:08 2020 NaxosRightsUS,Inc. 5 V. Menuet I–II 3:16 # I. Prélude 3:27 6 VI. Gigue 1:35 $ II. Allemande 3:29 Cello Suite No. 2 in D minor, % III. Courante 2:56 BWV 1008 (c. 1720) 15:33 ^ IV. Sarabande 2:40 7 I. Prélude 2:51 & V. Bourrée I–II 3:30 8 II. Allemande 2:40 * VI. Gigue 3:06 Jeffrey McFadden, Guitar Recorded: 8–11 June 2009 at St. John Chrysostom Church, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada Producer and engineer: Norbert Kraft • Editor: Jeffrey McFadden • Booklet notes: Graham Wade Editions: Unpublished • Guitar: Roberto de Miranda, Milan Cover images: Cello © Brittany Rule / Dreamstime.com • Guitar © Drugoy66 / Dreamstime.com.