"Funked-up Bach" - an individual re-working of the d minor Clavier Concerto.


This recording is of two Steinwey pianos [East West sound sample library]:

I have panned the two pianos [each with a different tone] so that this recording works well in stereo:





For no particular reason other than I had to start somewhere, this Bach arrangement was the first work that I posted on this site. It represents the importance to me of external sources or narratives in much of my music. 

It is a 2-piano [plus string bass and, in live performance, brush kit] arrangement in a swing style of Bach's d minor Clavier Concerto, a work I studied for my degree and performances of which I have directed on two occasions. The other two movements are almost complete and will probably remain 'almost' for a while, as I have many other larger compositions on the go. The music was given its first performance as part of a festival of music in Dorchester [where I have lived for nearly half of my life] on Sunday October 18th 2009 in the County Museum. The pianists were Kirsty Barry and Duncan Honeybourne, with Flora Lucas [bass] & Matt Thurtell [brushes]. The details of this festival - called "durnoVibe 09" - can be seen by visiting its website: www.durnovibe.com

The original music is a wonderful torrent of unstoppable sequences, filled with ever forward-driving energy, and I made two bars out of every one original bar to create space for my interpretation. I did remain faithful to the harmonic structure [although I embellish somewhat] and the phrasing. The original music source was actually not Bach's composition any more than this work is mine. It was some unknown concerto, probably for violin, and, as was prevalent in the Baroque period, Bach borrowed the music as a foundation for his own work. Some transformation! So I do not feel that I have done any more than Bach himself did: borrowed a source in order to re-interpret it in my own manner....