BWV 1007
G major cello suite by JS Bach
Mandolin by Todd Giles

Bach created 12 pieces for solo violin and cello – BWV 1001 – BWV 1012. They are among the most beautiful, complex, demanding.. fiddles tunes ever written. Fiddle tunes? Yes. Fiddles tunes. Hard ones! Over the many wolf moons that have risen since they’ve become standard repertoire for classical players to show their merit the term “fiddle tune” has gone on to mean a very different kind of tune. Tunes for the “every man”.. from the Kevin Burkes and Chris Thiles among us to the schleps like me that feel no shame working up a version of The Butterfly or The Cherokee Shuffle for the hell of it. But the schleps like me have generally left the Bach fiddle tunes to the classical world. I think all music is folk music in its purest form – Bach as well. He wrote for the love of God, which is by extension, for the love of mankind. When my daughter started to learn the cello my wife bought us the manuscript of the cellos suites. I started innocently flipping through them on my mandolin. After a while I realized I was getting pretty deep into the G suite, the C suite and the D minor suite and I thought – hey why don’t I try to record all of these. It may take me a decade but while I still have functioning hands why not give it a go?! So here we are. The first one is recorded.
I had not looked to see how extensive this has been done on mandolin. So I looked… and there are a bunch! Yea us! Go team mandolin! I did notice that most of them have transposed the G suite up to D major. This never really occurred to me. I actually made the conscious decision to try to keep them in the keys they were written. We’ll see how that goes for the next ones. These pieces are for the cello. Any mandolin arrangements will only pale in comparison to the depth and breadth of the cello. There is worth though in hearing these pieces on a fretted instrument. The mandolin is no slouch of an instrument. I think (for the G suite at least) it’s better to play it in G – take advantage of the low G string and re-arrange as needed for the low note the mandolin misses. Playing in D can be too plinky but I see the arguments for both options. I wanted to make this fit the mandolin and Bach is not around to offer any dissent. So enjoy this version of the G major suite in G for the mandolin.
We of course felt like this was also prime for a long form, movie / Video. So Erik and I have worked again to create this visual treat. An odyssey. A journey into the soul… into Bach. Wherever you want to go I guess. Enjoy. Subscribe so see how far I get on this journey.
Recorded live at Holland Spoor studio with Chris Muller with my “trusty” old 1913 Gibson black A4
www.mugira.de
Take care.
XO Todd
www.theunionares.com