Sei Solo is Italian for “Six Solos” but also for “You Are Alone”. The dual meaning may indeed have been intentional. When fair-copying his manuscript...

Sei Solo is Italian for “Six Solos” but also for “You Are Alone”. The dual meaning may indeed have been intentional. When fair-copying his manuscript to the three sonatas and three partitas for solo violin in 1720, Bach had become a widower. The work, with a duration of well over two hours, has a total of 32 movements. The 21st of these is the iconic Ciaccona in D minor with its 32 variations on a chord sequence. The Swedish guitarist Mats Bergström made his debut as a recording artist in 1986 with the Lp “English Guitar Music” for the Polar Music label. Three decades and numerous albums later he felt ready to record his own guitar version of Sei Solo.