Well, what can you say about Bach? When I finished “learning” (being able to play in a half-assed fashion) the first cello suite on guitar when I graduated from Santa Cruz 22 years ago, I decided I should keep it up, and bought Lorimer’s transcription of the the sixth and last cello suite. I didn’t get very far, but returned to it—rather inexplicably—a few months ago, and kind of powered through the prelude.

Like any of the preludes, this is a relatively unstructured piece that simply develops continuously from start to finish. The fundamental structure is the opposition between piano and forte, with most motifs being played loudly initially and then repeated once piano.

Interesting note about the cello suites, which are certainly the most widely known and performed solo works for cello: they were virtually unknown before cellist Pablo Casals accidentally came across a manuscript in a thrift store in Barcelona when he was 13 years old. He wouldn’t record them until 1939, 50 years later.

To the left you see Bach’s second wife’s manuscript edition of the suites.