Slava Grigoryan’s chart-topping Bach is back

SLAVA Grigoryan’s fans will be delighted that the second volume of his award-winning guitar arrangements of Bach’s cello suites is out and looks set to equal the first disc’s runaway success.

Slava Grigoryan has released the second volume of his prize-winning guitar arrangements of Bach’s cello suites.

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BACH’S six cello suites have been recorded on violin, viola and recently Australia harpsichordist and early music expert Winsome Evans released a keyboard arrangement which garnered rave reviews.

Album artwork for the second volume of Slava Grigoryan's Bach arrangements.

But few transcriptions have been more successful than those of Slava Grigoryan for baritone guitar (lower pitched than the standard classical instrument). The first volume of his ABC Classics album featuring the first three suites topped Australia’s classical music chart and won a fistful of awards, including the 2017 ARIA Award for Best Album.

Grigoryan’s many fans will be delighted to know that the second volume has now been released and looks set to equal, if not exceed, the first disc’s 13-week chart-topping spell. The fourth and fifth suites feature the baritone guitar again but the final suite, which Bach composed for a smaller and higher five-string cello, sits very nicely arranged for the standard classical guitar. Just listen to those exciting runs in the prelude.

Grigoryan brings his customary faultless intonation and technique to the table, with some tasteful rubato, shadings and colourings being a feature of all these works.

Of course the acoustic guitar doesn’t have the sustain and singing quality of the cello, but it does gain in those passages where Bach uses double-stopped broken harmonies. These superb recordings may never replace the cello originals — after all every cellist from Pablo Casals to Yo-Yo Ma, Steven Isserlis and Pieter Wispelwey has tackled them, sometimes multiple times — but Grigoryan does make a very strong and eloquent case for buying them as a complementary set.

Bach’s music is full of little treasures that often only get picked up on repeated listenings and having Grigoryan’s set on high rotation will open your ears to even more new musical wonders.

You can get both volumes at Fish Fine Music or ABC Shop online for $24.99 each.