The English Suites are characterized by counterpoint and virtuosity, reflecting Bach's ambition as a young composer, sometimes leading to passages that are technically demanding.
Composition History
Bach's English Suites, composed in his thirties, show the influence of French master Charles Dieupart's Six Suittes pour le Clavessin (1701).
Recording & Production
This recording was made in July/August 2016 at Kobe Shoin Women's University Chapel, Japan, using a harpsichord by Willem Kroesbergen, Utrecht 1982, after an enlarged Ruckers.
Composition History
The name 'English Suites' was not given by Bach himself, but became widely accepted in the early 19th century due to Johann Nikolaus Forkel, a biographer who had contact with Bach's sons.
Compositional Technique
The English Suites feature preludes in an extensive da capo form, written in a virtuosic concerto style, and share a similar movement scheme with Bach's Cello Suites.
Composition History
The identity of the 'Englishman of rank' for whom the English Suites were supposedly made is still unknown, and the dedication might have been a fiction, similar to a dedication in Dieupart's suites.
Performer Biography
Masaaki Suzuki, the harpsichordist on this recording, founded Bach Collegium Japan in 1990 and is a leading authority on Bach's works.
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