Customer Reviews

J. S. Bach: Four Suites for Orchestra BWV 1066-1069, arr. Guitar quartet

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a disclaimer, let me just say I wasn't expecting anything fantastic when I first listened to this disk. The orchestral suites were never among my favorite Bach pieces, being more of a "solo instrumental" kind of person. Also, I'm not one of those who automatically loves everything just because it's being played on the guitar. In fact, I was disappointed with Galbraith's Lute Suites (which I felt were over-ornamented and lacking somewhat emotionally [they don't "breathe" well]).

That said, this is a GREAT disk! The transcription to four guitars clarifies, simplifies and just generally makes this music much easier to hear and understand what, to me, was muddy and more like background music in its original form. The counterpoint practically leaps out at you, and the extra range of Galbraith's guitar really helps in the separation of melodic lines and bass/harmony lines. The tone and balance of the guitars is superb, as well as the assignment of parts and pacing in general. The music, being, after all, Bach, can not be faulted. For me, this disk is a revelation, making music accessible to me that was previously not quite clear enough to merit concentrated listening. If there is any complaint to be made, it is with the nature of the guitar itself. For the same reason I prefer the Violin S & P's played on violin, some may prefer the orchestral version because of the lack of sustain on guitar. This is most noticible in the famous Air. After a few listens, I find I have no problem with it at all on this disk, possibly because, in the orchestral version, the harpsichord acts as the continuo, which has a more percussive attack than strings, which though they're present, aren't as obvious as the harpsichord. The arrangement seems to work on this level. I'd put this on par with Josef Eotvos's solo version of the Goldberg Variations as far as important new transcriptions released in the past few years and I look forward to see what direction this group will take next (look out LAGQ!)

Since I.S.Bach is my favorite composer and classical guitar is my favorite instrument, this disc seemed like a match made in heaven for me. After reading the other reviews I was a little worried. But I wanted to listen to this performance even more.
Well, after the first hearing I didn't like it. It sounded too lightweight, too lacy and airy, too fanciful. I decided to "exile" it into my car. However, the more I listened, the more I liked it. Yes, it is still lacy and airy, but such interpretation has a right to exist. Of course, switching from wind instuments and orchestra to four guitars, overall changes the whole character of these overtures. It becomes more intimate, more ornamental. But I think the right to interpret is what makes music alive. Once you get used to the "scale," all you hear is the ageless sounds of Bach. I am very glad I bought it, I gives me lots of joy!

The Bach Orchestral Suites for guitar quartet?

Bach rewrote a number of pieces for various combinations of instruments as well as transcribing music of other composers. The Brazilian Guitar Quartet play their arrangements beautifully. Theirs are relaxed, highly enjoyable versions I've listened to again and again. I've taken to their approach so much that it is an adjustment to hear some chamber orchestras play this music as fast as they do.

A CD for Bach lovers in general, not just guitar aficionados.

Beautiful tone, decent pacing, reasonable arrangements. As the earlier reviewer pointed out, the counterpoint is clear. The stereo spread is effective, especially on headphones: it's easy to pick out what each of the four players is doing. So, that somewhat compensates the lack of orchestral color that is so much a part of these suites. It can be an interesting intellectual experience following the lines, especially if you already know the pieces well. There's always somewhere that the ear can go within the texture: Bach's rich inventiveness.

It's the performances that bother me. The players just get all the notes in time, faithfully reproducing the marks on the page with objective mechanical precision. An actor who delivered his lines in such an uninflected manner would be called "wooden"...why is such understated delivery acceptable for music? Pablo Casals would have hated this disc. "The notes have no interest...no life!" The music chortles along merrily in very steady tempos: not much room to breathe. Nice, but it sounds like "Bach lite," clinical and antiseptic. I wanted to hear more dynamic nuances within phrases, more improvisatory gesture, not just a bunch of pretty notes strung together cleanly in strict time.

The repeats usually sound exactly the same as the first time around...maybe even regenerated in the editing. The repeats are of course necessary to balance the formal structures, but the music should seem different. That's basic rhetoric. What person ever says something exactly the same way twice in succession?

And an important part of the musical grammar sounds seriously wrong in these performances: the interpretation of ornaments (and in a bigger sense, the phrasing). It's as if the players (or the arranger?) don't understand the way Bach's lines are put together, or the vocal principles that underlie Baroque ornamentation and phrasing. The ornaments sound clunky if all the component notes are pounded out with similar emphasis. For example: the players regularly clobber the resolution notes of appoggiaturas (sometimes even disconnecting them), givING the mu SIC a back WARD acCENT instead of letting these ornaments resolve in graceful gestures. Listening to this is like trying to read a book where some of the words are misspelled...you can figure out what it means, but it doesn't seem natural while it's happening. Distracting.

In the end everything is pleasant and slick, undemanding. It gives the impression of a competently assembled product rather than a living, breathing performance. It's "oh, that's nice" on first impression, but on repeated hearing it doesn't grab the soul. A novelty. It will probably sell very well to people who expect classical music to be merely pretty and cleanly produced. That's a valid market. Classical music as relaxing ambience, not drawing much attention to itself.

Average, three stars. "Nice" is such a lukewarm word. Bach's music is about more than pleasant notes.

Guitarist Paul Galbraith has already given us some wonderful Bach recordings; now, as a member of the Brazilian Guitar Quartet (whose other members include Edelton Gloeden, Everton Gloeden, and Tadeu do Amaral) he has a hand in bringing us more wonderful Bach arranged for guitar. The Orchestral Suites are some of Bach's most popular works, containing melodies with which many music lovers will be very familiar. The arrangements for guitar quartet sound clean and natural, and not at all "gimmicky." These four musicians obviously have great respect and love for Bach's music, and the whole presentation (performance, engineering, and packaging) is first-class. This is a wonderful CD that would make a great gift for someone who really enjoys music.

Three of the four guitarists on stage look nervous, nursing their right hands and giving furtive glances to eachother. The fourth smiles confidently - "don't worry friends, I WILL HANDLE ALL THE TRILLS". "But Paul", says one "we still havent agreed on - " "SILENCE" booms Galbraith, his voice magnified by a resonater box connected to his torso - "SILENCE FOOLS!!!!!! I WILL ORNAMENT THIS MUSIC so NOOOOO ONE WILL hear THE MELODIC LINE!! MWAAAA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAA".

The concert begins and the first note sounds something like this -

bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-bidlle iddle-deeeeeee (thats the first note).

Some way into the first piece the guitarist on Galbraiths right seems to become even more nervous and introverted... Little do the audience know that he is about to attempt a trill which Galbraith instructed him to play and which he has never quite mastered (having only 5 fingers on his right hand). But Galbraith, seeing the trouble, leaps across the stage, lands flat under the guitarist in question and, still lying sprawled on the stage at full stretch, leans across and plays the trill for him, his right hand a blur of fingers and tendons exploding into frenzied trilling. 'Disaster averted' thinks Galbraith, as he floats, Indian Guru style, back to his super-guitar-with-multiple-resonator-box command station 'Once again I have saved the world from harmful melodic material'.

I noticed one trill in Galbraith's lute suite recording that seems to imitate a fire-engine noise. Its in the french overture section of the prelude to lute suite BWV 995. (it goes 'ding dong ding dong ding dong la da deeee). I am being quite serious.

All credit to Galbraith, he is a sensitive and brilliant guitarist, but I will never see eye to eye with him. He should continue to play as he does though, becuase he obviously feels it very passionatly.