Forbes Henderson: Bach Chaconne/Part1

Paul Fisher sent this into our facebook site and didn’t say anything about this vid.

Okay, guess it’s up to me.

Here’s classical guitarist Forbes Henderson with his arrangement of Bach’s Charconne Part 1.

Great smooth playing here, pretty much flawlessly executed.

The Youtube video description says:

“The Bach Chaconne/Ciaconna written after the death of his first wife Maria Barbara Bach.
The guitar is made by Simon Ambridge.”

Here’ something by Forbes Henderson:

“As I am about to spend the next couple of months concentrating on the available works of J.S.BACH in arrangement or transcription for Guitar, I decided to work on the Bach Chaconne so hopped on to youtube to dig into the best interpretations of this masterwork and happily stumbled on to the arrangement by my English colleague FORBES HENDERSON and it opened up a vast field of possibilities for me. I have been on the scene here in New York since my 1st Guitar plucking days in 1957 and over the decades I have heard the finest instrumentalists play this deeply moving work and I must state that this version by Forbes Henderson digs new ground in the Chaconne’s interpretation. I was floored by the depth of sensitivity given to the variations. I immediately submitted my comment on his performance online and was happy to have him almost immediately send me an e-mail thanking me for my comments. Not only was ideas in certain variations thought provoking his magnificent SIMON AMBRIDGE guitar was very, very impressive in character. I informed Forbes that I would be extending my reaction to his excellent performance in my blogg and here is the 1st part of it. As I am writing this post, I had his performance in the background and am now listening to Heifetz teach it in his masterclass. I have a book of essays on various artists explaining their approach to playing this deep piece. I am working also with the Abel Carlevarro Masterclass Book on the Chaconne. W H E W ! I know I may be too wildly getting into this but it has been a rush for me to use all of these various learning techniques. Anyway, I heartily pat my dear colleague FORBES HENDERSON on the back for opening my ears a little wider to the beauty in the music of the great one and for playing so beautifully on an outstanding instrument. When you check out Forbes’ youtube performance, it will be in two installments.” read more