Gerhard Reichenbach Plays BWV 827 on Guitar

Gerhard Reichenbach with his guitar (courtesy of the Omni Foundation)

Some readers may recognize from the headline that this will be the second time that the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts will be presenting an OMNI on-Location video of Gerhard Reichenbach playing the music of Johann Sebastian Bach on guitar. The last one took place this past Monday with a performance of BWV 825, the first of the six partitas that were included in the composer’s first Clavier-Übung (keyboard practice) collection. Tomorrow morning Omni will release another video of Reichenbach arranging music from Clavier-Übung. This will be BWV 827, the third of that same Clavier-Übung collection.

While BWV 825 followed a sequence of movements that was familiar to Bach, BWV 827 is a bit more adventurous. The opening “Praeludium” will be replaced by a “Fantasia.” The next three movements will follow a path that most Bach-lovers will recognize: “Allemande,” “Corrente,” and “Sarabande.” Then the “double-minuet” of BWV 825 is replaced by the coupling of a “Burlesca” and a “Scherzo.” “Business as usual” will then continue with a “Gigue” as the final movement.

As usual, the performance will be streamed through the Omni Foundation’s YouTube channel. The YouTube Web page for this program has already been created. However, the video itself will not be available for viewing until 10 a.m. tomorrow, Monday, September 29. There is no charge for admission, which means that these performances are made possible only by the viewers’ donations. A Web page has been created for processing contributions, and any visits made prior to the streaming itself will be most welcome.