BACH FREEBIE - D minor Prelude BWV 935
Bach’s Prelude BWV 935 feels uncannily at home on the classical guitar. This arrangement keeps the original key and character, letting the music’s clear melodic line and gently implied harmonies unfold with natural ease. The guitar’s warmth adds intimacy to the prelude’s simple, flowing design, revealing a piece that seems perfectly suited to the instrument without requiring any alteration.
Among Bach’s keyboard miniatures, the Prelude BWV 935 stands out for its poised lyricism and quietly unfolding harmonic clarity. Its writing is essentially linear rather than contrapuntal, built from a single flowing strand whose implied harmonies give the piece its gentle sense of direction. That simplicity proves remarkably natural on the classical guitar.
This arrangement preserves the original key and structure without alteration, allowing Bach’s line to sit comfortably under the fingers. The semiquaver motion encourages long, unbroken phrasing, and the guitar’s warm sustain brings a soft glow to the harmonic inflections that emerge along the way. What begins as a modest keyboard study becomes, on the guitar, an intimate exploration of balance, colour, and expressive restraint.
For guitarists, this edition offers a chance to experience BWV 935 in a form that feels both authentic and idiomatic - a seamless meeting of Bach’s melodic craft and the guitar’s voice, achieved without the need for transposition or structural change.
Score: 2 pages (Single-stave notation)
Preface: Legend and performance notes (Trills written out for you): 5 pages
Below is a link to Youtube which will allow you to get an idea of what this piece sounds like on piano. (Performed by Julian Lambert, Trinity)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99g2Y-vLngU&list=RD99g2Y-vLngU&start_radio=1
Over the coming months, I will be playing short excerpts from all pieces listed in this catalogue on classical guitar myself and post them on my Youtube channel, titled:
Michael De Baker Arrangements for Classical Guitar.
Thanks for tuning in. Wishing you much musical enjoyment and many rewarding hours with our instrument, the classical guitar.
Michael
P.S. You will not end up on any mailing list for downloading this free score, and I promise I will not send you any E-mails. I hate it when this happens to me, so I would not want to inflict it on my fellow guitarists.
Contact. If you’d like to reach out - whether about repertoire, arrangements, or upcoming projects - feel free to email me at mdebakerclassicalguitar@use.startmail.com