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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
The French and the English go at it again Apr 15, 2010
Murray Perahia has noted that "Bach's genius is to evoke timeless and true human emotions through the purity and spirituality of his writing - which, ultimately, stands apart from any specific instrumental environment." The world has certainly taken note of the universality of Bach's art by offering transcriptions of his music for virtually ever possible instrument or instrumental combination. And yet, no matter what the medium, the message always comes through in the hands of a gifted artist.
Bach left three sets of keyboard suites, along with a handful of uncollected works in that form. It is characteristic of Bach's art that he frequently took up a musical genre, composed a full set of pieces - traditionally six - to demonstrate its possibilities, then dropped it forever. Each set is an artistic monument of exquisite imagination and power, which has challenged performers, captivated analysts and delighted listeners ever since. In addition to the six suites for unaccompanied violin, Bach composed a similar set for unaccompanied `cello. There are also the Brandenburg Concerti, the French and English Suites, the sonatas for violin and keyboard, and so on. The order and symmetry of his mind was astonishing - and this listing represents only works he composed when he was in his thirties and early forties. There still remained another quarter of a century of fascinating musical invention from his pen.
In the mid 1720s, a few years after he assumed the cantorship of St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Bach assembled his harpsichord suites into two sets of six each and added a third, evidently newly composed. These have been passed down to us, respectively, as the English Suites, the French Suites, and the six Partitas of the Clavierbung, Book I. Only the last was published in Bach's lifetime. The composer did not prepare the English - nor the French - Suites for publication, but if he had done so, the title page of the Partitas, written with the excursiveness for which the age had a passion, would have been entirely accurate: "Keyboard exercises, consisting of preludes, allemandes, courantes, sarabandes, gigues, minuets, and other gallantries."
The English Suites are almost certainly the earliest in date of the three. As for the epithet "English," the Bach biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel (1749 - 1818) used the name quite matter-of-factly, as if it was well established, and he believed that the title existed "because the composer made [the suites] for an Englishman of rank." His book was not published until 1802, but he could have heard this assertion, which is entirely plausible, from any of Bach's sons. In any case, the term "English" does not in any sense refer to musical style.
Italy and France were the principal sources of style in Bach's day - Italy for opera and new approaches to orchestral composition and France for dance and harpsichord music of particular grace and refinement. These, of course, are broad generalizations, and many composers, Bach included, fused elements of both styles.
The keyboard suite - a collection of stylized dances designed to display the grace and virtuosity of the performer as much as the imagination of the composer - was in essence a French genre. By the time Bach began to write in the form, it had reached its definitive shape, consisting of four specific dances - allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue, almost always in that order. To these a composer might add a prelude, and he could insert other dances between the sarabande and the gigue.
But though the genre is a predominately French, Italian elements often found their way in as well. By way of comparison in the English Suites, perhaps the single most "French" passage is the Sarabande of Suite No. 2, for which Bach supplied a highly ornamented version for the repetition of each half. (He may have gotten the idea for this from Francois Couperin.) And perhaps the most "Italian" passage is the Prelude to Suite No. 4, which opens with a brilliant flourish possibly inspired by a similar beginning like Vivaldi's Opus 3, a violin concerto, which Bach transcribed into F major as a piano concerto.
The English Suites show a remarkably uniform layout, suggesting that, in their final version, Bach carefully shaped them as a group, presumably with an eye to publication that never took place. Each begins with a prelude, followed by the four basic dances with an extra dance pair before the gigue. The two "extra" dances are played alternativement - that is, the first with all its repeats, then the second with all its repeats, then the first dance straight through with no repeats. For Suite No. 2, the extra dance is a bourree; for No. 4, a minuet; and for No. 5, a passepied.
