Jacek Muzyk succeeds - and makes the French horn sound as sweet, colorful, and beautiful as a cello.

Bach Muzyk for French Horn.
Bach Cello Suites no.1,2,3
transcribed and played by Jacek Muzyk

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote his Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello around 1720, when he served as a Kapellmeister in Cöthen. The only luxury at the court of Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Cöthen was a relatively big orchestra, consisting of 18 musicians. Among these musicians was Ferdinand Christian Abel, an extraordinary virtuoso of viola da gamba and cello, for whom Bach probably wrote these masterpieces. Each of the Six Suites consists of six movements and each movement is a stylized baroque dance. Listening to the pieces, we often forget that they are compositions for a solo instrument. Bach’s music, even though written for a generally homophonic instrument, is rich in musical depth, in harmonic detail and in complex counterpoint. Bach creates harmonies with the cello in two ways. He often simply writes block harmonies; although the cello generally plays one note at a time, only four movements in the set of six suites are completely without block chords. Bach also uses more subtle means to present his harmonic structures. Through the use of wide leaps and an expansive melodic range, the listener often feels as though two or more instruments are playing even though only one note is being played at a time. Bach’s ability to create a sense of complex polyphony on an instrument which plays only a single melodic line is unparalleled, as heard in these pieces.
Bach’s Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello are unquestionably some of the greatest pieces written for solo cello and yet these great pieces had to wait for almost 300 years to become well known. It was not until 1900, when Pablo Casals discovered Grützmacher's edition in a thrift shop, that the Six Suites found their way to the concert hall. Even then, at the beginning of the twentieth century, they were regarded primarily as simple study material for students. Casals introduced the suites to a wide audience, studying, performing, and finally recording them in the late 1930s. His interpretation is still very influential. For Casals, Bach’s music, “has every feeling: lovely, tragic, dramatic, poetic ... always soul and heart and expression.”
Since Casals’ recordings were made, the magic of Bach’s composition has attracted hundreds of musicians who have performed and recorded the Suites. It was only a matter of time before these pieces found their way into the repertoire of other instruments. However, when we consider the beautiful human-like singing tone of the cello, there is perhaps only one instrument that comes to mind as a substitute: the French horn. Playing the Suites on French horn raises some interesting problems. The Suites were written for a string instrument, which does not have the basic technical difficulty presented by wind instruments: breathing. This difficulty, along with the wide melodic range of the Suites, and the block harmonies mentioned above, are the main technical tasks faced by a musician who wishes to play them on the French horn. If we add to these problems questions of ornamentation, articulation, and phrasing, the Six Suites become an extremely challenging masterpiece that only an excellent artist can manage. It requires the highest level of virtuosity, together with deep musicianship, for the performer to make the French horn sound as sweet, colourful, and light as a cello. When all of these problems are overcome, however, the listener is rewarded with added beauties and softness which only the French horn can offer.
-Prepared by Katarzyna Marczak

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Suite No.1 in G Major, BWV 1007
1.Prelude 2'18
2.Allemande 5'16
3.Courante 2'36
4.Sarabande 3'49
5.Menuet I 1'39
6.Menuet II 2'33
7.Gigue 1'48

Suite No.2 in D Minor, BWV 1008
1.Prelude 4'00
2.Allemande 2'11
3.Courante 2'32
4.Sarabande 3'05
5.Menuet I 1'16
6.Menuet II 1'56
7.Gigue 2'43

Suite No.3 in C Major, BWV 1009
1.Prelude 4'14
2.Allemande 2'04
3.Courante 3'14
4.Sarabande 6'13
5.Bourree I 1'45
6.Bourree II 2'55
7.Gigue 3'14

Recorded in the Foellinger Great Hall of the Krannert Center for the
Performing Arts in Urbana, Illinois - January 12-13, 2007
Recording/editing/mastering: Jon Schoenoff
Musical consultant: Kazimierz Machala
Cover photo: Anna Dziegiel

Jacek Muzyk plays on a Keith Berg French Horn and uses a Lawson B23G 725mouthpiece.

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Jacek Muzyk was born and raised in Poland. He begun to study French Horn at age of 18.
After graduation from the Academy of Music in Krakow, Mr.Muzyk completed another master's degree at the Mannes College of Music in New York studying with David Jolley. He received further education at the Juilliard School of Music with William Purvis and then he continued studying at Rice University in Houston(TX) with William VerMeulen.

Following his studies Mr. Muzyk returned to Poland, working full time with the best polish orchestras, including Sinfonia Varsovia, the National Philharmonic of Warsaw and the Krakow Philharmonic among others.

In 1999 he was chosen as the Principal Horn for Krystian Zimerman's Polish Festival Orchestra, a select group of Poland's finest musicians that toured Europe and the United States playing over 40 performances of Chopin's concertos while winning a Grammy Award.

In 2002, Mr. Muzyk moved to the United States where he played with the Houston Grand Opera and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra before being appointed as the Principal Horn with the Buffalo Philharmonic. He has made guest appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony and other orchestras in the USA, Japan, Europe, South America and has appeared as guest soloist as well.

Mr. Muzyk has given numerous master classes and recitals throughout all continents and has made solo recordings under the Polish Radio label. Recently he recorded a solo CD featuring all Mozart's concertos.

BACK:
Bach Muzyk for French Horn.
Bach Cello Suites no.1,2,3
transcribed and played by Jacek Muzyk

These Suites, written for a string instrument, become an extremely challenging masterpiece that only an excellent artist with the highest level of virtuosity and musicianship can ‘pull off’. Jacek Muzyk succeeds - and makes the French horn sound as sweet, colorful, and beautiful as a cello.

Suite No.1 in G Major, BWV 1007
1.Prelude 2'18
2.Allemande 5'16
3.Courante 2'36
4.Sarabande 3'49
5.Menuet I 1'39
6.Menuet II 2'33
7.Gigue 1'48

Suite No.2 in D Minor, BWV 1008
1.Prelude 4'00
2.Allemande 2'11
3.Courante 2'32
4.Sarabande 3'05
5.Menuet I 1'16
6.Menuet II 1'56
7.Gigue 2'43

Suite No.3 in C Major, BWV 1009
1.Prelude 4'14
2.Allemande 2'04
3.Courante 3'14
4.Sarabande 6'13
5.Bourree I 1'45
6.Bourree II 2'55
7.Gigue 3'14