A Tale of Two J.S. Bach Arrangements—Duarte & York

April 15, 2023

Andrew York, classical guitarist and composer, and perhaps best known as a (former) member of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, is not my cup of tea. Having seen him in concert years ago, performing solo, I afterwards felt no compunction to see him in concert again. Plus, York’s numerous compositions nearly all top out at “nice,” which in truth means boring or, at the most generous, musically clever.  One exception though is York’s well-known piece, “Sunburst,” a skillfully crafted guitar adventure that John Williams first popularized. Another is York’s guitar arrangement of “Linus and Lucy,” the classic Peanuts theme by Vince Guaraldi. A third, which I focus on here, is an arrangement for guitar of J.S. Bach’s Cello Suite #3 in C major (BWV 1009). Beyond these three however, I cannot find much else to “fret” over.

Seeing York in concert some two decades ago, in Hartford, Connecticut, did more to sour my mood than anything else. As I clearly recall, York came out on stage wearing sandals. Having paid good money for a classical guitar concert, not some Joan Baez folk jam, the last thing I wanted to see was York’s sandaled feet. Meanwhile, because of his many prosaic compositions, as I then drowsily learned, I soon found myself nodding off at times. But to worsen matters further, York introduced some of his pieces with rather unflattering comments. In one memorable instance, he remarked that his next piece had come to him while he was “in the bathroom.” Needless to say, that tidbit surely didn’t come as music to my ears. However, it did ring up contemplations about the drive home—meaning, I began seeing more value in leaving than staying.

But despite my view of York’s compositions as mostly Side B filler, his arrangement of J.S. Bach’s cello suite is not. Which leaves me somewhat vexed, since even disharmonious classical guitarists like me occasionally daydream of a simple black- or white-hat world of composers as either Good, Bad, or Ugly.

As to York’s Bach arrangement, in order to scale it properly we do have a standard yardstick: the well-known arrangement by John Duarte, an arrangement that Segovia himself, master transcriber/arranger that he was, used for his seminal recording of the suite (MCA Classics Segovia Collection Volume 1).

Duarte’s arrangement, especially in the Allemande, Sarabande, and Bourrée I movements, carries the stuff of musical genius, in league with Miguel Llobet’s masterful arrangements for duo guitar. But, as can be said of all six movements, any sense of the original as being for cello is almost entirely absent. Besides the Prelude, there’s little to no further sense or sound that Bach had in mind a bowed string instrument with limited harmonic capabilities. Not that Bach would’ve had a dim view of a complete transformation, as Bach himself was no purist, he re-arranging many of his own works. But at times Duarte’s arrangement feels a bit too… guitar-like. This is evident near the very end of the Allemande, where a fast-moving bass line juxtaposed with a descending treble feels over-written. Or, even more strongly, in the Sarabande, where Duarte gives numerous full-throated strums of four, five, or even six strings, which feel slightly out of bounds despite these strums being harmonically rich.

Enter York’s arrangement.

Included as the finale to his album “Into Dark”—a respite from Side B matter, if you will—which also offers York’s own rendition of Sunburst after a collection of various… niceties, the liner notes indicate that York plays the suite “at original pitch, in cello tuning, there are no added notes.” In this recording, the sense of the cello, especially with the lower guitar tuning, is palpable. As if a cellist is attacking the strings by angling

her bow way then another, while her free hand works an unfretted fingerboard, York’s rendition comes off as distinctly cello-like. Not merely clever but brilliant, York’s arrangement leads me to start mulling hat colors again. Though I should mention one minor asterisk: in the Courante and Sarabande, York does revert to a more guitar-like sound. But then he nicely reacquires the cello at the Bourrée I, finishing the rest of the suite similarly.

More than any other work by York, I find this arrangement his highest achievement. To hear it live in concert, it just might be worth slogging through the rest of the program.