Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer: Ensemble Masques
Conductor: Olivier Fortin
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Alpha
Catalogue: ALPHA832
Release: 2022
Size: 2.96 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major, BWV 1066
01. I. Ouverture
02. II. Courante
03. III. Gavottes I & II
04. IV. Forlane
05. V. Menuets I & II
06. VI. Bourrées I & II
07. VII. Passepieds I & II
Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067
08. I. Ouverture
09. II. Rondeau
10. III. Sarabande
11. IV. Bourrées I & II
12. V. Polonaise & Double
13. VI. Menuett
14. VII. Badinerie
Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068
15. I. Ouverture
16. II. Air
17. III. Gavottes I & II
18. IV. Bourrée
19. V. Gigue
Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D Major, BWV 1069
20. I. Ouverture
21. II. Bourrées I & II
22. III. Gavotte
23. IV. Menuets I & II
24. V. Réjouissance
The orchestral suite, sometimes simply called “overture” because of the imposing dimensions of its opening movement, enjoyed great popularity in the early eighteenth century, especially in central Germany.
Bach had discovered the genre in his youth and cultivated it until his late period in Leipzig. This recording assembles his four “overture-suites”, including the famous Suite No. 2, BWV 1067, which belongs among the late works. Numerous copying errors in the instrumental parts suggest that this piece was originally written a tone lower – in A minor – and therefore probably for a solo instrument other than the transverse flute: in the present recording, this first version, reconstructed from the clues mentioned above, is performed with solo oboe.
“This is a work of austere beauty, in which contrapuntal skill and melancholic expression are combined in a highly original way with the carefully calculated dance rhythms”, writes Peter Wollny in the accompanying booklet article.