We know that Bach studied the suites of Dieupart and probably Couperin during his years as a young organist in Weimar (1708 - 1717) and some scholars believe he composed (or at least began) the English Suites there. Others think that, though he may have written individual parts as early as 1715 or so, he created the works during his latter years in Cothen, where, for once, he was not involved in the composition of church music (Cothen was Calvinist, a Protestant tradition with almost no music in the services beyond unaccompanied hymn-singing). In Cothen he concentrated on concerti, chamber and solo instrumental music. The chamber music he wrote for his employer, Prince Leopold, but the keyboard music he usually composed for his family or to aid in musical education. Actually, the two elements overlap considerably; Bach's finest students were his own children, and the first version of the French Suites (technically the easiest of the harpsichord suites) was composed for the composer's second wife, Anna Magdalena.
Judging from the success of so many of his pupils, Bach was a great teacher, in whose view the term "musician" could only be applied to a complete artist. This standard required both the ability to play a previously composed work with a clear projection of its harmonic architecture and to start with just the harmonic outline (the thorough-bass) and create a satisfying work by inventing coherent melodic lines with the proper voice-leading and doubling. Each skill was an aspect of the other, one going from the melodies to the harmony, the other expanding upon the harmony to create the melodic lines.
In all of his teaching, as Murray Perahia has noted (in an essay published with his performance of Suites No. 1, 3, and 6 - SK 60272), "Bach had his own students concentrate on setting chorales in four voices as a basis for understanding counterpoint," a practice still followed by modern theory teachers. "It seems to me that extended chord progressions also form the basic frame for his other composition, as we see in his English Suites. Here Bach's figurations, derived from the underlying chords, lend a surface liveliness to the music and guide the ear in clarifying the direction of the various modulations." Harmonic chordal patterns "with a distinct sense of direction toward a specific modulatory goal" underlie surface motifs and "serve as a skeleton for Bach's extraordinary ornamentation and embellishments."
Throughout the suites on this recording, Perahia makes gloriously clear Bach's playful use of a continuing tension between his passion for exploiting the strength of counterpoint (with instrumental lines in a web of mutual interaction) and the elegance of the French keyboard dance style (which all but totally avoided imitative counterpoint). The balance that the composer maintains with such fine discrimination between these two seemingly contradictory elements has always made the suites both a welcome challenge to the player and a richly satisfying experience for the listener. Through Bach's music, as Perahia has put it, "the heart and the mind are united."
Pandora intoduced me to this music Oct 06, 2009
Pandora intoduced me to this music. As has been the case with so many of purchases. The project and the artist are awesome. Bobbys going classical (always has been)Bach: English Suites Nos. 2, 4 & 5 / Perahia
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
very good indeed, but try Ivo Pogorelich's version and you won't regret it Oct 06, 2009
These are immensely satisfying performances and I agree with others who find these more pleasing than Gould's. But I still think the absolute king in this field is Ivo Pogorelich. I believe Ivo recorded only 2nd and 3rd suite. One listen may spoil you forever. Not to detract anything from Perahia's inspired reading; I thoroughly enjoy most of his records and concerts, but since Amazon reviews have one of the purposes to lead you to other revelations, try Ivo's renditions. It may haunt you forever.
5 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Perahia's remarkable Bach Feb 20, 2008
Having been a Murray Perahia enthusiast for many, many years, I was quite pleased when he began recording the keyboard works of Johann Sebastian Bach in the 1990s. This release of the English Suites Nos. 2,4 and 5 is at the top of my list of favorite Perahia Bach cds. These are graceful, artistic performances that mark the pianist as a JSB interpreter of the highest order. While displaying an abundance of impeccable technique, there is also a depth of feeling conveyed that reminds me of some of his finest Mozart recordings; there is a very definite connection with the music going on here. Listeners are also treated to a wonderfully pristine digital sound from Perahia's label, Sony Classical.
Given the level of artistry Murray Perahia has achieved in his nearly four decade career, it is no wonder that he should be considered one of the finest Bach pianists of his generation. The proof is in the hearing. Give yourself a chance to hear this splendid cd at your very earliest convenience. You will not be disappointed!
7 of 9 found the following review helpful:
The definitive performance Mar 16, 2007
Murray Perahia is to the English Suites as Glenn Gould is to the Goldberg Variations. This is a thoughtful interpretation of Bach's carefully wrought structure with each voice given a crystalline presence. There are no fireworks, no bravado, just the pure heart of the music.
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