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Johann Sebastian Bach - English Suites

Composer Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer Masaaki Suzuki
Period Baroque
Catalogue Number BIS-2281 SACD
EAN 7318599922812
Format SACD Hybrid

This hybrid disc plays on both CD and SACD players
SACD Surround - SACD Stereo - CD Stereo

  –  2 discs
Release date Apr 2019
Total time 152'43


A busy schedule as music director of the Bach Collegium Japan and sought-after guest conductor doesn’t stop Masaaki Suzuki from returning to his first loves, the organ and the harpsichord. With the present release he adds yet another chapter to his series of Bach’s works for solo harpsichord. After acclaimed recordings of the Well-tempered Clavier, the Goldberg variations, the French Suites and other works the turn has come to the English Suites.&&& Composed while Bach were in his thirties it precedes other sets such as the French Suites and the Toccatas, and in his liner notes, Bach scholar Yo Tomita draws attention to 'the stylistic traits of a youthful and ambitious composer wanting to make his mark through the use of counterpoint and virtuosity'. Despite its title, the collection has very little to do with England, at least musically: the six suites are instead rooted in the French tradition, and show certain striking similarities to the composer Charles Dieupart’s Six Suittes pour le Clavessin from 1701. (Bach made a copy of Dieupart's set sometime between 1709 and 1716.) It was only in the 19th century that the suites became known as the 'English', based on a never substantiated claim that the set was commissioned by an English nobleman.
 
Choose format
 
 
 
Disc 1
 
  Johann Sebastian Bach
  English Suite No. 1 in A major, BWV 806 29'03
01 Prélude 2'24
02 Allemande 6'13
03 Courante I 1'49
04 Courante II avec deux Doubles 6'21
05 Sarabande 4'56
06 Bourrée I & II 4'22
07 Gigues 2'58
 
  Suite No. 2 in A minor, BWV 807 24'13
08 Prélude 5'12
09 Allemande 4'58
10 Courante 1'57
11 Sarabande; Les agréments de la même Sarabande 3'59
12 Bourrée I & II 4'24
13 Gigue 3'43
 
  Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808 21'41
14 Prélude 3'32
15 Allemande 4'33
16 Courante 3'13
17 Sarabande; Les agréments de la même Sarabande 3'58
18 Gavotte I & Gavotte II ou la Musette 3'23
19 Gigue 3'02
 
 
Disc 2
 
  Johann Sebastian Bach
  Suite No. 4 in F major, BWV 809 22'39
01 Prélude 4'53
02 Allemande 4'28
03 Courante 1'44
04 Sarabande 4'30
05 Menuet I & II 3'29
06 Gigue 3'35
 
  Suite No. 5 in E minor, BWV 810 22'18
07 Prélude 5'26
08 Allemande 4'38
09 Courante 2'38
10 Sarabande 3'12
11 Passepied I en Rondeau; Passepied II 3'10
12 Gigue 3'14
 
  Suite No. 6 in D minor, BWV 811 30'41
13 Prélude 8'14
14 Allemande 4'50
15 Courante 2'48
16 Sarabande & Double 6'10
17 Gavotte I & II 4'11
18 Gigue 4'28
 
  Album total 152'43
ComposerBach, Johann Sebastian
HarpsichordSuzuki, Masaaki

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