About this project

First, let me say thank you for all the support you have given me over the years by listening to my music, coming to my concerts, purchasing my CDs in person and on my website (www.archguitar.com) and spreading the good word to your friends. I want to let you know that it has been sustaining and deeply appreciated.

The exciting news is that I am preparing to launch my first album of Bach's 'cello suites. With their epic Preludes in every imaginable character and the charming dance movements, these suites constitute the pinnacle of J.S. Bach's artistry. Together, they make a sort of Bible for musicians, even for those like me who play an instrument other than that for which the music was originally composed. For more than a couple of centuries virtuosi have made arrangements of these masterpieces as both the highest challenge to their musicianship and the ultimate potential for expression as a soloist. I have had a deep relationship with this music since I was a teenager, and with my 50th birthday coming up next month, I am finally recording the ecstatic sixth suite and the dark, existential fifth suite to round out volume I of an eventual three-volume set of the complete 'cello suites.

For me, the process of recording is like oil painting. I work in layers, and when it goes well, I end up with something that is made up of literally thousands of small choices and ideas. Some are improvisations that occur while playing, others come from the insight I gain after listening to multiple takes of different interpretations. Each element effects the other, ideally leading to a spirited, detailed, unique version of Bach's perfect work.

And though my concert audiences adore the ‘cello suites, I have yet to put aside the time to record, edit, mix and master all of these extremely difficult pieces. Countless times people have asked me, "Which record includes that suite you played?" However, without a record label or public funding for the arts, it takes a tremendous amount of faith for me to risk creating this record, while continuing to perform and compose music for other professional projects such as the recent Buster Keaton silent film project and the run-away hit, the Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra (www.hvgo.org).

Therefore, I am appealing to my fans and friends to raise $2500 for this project by March 21st, 2010: Bach's Birthday. The money will be used for essential production, printing, and promotion of the first CD. Obviously, it would be great to raise more than $2500 to really "kick start" the project, but if I can reach my minimum goal by Bach's birthday, I will be off to a very strong start.

I really cannot thank you enough for your support and contribution, and I will be honored to share the work with each and every one of you upon its completion.

Yours truly,
Peter

Project location: Northampton, MA

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Project By

Peter Blanchette

Northampton, MA

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Peter Blanchette is the inventor of the 11-string archguitar (www.archguitar.com). His repertoire of unusual and internationally acclaimed arrangements and compositions spans from medieval to contemporary to ethnic, played in solo recital or with selected other instrumentalists to form the Virtual Consort. A recipient of the MCC Artist Grant in Music Composition, Blanchette is a veteran performer of such high profile venues as NPR's "A Prairie Home Companion," and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. His CDs receive heavy airplay on "Sunday Baroque," "The Thistle and Shamrock," and regionally on WAMC, WNYC, and WFCR. In 2009, he was a WFCR Foundation nominee as one of the region's most valuable artists. As a composer, he has contributed to such television programs as HBO's "Sex and the City," and PBS' "Inside the Tuscan Hills." Among other film work, Blanchette worked extensively with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer William Bolcom and director John Turturro on Turturro’s film Illuminata. In the late 1990's, the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts (MIFA) commissioned Peter Blanchette to compose scores to the Buster Keaton silent comedies “The General” and “The Navigator” which resulted in sell-out performances in the greater New England area. In 2009 Blanchette received grants from New England Foundation for the Arts "Meet the Composer," and the Northampton Arts Council to complete the trio of Keaton's masterpieces by composing a multi-instrumental score to the 1928 comedy, Steamboat Bill, Jr. which he premiered, along with master classes in film scoring, to resounding success at the Dingle Film Festival in Ireland in September 2009, and the Amherst Cinema Arts Center in October 2009. He is also the founder and Artistic Director of the critically-acclaimed Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra (www.hvgo.org), and holds a Master’s Degree in Music Composition from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts and a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree from Marlboro College in Marlboro, Vermont.