Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer: Sophie Yates
Number of DIscs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Chandos
Catalogue: CHAN0826
Release: 2021
Size: 3.22 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
CD 01
English Suite No. 1 in A major, BWV806
01. I. Prelude
02. II. Allemande
03. III. Courante I
04. IV. Courante II avec deux Doubles
05. V. Sarabande
06. VI. Bourrée I – Bourrée II – (Bourrée I repetatur et claudatur)
07. VII. Gigue
English Suite No. 2 in A minor, BWV807
08. I. Prelude
09. II. Allemande
10. III. Courante
11. IV. Sarabande – Les agréments de la même Sarabande
12. V. Bourrée I alternativement – Bourrée II –
13. VI. Gigue – Da Capo (senza ripetizione) al Fine
English Suite No. 3 in G minor, BWV808
14. I. Prelude
15. II. Allemande
16. III. Courante
17. IV. Sarabande – Les agréments de la même Sarabande
18. V. Gavotte alternativement – Gavotte II ou la Musette
19. VI. Gigue
CD 02
English Suite No. 4 in F major, BWV809
01. I. Prelude. Vitement
02. II. Allemande
03. III. Courante
04. IV. Sarabande
05. V. Menuet I – Menuet II – Repetatur Menuet I
06. VI. Gigue
English Suite No. 5 in E minor, BWV 810
07. I. Prelude
08. II. Allemande
09. III. Courante
10. IV. Sarabande
11. V. Passepied I en Rondeau – Passepied II
12. VI. Gigue
English Suite No. 6 in D minor, BWV811
13. I. Prelude
14. II. Allemande
15. III. Courante
16. IV. Sarabande – Double
17. V. Gavotte I – Gavotte II – Repetatur Gavotte I
18. VI. Gigue
There is no surviving autograph manuscript of Bach’s English Suites, and for such a set of magnificent pieces, an important and well-loved part of the baroque keyboard “canon”, surprisingly little is known about its history. What we do know is that the suites are amongst Bach’s earlier works – probably written in the second decade of the eighteenth century – and that the appellation “English” was not given to them until the 1750s. In order to understand these fascinating works on a deeper level, we have to appreciate the importance of dance in the cultural context of eighteenth-century Europe. As a social skill, the ability to dance correctly was considered so vital that every court had a dancing master, often French, who taught the different types of dances to aspiring courtiers.
Because of this, dancing, and by extension the instrumental dance suite, was one of the factors contributing to French taste’s becoming a defining characteristic of the baroque style. As we know that the Dancing Master traditionally taught by playing tunes on the violin, it is quite possible that Bach’s own renditions of the dance forms were influenced by the playing of Jean-François Monjou – Dancing Master at the Cöthen court, where the young Johann Sebastian worked from 1717 until 1723.
On that basis, acclaimed early keyboard specialist Sophie Yates has recorded these works on a double-manual Flemish harpsichord by Andrew Garlick, a copy of the petit ravalement instrument by Ioannes Ruckers, 1624, now at the Musée Unterlinden, Colmar, France.