J.S. Bach Lute Suites BWV 996-998

J.S. Bach’s music has always been subject to a kaleidoscopic variety of permutations, starting in the 1700s with his own frequent re-instrumentations of the same pieces. The 19th and early 20th centuries saw Liszt, Busoni, Siloti and Rachmaninov employing the new capabilities of the piano to create and perform their virtuosic transcriptions and paraphrases. In the swinging 1960s, The Swingle Singers, Jacques Loussier and Wendy Carlos expanded Bach’s sphere of influence into the domains of jazz and electronic music. Purists like Wanda Landowska, renegades like Glenn Gould, and thousands of other musicians found his works equally inspiring of awe and play, of homage and recreation.

Arnold Schoenberg called Bach “the first 12-tone composer” referring to the conceptual nature and the visionary quality of his music. Rosalyn Tureck played Bach on the harpsichord, clavichord, piano, the Moog and the theremin, asserting that his music is defined primarily by the principle of organization, not by a particular sonority or instrument. Indeed, Bach’s output is a paragon of Absolute music: compositions that represent nothing but music itself, disconnected from any extraneous “program” or idea. Even his sacred choral works wield their power over the listener not through the devotional context but through the synergy of melodic and rhythmic patterns, simultaneously engaging our emotions, minds and spirits beyond any graspable meaning. He crafts building blocks of a few interrelated pitches into melodic fragments, then extends them horizontally, layers vertically and juxtaposes polyphonically. These patterns merge into ever-shifting sonic energy fields, gateways into immaterial dimensions of the abstract, the Absolute. They have been traveling through time and space for over 300 years without losing their charge.

Transcriptions can revive interest in original compositions, and I am hoping that a piano version of Bach’s Suites BWV 996, 997, and 998 will increase their popularity. There is no consensus as to exactly what instrument each suite was designated for, but the choices narrow down to either the lute or the lute-harpsichord, an instrument then known as “lautenwerk.” Existing autographs and manuscripts are mostly in staff notation with a few lute tablatures since only professional lute players could produce those. Recorded versions are usually titled “lute suites” and performed either by guitarists, lutenists, or harpsichordists. Just like Bach’s other solo collections, these suites present a technical and musical tour de force for their performers and deserve their rightful place alongside Bach’s suites for keyboard, violin, and cello.

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