Baroque Concertos for 8-String Guitar

A little "light" music for these sultry days. On this album, Daniel Estrem performs Baroque music by Vivaldi and Bach transcribed for eight-string guitar. The two extra strings significantly expand the instrument's capabilities, giving the guitar a harmonic completeness that, in my opinion, it normally lacks.
These two extra strings are low and are typically tuned F# and B.

Over a career spanning approximately 30 years, Vivaldi wrote more than 500 concertos, many of which were later transcribed for various instruments.
L'Estro Armonico, Op. 3, written in 1711, is a collection of 12 concertos for one, two, and four violins that influenced many composers of the time, so much so that J.S. Bach transcribed six of them.

This recording features Nos. 2 and 8, as well as the Concerto in G Major (Alla Rustica), which is particularly close to folk music and very suitable for guitar transcription.
From the work of J.S. Bach's famous Third Brandenburg Concerto and the Double Concerto in D minor, originally for two violins, are taken from it.

A word about the Third Brandenburg Concerto, whose first and third movements are allegros, while the second is an adagio so short that in public performances it is often skipped or replaced with a slow movement from another composition, as in this case.

Registered Magnatune members can download this recording as an MP3 or purchase it in uncompressed format by clicking the link below.

Instead, click on a song in the player linked below to listen to it (be patient, it sometimes takes a while to load).

Baroque Concertos on 8String Guitar by Daniel Estrem

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