J.S. Bach - Prelude, Loure, and Gavotte en Rondeau from Suite in E major BWV 1006

Prelude 0:00, 4:08 Loure, 7:57 Gavotte en Rondeau Here are the first three movement of Bach’s incredible Partita for Solo Violin, BWV 1006, also known as the 4th Lute Suite BWV 1006a. This is one of three Suites I’m preparing right now for my 7-string Bach album. The Prelude is a piece I’ve visited for the past 25 years at least, since hearing Gordon O’Brien (Canadian guitar legend) play it in concert as an encore. Originally, I struggled to play it in standard tuning, so I decided to tune the 3rd string down to f#. In my opinion, the alternate tuning really helps to get through the piece without totally burning out your left hand. Now, it is one of my favourite pieces to play, and I play it slowly every day, enjoying it’s compositional brilliance. I always say that the preludes are best part of any suite, and this has to be one of my top 3 favourite preludes for any instrument by Bach. The Loure is a very beautiful and touching piece, providing a relaxed mood after the exciting Prelude. You can hear a lot of performers play this piece very tenderly, and somewhat sentimentally, which it kind of lends itself to, but I really wanted to play it in a way where the pulse was clear (as it is a dance). Striking the balance between these two qualities is one of the difficulties in interpreting this piece. The different versions of the Loure provide a lot of insight to Bach’s ornamentations, as the original violin version is pretty straight, with the ornaments left to the performer on the repeats, whereas the “Lute version“ has a lot of ornaments written in. I decided to play the violin version for the first time the material is presented, and the lute version for the second. The Gavotte en Rondeau has been a popular piece to play on guitar for decades as Segovia often performed and recorded this work. It’s repeated theme is iconic, and having a significant amount of repeated material is very welcome when learning Bach, which can take a very long time! I “borrowed“ a couple of ornaments from the great Gil Shaham, thanks Gil! The 7-string “Romantic inspired guitar“ is by Mark Usherovich. Filmed in the beautiful church of St. Hugues in Sarsfield, which is just outside of Ottawa. They are very welcoming to myself and the other guitarists who record there. We are very grateful to have their support!