Bach Suites

[Michael Binder]

Hello guys.

How are you play the Bach suites on the double bass?
In which pitch, key, tuning?

I would like to know your opinions.

Thanks and Greetings from Spain,
Michael.

[Illfavor]

I'd go with "at pitch" and in "solo tuning." At pitch because an octave down is not a challenge really for anyone but beginners, and in solo tuning because it makes the instrument sound more brilliant. There are some people who chose to transcribe the suites (Ed Barker, off the top of my head), but you don't have to if you don't want to.

Welcome to TB

[mcnaire2004]

From what I have learned (I am just starting on Bach). Suites 1,2, and 4 are played at pitch. Suites 3 and 5 are usualy transcribed. And, I don't know about 6.

[quenoil]

Originally Posted by Illfavor

I'd go with "at pitch" and in "solo tuning."

Do you mean you would play in solo tuning so they sound at pitch, or a step higher? In other words, the G major suite fingered in F major so it sounds in G? Or fingered in G so it sounds in A?

[Simandl Fan]

I like the Sterling edition. I know it's way out of favor these days, and playing Suite #1 in C takes away all the convenient string crossings and thumb position stuff... but I just like the sound of the bass in the lower register.

Of course, that Praeludium is a real bear to play in C, but I've really improved my bow control by making those slurs musical.

I've heard some wonderful recordings of guys playing way up in the clouds, and they sound great, but I'm not looking for a symphony gig so I'll play them the way I like.

[Illfavor]

Originally Posted by quenoil

Do you mean you would play in solo tuning so they sound at pitch, or a step higher? In other words, the G major suite fingered in F major so it sounds in G? Or fingered in G so it sounds in A?

Haha. That may seem confusing. I meant at pitch as in the same octave, fingering the same notes that will sound a step higher. So Suite No. 1 is played in G Major, and sounds in A Major.

[bopeuph]

Originally Posted by mcnaire2004

And, I don't know about 6.

I wonder how that one may sound in the register it was originally written - with or without solo tuning. It would be very difficult, methinks.

Nick

[David Kaczorowski]

Originally Posted by Illfavor

I'd go with "at pitch" and in "solo tuning." At pitch because an octave down is not a challenge really for anyone but beginners

I guess Edgar Meyer is a beginner because he doesn't play them at pitch, he plays transpositions.

Get the sterling edition and start there. Just remember that Bach didn't write the music with bowings. Any bowings in any edition were added later. After you've played a suite, or a movement of a suite you may change the bowings to suit your interpretation. Playing all the suites at pitch on the bass is a fantastic technical feat, but not necessarily the best music.

[Mark Perna]

I'm a jazz player whose bowing skills are somewhere between dreadful and non-existent (and I don't really care either as I have almost no call for bowing). I started playing the Bach Suites pizz as an exercise to increase my thumb position strength, accuracy and endurance for jazz soloing. As they are so chordal, it is really easy to hear intonation. In fact, I credit the playing the Suites for a large part of my skills in thumb position. The closest I've ever come to playing them in public is I occasionally will quote a passage or a fragment inside a jazz solo.

mark perna

[quenoil]

Originally Posted by David Kaczorowski

Just remember that Bach didn't write the music with bowings. Any bowings in any edition were added later.

This isn't quite right. We have no manuscript edition of the suites in Bach's hand, but we do have the one copied by his wife Anna Magdalena which does indeed have bowings in it. They've been altered to suit the tastes of various editors and styles over the years, but they're there. You can see and decide about them for yourself at this website.

[David Kaczorowski]

I forgot the Magdalena edition had bowings. I do believe though that it was common practice in the baroque period to not include articulation markings. Or was Bach the first to begin including them? My memory is fuzzy.

[jlehmberg]

I noticed that Edgar Meyer does the 5th suite in A (B with solo tuning). Has anyone seen any editions in A? Does anybody know if he uses scordatura or not? It seems like a nice tuning for the suite because you get that great, resonant open A, but then he has a way of making things sound deceptively easy and convenient. Has anybody out there tried it?

[dansolobass]

My favorite key for the 5th Suite on bass is A minor (sounding B minor in solo tuning). Although I've learned it in other keys, A minor provides a nice richness and depth I feel the 5th requires, plus only a semitone lower than the original. I have it all written out in A minor, just my own transcription. I don't know of any published editions of it in A minor, though there should be.

[txstatebass]

Slava Publishing has an A minor transcription. George Vance's company, so you know the quality is good. I have it and it tortures me daily.

[Illfavor]

Originally Posted by David Kaczorowski

I guess Edgar Meyer is a beginner because he doesn't play them at pitch, he plays transpositions.

Get the sterling edition and start there. Just remember that Bach didn't write the music with bowings. Any bowings in any edition were added later. After you've played a suite, or a movement of a suite you may change the bowings to suit your interpretation. Playing all the suites at pitch on the bass is a fantastic technical feat, but not necessarily the best music.

He transposes some of them yet stays generally in the upper octaves, the same pitches they would sound on the cello. That is obviously what I meant.

[Johnny L]

Originally Posted by Illfavor

[Edgar Meyer] transposes some of them...the same pitches they would sound on the cello.

To my understanding, Edgar plays them in solo tuning...meaning, that Edgar instead plays an A rather than a G where the music calls for G.

If I remember correctly, I compared to his CD recording. I'll check again when I find it...haven't listened to it in a while.