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I'm playing Classical Guitar since 1963. I am the guitarist in a 'flute and guitar' - duo with my wife since 1990. I want to share all the material we gathered.
- a little over 10 years ago, I tried to make an arrangement of a JS Bach choral for the guitar. The result was a rather difficult piece that was on the edge of my abilities as a guitar player. Recently I picked the chorals back up again, now less troubled with the urge to include as many notes as possible from the original. I accepted that a 4-part harmony is not always doable on the guitar.
- So by definition these are all 'simplified versions'. Yet I enjoy playing them a lot. These very simple melodies, arranged by JS Bach with the most intresting and surprising harmonies give me a sence of rest and 'homecoming'.
- When you play this music, please make sure that the melody line comes out and flows towards the next fermate. This is not a simple chord progression with a melody, but exactly the opposite.
- I hope you enjoy this material as much as I do.
- Our duets are meant to be played live for small audiences, like in your living room or in church or in nursury homes.
- My wife (the flutiste in our duo) is the one that comes up with the selection of beautiful melodies. After that I (the guitarist in our duo) make the transcription / arrangement.
- I try to make a transcription as close as possible to the original score. The melody (flute part), the bass line and the harmonies (guitar part) are only changed when they are outside the range of the instrument.
- Sometimes the flute part contains many flat notes. In those cases I usually use a capo d'astro on the guitar. The notation of the guitar part is then written as if you are playing without capo. This is exactly the way that is used in clarinet scores.
- When I mention chord symbols in the guitar part, you are free to improvise the right hand anyway you want. In that case the harmonies are not always precisely the ones that I worked out in the guitar part.
- When you lose track of the soloist, don't panick, just focus on the bass line (all notes that are written stem down). As long as the bass line continues the music continues.
- Enjoy the music.
6 Sonatas, Op.16 (Bach, Johann Christian)
Suite Gothique, Op.25 (Boëllmann, Léon)
Te Deum (Charpentier, Marc-Antoine)
12 Violin Sonatas, Op.5 (Corelli, Arcangelo)
Chanson de Nuit et Chanson de Matin, Op.15 (Elgar, Edward)
Dolly Suite, Op.56 (Fauré, Gabriel)
Pavane, Op.50 (Fauré, Gabriel)
Peer Gynt Suite No.1, Op.46 (Grieg, Edvard)
Piano Concerto No.4, Op.131 (Herz, Henri)
10 Woodland Sketches, Op.51 (MacDowell, Edward)
6 Songs, Op.34 (Mendelssohn, Felix)
Piano Sonata No.9, K.311 (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus)
Gianni Schicchi (Puccini, Giacomo)
Winterreise, D.911 (Op.89) (Schubert, Franz)
18 German Dances and Ecossaises, D.783 (Schubert, Franz)
Rosamunde, D.797 (Schubert, Franz)
Violin Concerto in F minor, RV 297 (Vivaldi, Antonio)
Cantatas, BWV 1-10 (Bach, Johann Sebastian)
Cantatas, BWV 11-20 (Bach, Johann Sebastian)
Cantatas, BWV 101-110 (Bach, Johann Sebastian)
- You can find audio (midi) files and 'play-along' midi files of this music on: http://www.free-scores.com/Download-PDF-Sheet-Music-henk-kok.htm
- This site also contains additional publications of pieces where there wasn't an original score available.