WGBH Music: Peter Blanchette & Elliot Gibbons - Bach Partita No. 1 B flat BWV 825 Gigue

When Peter Blanchette was just twenty years old he had the crazy idea of an expanded range instrument beyond a standard guitar “that sounded more like a lute, but was still a guitar.“ Thus was born the 11-string archguitar, custom built in 1981 by Walter Stanul. Blanchette’s friend Elliot Gibbons had similar ideas and commissioned a second instrument from the same builder, but with a slightly different design. In 2011, Blanchette received New England Public Radio Foundation’s Arts and Humanities Award for