THREE MOVEMENTS from the Solo Cello Suites

It is generally accepted that Bach was an outstanding organist and it is music for organ in church which forms a large part of his huge output; but in December 1717 he took up the post of 'Kapellmeister' (music director) to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen whose strictly protestant Calvanist beliefs forbade music in the court chapel. So for the next six years Bach concentrated his attention on orchestral and chamber music which bore fruit in the Brandenburg Concertos, the first part of 'The Well-tempered Clavier' and various other chamber works including the Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello (BWV 1007-1012).

Although some music had been written for solo violin, and Bach's own unaccompanied violin sonatas date from this period, to write solos for a bass accompaniment instrument - the cello - was revolutionary. Bach balanced this by choosing a well known and somewhat old fashioned form in the 'suite' of a prelude and six dances - Allemande; Courante; Sarabande; Menuets or Bourrées or Gavottes 1 & 2, ending with a Gigue. The music which flowed from these matter of fact titles is now widely accepted as combining a variety, depth and serenity beyond anything written before or since. "Monophonic music wherein a man has created a dance of God" (Wilfred Mellers).

After studying bassoon at the Royal College of Music with Archie Camden, Martin Gatt became principal bassoon of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) at the age of 21. His time at the LPO was followed by holding the same position with two other major London orchestras - ECO and LSO so that he spent a total of forty years as principal with three leading symphony orchestras. At the same time, he performed and recorded a wide variety of solo and chamber music with the Academy of St. Martin's in the Fields, the London Sinfonietta and the Tuckwell Wind Quintet, the last two of which he helped to found. Martin Gatt was Professor of Bassoon at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for nearly twenty years. He has published some two dozen arrangements for bassoon solo, accompanied and in ensemble, including these three of the more straightforward movements from the cello suites which are suited to Grade 4 students.

• Bourree I (5th movement from Suite No.3 - BWV 1009)
• Menuet II (6th movement from Suite No.2 - BWV 1008)

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