Baroque Guitar by Bob Conroy

Baroque Guitar

I'm playing a Cordoba C12 classical guitar for this recording.
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Elizabeth Lorrey, Awakening Sound, Pepperell, MA.
CD design by Max Gordon

Robert DeVisee - Suite No. 3 in D Minor
J.S. Bach - Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009

Robert DeVisee was a French guitarist and lutanist. He composed this guitar suite in 1686 for the five-string baroque guitar, which had nine or ten courses, sometimes with a single top string. It was tuned similarly to the modern guitar (E B G D A), with some variations in the doubled strings. Karl Scheit transcribed this version for modern guitar, and I made several small changes. I learned this suite when I first started classical guitar and revisited it recently because I consider it a delightful piece of music. Hope you agree.

J.S. Bach composed his cello suites in 1717-1723. They sit nicely on the guitar because of the two instruments similar tonal range. I made quite a few changes to John Duarte's arrangement using the original cello score to create my guitar version. When I was a teenager, I listened incessantly to my recording of Pablo Casals playing the Bach suites, never thinking that one day I might be able to play them myself.

Started playing guitar around 13 playing acoustic folk and blues by ear. Went to UMass Boston to study guitar and music theory. Transferred to New England Conservatory and graduated from there with a BM in 1979.
Have been writing and performing original instrumental music with the SpyTones since 2008 while continuing to play classical guitar and acoustic fingerstyle guitar.