J.S. BACH Cello Suite No.5. Transcription for double bass by T. Pelczar | db - Tomasz Januchta
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- čas přidán 31. 07. 2024
- Lost transcription - arrangement of J.S. Bach's cello suites for double bass by Tadeusz Pelczar
00:00 Prelude
07:33 Allemande
14:20 Courante
16:58 Sarabande
20:25 Gigue
(Bourree I, II - not arranged by Tadeusz Pelczar)
Few people know that in Poland in the 1970s, a collection of transcriptions of cello suites by J.S. Bach for double bass was created, being unique on a global scale. For many years they had been developed by Tadeusz Pelczar, the first double bass player of the National Philharmonic and a longtime professor at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. The suites were published in 1971 by the PWM Edition (Polish: Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne) and have been reissued twice.
Despite the fact the material has been performed by students of Polish universities, it has not been comprehensively recorded and widely popularized in the world. Only fragmentary recordings of the arrangement can be found online, and the knowledge of Tadeusz Pelczar and his legacy is practically non-existent. There may be several reasons for this. Perhaps it was due to Poland's political isolation taking place until the fall of communism, or the achievements could have been overshadowed by the then developing global trend of playing early music as close to the original as possible. When being played on the contemporary double bass, Bach’s pieces were solely performed from arrangements truthful to urtext editions, even if they did not use the scale and sonic potential of a modern instrument.
While developing cello suites for double bass, Tadeusz Pelczar adopted a different tactic - driven by the desire to familiarize double bass players with Bach's music, he wanted to extract the fullness of the proper sound of the instrument. It was for this purpose that he decided to develop only five of the six suites and omitted the bourrée from the fifth and the prelude from the third suite. He also made controversial decisions to change the key of the suites, and even the key of individual parts within each piece. Regardless of how we view such ideas today, the collection of transcriptions is deeply thought-out, coherent, technically demanding and, above all, masterful in emphasizing the values of the contemporary double bass. It is a pity that such an achievement has been almost forgotten. Yet, with my project, I want to introduce you to this amazing transcription. By February 2022, I will have published my interpretation of the entire transcription of J.S. Bach in the arrangement of Tadeusz Pelczar on my YT channel.
Enjoy,
Tomasz Januchta
Funded within the scholarship of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland
Zrealizowano w ramach stypendium Ministra Kultury, Dziedzictwa Narodowego i Sportu
Partners:
Warsaw Philharmonic
PWM Edition (Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne)
Henryk Wieniawski Music Society in Poznań
City of Poznan
Cinematographer and editor: Kuba Kossak
Sound engineer: Antoni Grzymała
tadeuszpelczar.com.pl/
__________
Courante - universe locked in a box
I am standing with my ‘little’ double bass in the great concert hall of the Warsaw Philharmonic. It is here that I record Suite No. 5 by J.S. Bach. This is the hall where the National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra gives their regular concerts. Tadeusz Pelczar, an author of the arrangement my project is devoted to, used to work in this orchestra as concertmaster of the double bass section for 30 years. Today, over a thousand empty armchairs, accustomed to the great symphonies of Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, or Mahler, are listening to my double bass performance of the Suite Gigue for a solo cello. Will the lonely sound of my instrument be able to fill in this vast space?And above all, is there enough musical content in my play to keep the spirit of great classics vibrating in this room alive? I'm a bit intimidated, but on the other hand I do know that these Suites are an absolute masterpiece of solo music. For centuries, they have been inspiring millions of musicians and music lovers around the world. They are a source of endless disputes and a field for ever brand new interpretations. Therefore their power is infinite - they’re like a universe locked in a box. The big thing contained in the small one. Bach's Suites composed for one instrument are like a flame that can start a great fire. So let's start it! Feel free to warm yourselves up with my performance of J.S. Bach's Cello Suite No. 5 arranged by Tadeusz Pelczar for double bass.
Tomek
PS.
Tadeusz Pelczar transcribed Bach's Cello Suites with the contemporary double bass in mind, and this instrument plays a huge role in today's jazz music. That is why I took the liberty of extending the interpretation of the sarabande from Suite No. 5 to include pizzicato, a technique characteristic of contemporary jazz. I hope that this trick will not be seen as heresy but will contribute to the discussion about the limits of performing early music.
Translation - Dagmara Łata - Hudba
Finally a double bass that sounds like a double bass and not like a cello
Fantastic
Wonderful, thank you
The pizzicati in the Sarabanda sounds cool.
Grüezi! Thumbs up!
This suite is so intense. Thanks for this. phenomenal sound.
Thank You very much!
Awesome! I love that the pieces are in bass range and not trying to sound like a cello playing in thumb position all the time.
Thank you, the idea of transcribing Bach into the low registers of the double bass is really great. The Pelczar's suites will probably be re-released by PWM in 2023.
Sounds great, thanks for sharing this music! 🇳🇱
Thanks a lot!
Wouah, The sound recording is remarkable! Well done.
Nareszcie!
Nie wyruszył od razu. Wiedział z doświadczenia, jak ważne jest umieć odkładać to, za czym się tęskni.
Tove Jansson, Dolina Muminków w listopadzie
Wonderful! You've inspired me to work on this on my electric bass again.
Przepiękne
Z przyjemnoscia slucham muzyki granej na kontrabasie w tak pieknym wykonaniu; gratuluje ! Korzystajac z okazji wspomne tylko iz kontrabas jest, mimo wszystko, instrumentem akompaniujacym. Mlodemu muzykowi zycze wspanialej przyszlosci i...grania okolo 30 najwazniejszych ``orchestra excerpts`` z podobna pasja i dokladnoscia.
Sublime! Such a lovely arrangement, much more suited to what Double Bass does best than the Peters edition, can I find the score for this arrangement?
Any idea where I could obtain the Pelczar arrangements of cello suites?
I would love to play this so bad, by any chance can you share where you find the transcriptions? It's so damn nice hearing the double bass as this
😻
👏👏👏👏👏👍
hello, very nice work. where can we still find this edition, it no longer seems available at PWM
This is great, do you offer the score for sale?
What strings are those? sounds great!
Pretty sure they are pirastro original flat-chrome. White silk with blue spiral. Unless the blue is actually black, in which case they are d'addario kaplan, but i doubt it as they are much tighter sounding.