Bach: Orchestral Suites BWV 1066-1069

Featuring

John Butt
Dunedin Consort
Johann Sebastian Bach

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Bach's orchestral music combines French elegance and Italian virtuosity, aiming to create a refined German style that could supersede national oppositions.

Compositional Technique

The Ouvertures of the two D major suites (BWV 1068-9) blend traditional French overture style with elements of the Italian concerto, with BWV 1068 featuring a virtual violin concerto.

Composition History

Bach adapted the Ouverture from Suite 4 (BWV 1069) for the opening chorus of his Cantata 110, a Christmas celebration.

Compositional Technique

Suite 1 (BWV 1066) showcases Bach's wit, such as in Gavotte II where a horn call is surprisingly played by the strings instead of wind instruments.

Compositional Technique

The numbering of Bach's Orchestral Suites (1-4) was not assigned by Bach himself.

Composition History

Bach's Orchestral Suites, though primarily French in form, were likely performed as concert pieces at the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig, which Bach directed for over a decade.

Performer Biography

Dunedin Consort, named after the ancient Celtic name for Edinburgh Castle, has won two Gramophone Awards, a BBC Music Magazine Award, and a Grammy nomination.