Bach | Cello Suite No. 1, 2, 3 for solo guitar

Koonce arrangements (with Heather DeRome)are masterful. These arrangements provide guitar players with Bach's cello suites that while not easy, are highly playable. There is not the clever arrangers tendencies toward matching wits with Bach. Instead, through very carefully thought-out fingerings the player can realize the voicing implied or intact which the guitar can actualize in some cases better than can be done on the original instrument. I have read through other arrangers Bach suites and while there is often real beauty, as an amateur I have ran into too many clumsy passages and I would rather read through whole suites without barriers - Koonce/DeRome delivers all six.

I purchased the Frank Koonce volumes of the complete Cello Suites because he's had some good books like the Baroque guitar and the Spanish Guitar and the Bach "Lute" Works. However, I cannot recommended these books on the Cello Suites. Mr. Koonce claims his book are "arrangements" however they are more like transcriptions: if you compare Duarte's Cello Suite No. 1, or Barrueco's version, or even the Stanley Yates versions, they help "flesh out" the mostly monophonic Cello Suites. Mr. Koonce does not, and provides very sparse counterpoint and harmonies. While Mr. Koonce talks about not overstepping Bach on this, however if you look at Bach's own "arrangements," of some of the various works, they are fleshed out more than what Mr. Koonce writes. While Bach's music is beautiful on the Cello, with all the implied harmonies, it's not so much on the guitar, as the guitar is really a polyphonic instrument. I much prefer the versions listed above over Mr. Koonce.