Category: Pop Music
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Sky Be Dark (天黑黑) for solo cello
This is an unaccompanied cello fantasy on 天黑黑, as sung by 孫燕姿 (Stefanie Sun). Written by 李偲菘 and 吳慶隆, the song single-handedly launched Stefanie’s career in 2000. Although its official English title is Cloudy Day, the recomposer believes that Sky Be Dark better captures the spirit of both this 21st-century song and the traditional Taiwanese folk song it borrowed from.
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Ten American Cello Etudes by Aaron Minsky
Ten American Cello Etudes by Aaron Minsky is a one-of-a-kind collection of cello etudes. In this groundbreaking 1988 collection, Minsky laid out a roadmap for generations of classical cellists to come, showing how the instrument could break free from its dignified traditional role and enter the contemporary American rock-and-roll era.
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Fantasy on Yesterday by David Johnstone
Here is a stunning fantasy on McCartney’s Yesterday for self-accompanied cello, written and performed by David Johnstone, a truly one-of-a-kind cellist and composer. Johnstone’s website makes thousand-plus pieces of cello sheet music available, free of charge, including this Fantasy on Yesterday.
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Yesterday, for a cello without company
Yesterday, written by Paul McCartney in a dream, is arguably one of the greatest songs ever written. It’s also one of the most fitting songs to receive the bachwrotewhat treatment, given its lyrics lamenting the protagonist’s loss of a companion. Here we present: Yesterday, as rewritten for a single cello without accompaniment.
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Sheku’s Take on No Woman, No Cry
Sheku Kanneh-Mason‘s arrangement of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry” is a perfect example of the vision we advocate for here at Project BachWroteWhat. At just 19, he he transformed a reggae classic by the reggae legend into a Baroque self-accompanied cello piece, and breathed reggae soul back into the music.
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Bach in the Arms of an Angel
Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel”, released in 1997 on the album Surfacing, mesmerized a generation of listeners and remained on major Billboard charts for extended periods. It has now been recomposed into a self-accompanied cello piece in F major, a transposition chosen to take advantage of the cello’s open strings.