BRIDGING THE GAP

The 2^nd Bach Prelude in D minor from Cello Suite No. 2 presented a different challenge in that it was not an arpeggiated chord progression like the 1^st Prelude. It was quite melodic, in fact. At first, I had the idea to create a canon, displacing the Bach by a single beat. Surprisingly, this was very effective for nearly 12 measures! Beyond that, however, things fell apart. Now I had to decide as to whether I would simply change the notes that “didn’t work” in the context of the canon or simply throw this idea away and start anew. I chose the latter. The result was perhaps my favorite descant of the six. It combined elements of accompanying the cello, taking on a more melodic front, mirroring, and concluding with an arpeggiation of the famous five chords Bach composed as the end of the Prelude. Some cellists will improvise an arpeggiation of these chords while others will simply play the five chords as written. Giving the arpeggios to the violin made for a wonderful coda to this 2^nd descant, which I entitled Soliloquy.

Bach’s Prelude in C Major from his Cello Suite No. 3 inspired a far more involved response. The violin part, which I named Toccata, took on a spirit that resembles more of an equal duet part than a flowing descant. While I was somewhat concerned that it might be too busy, I also began to embrace the contrast it embodied to that of the previous two descants. It really became a delightful exercise of answering the scales and passagework of the cello part, and it seemed to reflect Bach’s toccatas for organ.

As I listened to Jennifer play Bach’s Prelude from his 4^th Cello Suite in E-flat Major, its steadfast 8^th-notes provided a harmonic progression that inspired a descant in the spirit of the first Prelude. However, this descant melody felt appropriate to begin in a lower register on the violin with a slow development into upper octaves. The other contrast to the 1^st descant is that I begin immediately with the cello rather than having the cello repeat measures as an introduction. Later in the Prelude, the cello is asked to play what sound like cadenzas, climaxing into large chords. It seemed appropriate to have the violin step aside for these “cadenza” runs but then join in on the chords. A new opportunity to play a passage in unison rhythm presented itself prior to a recap of the opening melody and 8^th-note arpeggios. This fourth descant earned the title Cavatina.

Each of the descants were composed in order with their respective companion Bach Preludes until I reached the 5^th. This is the only Prelude that is combined with a Fugue by Bach, and this appeared a bit daunting a task. The descant to this Prelude came relatively quickly for me and, like the Toccata, is more of a duet; however, the fugue was an entirely different animal. I didn’t think I could create a proper descant. At first glance, my thought was that Bach’s fugues are not something to be trifled with. So, I skipped it, at least temporarily. The energetic 6^th Prelude from Bach’s final Cello Suite in D Major immediately inspired a violin response. With the cello repeating several statements as echo measures, I took the opportunity of having the violin respond to each forte measure with a statement that fit over each echo measure. This led to more melodic material while returning to the call & response approach with which Bach opens the prelude. I must say that this duet is a bit of a “barn burner” between both instruments as they participate in a rousing square dance of almost “fiddling” bowing technique. The running virtuosic 16^th-note passages in the cello seemed appropriate to accompany with chords on the violin in the buildup to the final section. The violin finally gets its hand at a similar virtuosity leading into the coda. This exciting duet is entitled Capriccio.

When I returned to the Fugue of the 5^th Suite Prelude & Fugue in C minor, composing a violin descant proved to be the most challenging of the entire project. As I mentioned, the duet to the Prelude seemed to come easily. It’s slow and dark flowing 16^th-notes inspired another low-register opening from the violin along with the title “Lament.” I almost made a motion to end the descant at the cadence prior to the start of the fugue; however, Jennifer said she was going to play the fugue after the prelude no matter what – even if that meant she would play it alone. Well, it didn’t seem appropriate to not join her on that journey, so I motivated myself to write the fugue’s descant, even though it would take me weeks to complete. Pushing myself to finish became a daily effort, particularly as we approached the deadline of scheduled recording sessions at Skywalker Ranch. This descant, particularly the fugue section, went through several revisions. I had hoped to have the violin state the fugue subject at some point, but I couldn’t get that to work in a way that was organic. It seemed to compete with Bach’s writing, so I yielded back to original descant writing. Eventually, the finished product emerged, but only after rehearsing with Jennifer and a bit of ‘trial & error’ changes. The ending felt especially satisfying to write in that it felt truly guided by Bach’s masterpiece. As this prelude & fugue ends with a triumphant C Major Picardy Third chord, the title of the entire Prelude & Fugue duet/descant evolved into Lament & Hope.

Throughout this true labor of love, there were moments of doubt regarding whether I should be tampering with such masterpieces as Bach’s Cello Suites. ‘How or why would you attempt to improve on perfection?’ one might ask. I took comfort in knowing that Bach did this very kind of borrowing and rewriting with his own music, and other composers have certainly had their fun with Bach.”

            —Peter Wilson, February 2022

As the performance time of the descants and duets is just under 25 minutes, Wilson and Kloetzel, in the pursuit of recording a complete album, sought other works by Bach that might yield effective transcriptions for their violin and cello duo. Coincidentally and perhaps ironically, Bach composed Four Duets for Keyboard, referring to the two hands on the keys. These proved to be quite beautiful and effective as string duos, transcribed by Wilson, with the violin playing the right hand and the cello covering the left hand of the keyboardist.

The next duo in the collection is from Brahms’ Five Studies for Piano. In the 3^rd Studie, Presto after J.S. Bach – First Version (1879), Brahms took Bach’s final movement of his G minor Sonata for Solo Violin and added a mirror of sorts as the left hand accompaniment. The 20^th century violin virtuoso, Ruggiero Ricci wrote his own transcription of the Bach-Brahms for two violins, later recording both parts. Wilson, recalling this recording in his collection, decided to create his own transcription for violin and cello, which effectively reflects Brahms’ vision of a mirrored voice in bass clef.

While in high school, Wilson was introduced to the improvisational genius of piano virtuoso John Bayless, who recorded two legendary albums of the music of The Beatles – in the style of Bach. The first of these albums, “Bach Meets The Beatles” included the very popular track “Penny Lane,” a favorite of Wilson’s. In 2022, he developed a friendship with Bayless when Wilson was invited to conduct the finals for the Palm Springs International Piano Competition, for which Bayles served as artistic director at the time. As keyboard music has proven to be effective source material for creating string duos, Wilson (with permission from his new friend) adapted his favorite Bayless track as a violin and cello duo.

The encore of the album is Wilson’s arrangement (or “mashup” in modern terminology) of Bach’s G Major Cello Prelude and the George Harrison song “Here Comes the Sun” from The Beatles’ album “Abbey Road.” Kloetzel requested an arrangement of The Beatles classic as an anniversary gift to be performed for beloved friends, but Wilson took it a step further once he realized similarities between the song and Bach’s G Major Prelude. “Bach to The Beatles – Here Comes the Sun” has become one of Kloetzel’s most popular encores when making solo appearances.

All the music featured on this album celebrates the genius and timelessness of Bach and is in keeping with his own traditions and practice of transcribing and/or rearranging his own music.