Many people have tried to modernize Bach, perhaps by adding a rock beat, synthesizer, or distortion guitar to classic Bach pieces. I have a different idea in mind, though.

I want to keep the feel as I think Bach intended, but still apply many of his musical sensibilities to current technology and style. He obviously reveled in the power of the violin as an instrument, so I am staying the the ‘acoustic’ instrument as the source of everything you hear. Bach liked to build chordal progressions though single-note instrument lines, which I’ve enhanced with a beat-synchronized delay, to bring out the harmony without losing the line.

And particularly, Bach liked to improvise, and all the melodic lines in this piece are improvised (full disclosure… I predetermined my first few notes, referencing Piu Jesu). So here’s my Preludium, based on Bach’s Prelude I from from Well Tempered Clavier:

Preludium

( right-click here to download, touch to hear on iPhone/iPad)

This consists of 4 tracks, one pizzicato track and three improvised violin tracks, where I tried to remember prior tracks in order to harmonize or build counterpoint lines. And once again, this is performed live in a single pass, no edits, with footpedals controlling the record/playback of each track.

Sorry this is two slow pieces in a row… the next one will be more upbeat!