Michael Hedges - Cello Suite #1 in G Major (Bach)

Bach's first cello suite (BWV 1007, the prelude), on the harp guitar, played as intended in G major. 8/1/87 performance at the Mahaiwe Theater in Great Barrington, MA. Tuning:G1C2C#2A1D2E2G2D3E3A3D4; 0.056 on the harp 5 sub-basses for the string gauge, and 0.056, 0.046, 0.036, 0.026, 0.017, 0.013 for the 6-string guiitar gauages. See http://www.nomadland.com/ for information on Hedges and a fund for his children.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Michael
• Hedges
• Cello
• Suite
• #1
• in
• G-Major
• bach
• acoustic
• harp
• guitar
• BWV
• 1007
• prelude
• Mahaiwe

[1MCOPE]

Bach liked to try new things and instruments, improvise, and have fun. I feel certain that he would be overjoyed and honored to be played by this great guitarist, 200 years on.

The Classical Police should relax.

[zzmook]

@type3secretion Michael Hedges went to the Peabody Conservatory to study classical guitar and composition - that's a serious place. If someone is messing with his skills because he's playing this piece on a steel string or because he plays more freely than is the classical norm, that's their problem. He liked the piece and he threw it into his set - anyone with ears and an appreciation of both Michael and classical music knows that Bach was HUGE for him - this piece is a great example.

[MsCellolad]

Anyone with a stick up their ass should look at this as an arrangement. Arrangements get to change the way the piece is, but so it's still recognizable as the same thing. Which this is.

[Lughnerson]

This is so ironic. He died in a car crash.

[nickeyfumi]

Love and Light

[mahajohn]

God, I miss this dude. A Michael Hedges performance was always a very special event. One always had the sense that Something Bigger was happening, that it wasn't a mere concert of songs being played by a singer-songwriter. A Michael Hedges concert had a distinct taste of transcendence.

[MrSmekalka]

Hedges + Bach! Sweet, fresh air! They are truly brothers across time! This is so precious, thank you!

[jedijenkeez45]

Anyone who what tuning he played this in?? Would love to learn this piece...

[landofway]

@halipino This "version" is quite close to the original and more so than every other classical guitar rendition of this piece on You Tube. It is in G major, the original key. It is played in the original expressive low cello register, not transposed up a 5th to a treble register like all the others.. It sticks to the original score and doesn't tastelessly add extraneous notes. It is played naturally and expressively. Nothing rock.metal here. This is completely in the spirit of Bach.