Ever wondered how modern music would sound,
had Bach written it for unaccompanied solo cello?
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7 Ricercari by Domenico Gabrielli
When Domenico Gabrielli passed away in 1690, JS Bach was merely 5-year old. While Bach’s unaccompanied cello music is well-recognized today, Gabrielli’s seven ricercari for unaccompanied cello were the first published work of this genre.
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Tunes Recomposed by Gabriel Martins
Cellist Gabriel Martins have been recomposing tunes from the past written for other instruments into new arrangements suitable for self-accompanied cello. His inspirations include Romantic solo piano, Irish harp music, Baroque work for viola da gamba, and more. Free sheet music is freely-downloadable from his website gabrielmartinscello.com. [YT: I_2y_nYUXA4]
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Afghan Song Now Banned
Cellist and conductor Dan Allcott rearranged a popular Afghan song, “Bia ke borem ba Mazar”, previously performed by his friend William Harvey on the violin, for the cello, self-accompanied. The title of the song means: “Let’s go to the lover city of Mazar-e-Sharif”. When played unaccompanied thus on a solo string instrument, the tune sounds even more haunting and exotic than voiced versions. Songs like this are now banned in Afghanistan, since the Taliban took over. [YT: R-918US6hMI]
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Self-accompanied U.S. Anthem
The national anthem of the US, The Star-Spangled Banner, has to be the most rearranged tune in the United States. Not one game opens without someone singing their version of the tune, a band performing it, or some musicians playing it. Of all of the instrumental renditions of the anthem, unfortunately very few are with a self-accompanied cello. We chronicle some of the best. [YT: yCyb-ecBOao]
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Bach Cello Suite 7: Jessica Korotkin
Jessica Korotkin joked that J.S. Bach didn’t write Bach Cello Suites 7 through 12. She did. Her 6 unaccompanied cello suites were inspired by Bach, and composed through a rigorous methodology, documented in her thesis: Building on Bach: 6 New Suites for Solo Cello, and summarized in an Early Music America article. Our project “Bach Wrote What?!” applauds her multi-year effort dedicated to this work. [YT: BDLakK51nro]
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Bach Wrote a Cavatina
The composer relayed this origin story: Stanley Myers’ Cavatina for the movie “Deer Hunter” is heavenly, and the guitar arrangement for John Williams is exquisite. I recomposed it for self-accompanied cello, while transposing it from its original E major to G major, to better use my cello’s natural sound. I have by now given up hopes that people would recognize original tunes in these recompositions. I think I’ll let these recompositions stand on their own feet going forward. The original tune and/or chord progression can be thought of as Easter eggs instead. [YT: qVRVvTfNWRw]
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11 Capricci by Joseph dall’Abaco
Joseph Dall’Abaco was born 25 years after J.S. Bach. He was a celebrated cellist and wrote many cello music. But few of his solo compositions survived. Fortunately we do have a 19th-century copy of his 11 Capricci for solo cello, even if the copy contained obvious errors, and recorded only half of the last piece. These 11 unaccompanied cello pieces evoke in one, the same feelings from listening to Bach’s cello suites. [YT: jK32VBOkIvs]
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The Chaconne In Cello’s Range
Bach’s Chaconne from Partita No. 2 BWV 1004 for Solo Violin is so great, it is simply known as “The Chaconne”. Some brave cellist rearrange this great music to be played in a cello’s natural range, transposed down a fifth to G minor. This is the same spirit that our project “Bach Wrote What?!” embraces. Instead of boxing Bach’s music in, we should expand it as we see fit, to best render it for this moment. [YT: T9EZNteSbhg]
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Turn Your Eyes With Bach
The composer relayed this origin for the piece you find here: I can’t get the tune out of my head, after listening to Kevin Olusola play “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”. So I rewrote it as a self-accompanied cello piece. Like my recent recompositions, I lowered this one a fifth to G major to better use my cello’s natural sound. The result no longer sounds like the original adagio tune. I like to think it sounds like a modern Bach solo. But the original tune is still embedded in the music. See if you can hear it. [YT: 6-IkP_aqXww]
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Gabriel’s Self-accompanied Cello
The composer relayed this origin for the piece you find here: I love Ilse de Ziah’s rearrangement of Gabriel’s Oboe for self-accompanied cello. But it is beyond my playing ability. So I lowered the music by a fifth to G major, and wrote a Bach-style, self-accompanied version that I am able to play myself. The second half of the piece shifts to C major, to explore alternative ways to leverage G and C strings. I don’t know if the result is still “an arrangement”. Perhaps “recomposed” is a better name for what turned out. [YT: 0xseSGljqZE]
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Inch Strand by Ilse de Ziah
Ilse de Ziah is an Irish-Australian cellist who composes and rearranges cello music. She published several collections of music for unaccompanied solo cello. Inch Strand is a good example of her own composition. It is written in the style of traditional Irish airs which are well represented in her collections of unaccompanied solo cello work. Sheet music for Inch Strand can be purchased online as part of the Irish Airs For Solo Cello eBook, a great collection of unaccompanied solo music that introduces a cellist to new techniques to bring out both body and color of Irish airs. [YT: nilW2w7tLA4]
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Gabriel’s Oboe per Ilse de Ziah
Ilse de Ziah is an Irish-Australian cellist who composes and rearranges cello music. She published several collections of music for unaccompanied solo cello. The rearranged Gabriel’s Oboe is a good example of her work for unaccompanied solo cello. Sheet music for Gabriel’s Oboe can be purchased online as part of the Wedding Music for Solo Cello, a great collection of unaccompanied solo music that allows a single cellist to project powerful music throughout an entire wedding. [YT: Lcd6PfNzNNA]
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Swan + Swan by Bach
The arranger relayed this origin for the double solos you find here: I previously rearranged The Swan by Saint-Saëns in the style of Bach’s unaccompanied cello suites. I jokingly titled it “Bach Wrote The Swan”. Many people told me that there was almost nothing from Saint-Saëns left in my work. So here I lay a slightly mutated version of the original melody alongside my work, to prove that the issue lies with my poor playing, and hopefully not with the music itself. [YT: 0jAku_Nn6uk]
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Bach Wrote The Swan
The arranger relayed this origin for the piece you find here: I tried to play The Swan, but it was too hard for me. It’s a never-ending stream of high position notes, played on just the A and D string. So I transposed it down a fifth to accommodate my low skill level. But then no self-respecting pianist would play the traditional piano part with me. So I added some accompaniments of my own, in between notes from the melody, in the style of Bach cello suites. Yeah. I quite like the end result – an unaccompanied Swan. [YT: 3fjswzT97Jo]