Dobbs on PLAYING THE SUITES

(Words excerpted from the liner notes of Richard Hartshorne's recording J.S. Bach: Six Solo Suites, Centaur CRC 2348 / 2349 / 2350)

In the fall of 1967, I bought a copy of the Bach suites. It was the last year of my masters degree at Julliard. My teacher, Stuart
Sankey, said: "Just get the cello part because the bass arrangements leave out all the chords. You'll have to leave them  out
too, but at least you'll know what they are."

I bought the Barenreiter 320, 1967 edition and have been playing them daily ever since. It was understood that I would never
perform these pieces in public, but that as a tool for expanding technique, and a place to confront musical ideas, it was
common practice among bass players to work through parts of these masterpieces.

I immediately bumped up against the natural limitations of the bass: 1) in a lower key it sounds grumbly, 2) at the correct
octave the notes are all bunched up high on the fingerboard, 3) the distances between notes is enormous so any inaccuracy in
shifting is accentuated, and most frustratingly, 4) the open strings that make the characteristic ringing sound on the cello were
not all there.

It didn't happen all at once but I became obsessed with the idea of being able to play these pieces because every once in a
while when a particular passage worked on the bass, the deep rich sound of the instrument gave a quality to the music that  
was at once very different from the cello but also very appropriate. I dreamt of stringing together successful moments into
complete performances.

I fully admit that this 28 year project was an obsession of mine and not something that everyone would find satisfying.
However, at this point any bass player so inclined, with an extra bass and a willingness to learn to read on differently pitched  
strings, entering a world of scordata, can take what I've done and successfully explore the incredible musical world that is
encompassed by the six solo suites.

I started conventionally, patiently gaining technique sufficient to overcome the inherent difficulties of the music. In this I was like
every other bass player I know, and my efforts were frustrated. But secondly, and here is where I drifted out of the
mainstream, I developed an attitude of experimentation and a willingness to look for solutions in the actual tuning of the bass. I
refused to accept the limitations of the conventional bass tuning (GDAE) versus the cello (ADGC). In essence, I used Bach's
process, which was to incorporate the open strings into the composition. I searched for ways to tune the bass which maximized
the number of open strings (or first harmonics which sound like open strings) that Bach used, even if they occur in a different
order on the bass. I gradually began making the bass fit the music rather than the other way around. Each scordatura
experiment necessitated months of practice before I could evaluate its success but I had a whole lifetime.

I will not minimize the challenge of playing these suites on a much larger instrument, and even with the tunings I have devised, it
can be incredibly awkward, and sometimes the open strings are not right where you need them necessitating huge leaps. But I
believe that now any bass player with time and willingness can learn to play these pieces (using my scordatura) and make them
sound as if written for the bass. The resonance of Bach's double, triple, and quadruple stops using open strings on the bass is a
sonic joy unsurpassed in my experience. I am convinced that the sound and color of the bass add something to these
masterpieces that make them fresh and different. For me it was worth the effort.