Luogo e data di registrazione		Doopsgezinde Kerk, Haarlem (Holland) - 2/3 Maggio & 3/4 Settembre 1984
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer		Gerd Berg
	Balance engineer		Hartwig Paulsen
	Prima Edizione LP		EMI Records "Reflexe" | LC 0233 | 27 0243 3 | 2 LPs - durata 46' 12" - 50' 30" | (p) 1985 | DIGITAL
	Edizioni CD		EMI Electrola | LC 0542 | CDS 7 49000 8 | 2 CDs - durata 46' 15" - 50' 43" | (c) 1987 | DDD Virgin "Veritas" | LC 7873 | 7243 5 62158 2 5 | 2 Cds - durata 46' 16" - 50' 43" | (c) 2003 | DDD
	Original Cover		"Clavicimbel" (Johann Christoph d. J. Weigel) - Archiv für Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin
	Note		-

The majority of Bach's keyboard suites are contained in three collections, each comprising six works: the "English" Suites, BWV 806-11, probably composed in Weimar about 1715; the "French" Suites, BWV 812-7, probably composed in Cöthen between 1717 and 1723; and the Partitas, BWV 825-30, published singly in Leipzig between 1726 and 1731 and issued together as the first part of the Clavier-Übung (Bach's "Op. 1") in 1731. In addition, he composed the Ouverture in B minor, S 831 (published, together with the Italian Concerto, as the second part of the Clavier-Übung in 1735), and half-a-dozen other suites or suite movements, dating from his years in Weimar and Cöthen. Nor should we overlook the six suites for solo cello, the three partitas for solo violin, the suites for flute and for laute, and the four orchestral suites. The two extremes of Bach's approach to the suite are to be found in the works for solo cello and for solo violin (all written in Cöthen). The cello suites all begin with a Prèlude but, otherwise adhere to the standard Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue sequence of the 'classical' suite, except for the addition of an extra movment (Menuet, Bourrée or Gavotte) between the Sarabande and the Gigue, whereas the violin partitas are highly adventurous, every movement of No. 1 having its Double (variation), No. 2 its monumental Ciaccona, and No. 3 replacing all four of the standard movements except the concluding Gigue. The three sets of keyboard suites also vary in their allegiance to the traditional pattern. The most complex and unconventional are, as might be expected, the last in order of composition, the Partitas, which contain such diverse extra movements, or galanterien, as Menuets, a Rondeau, a Capriccio, a Burlesca, a Scherzo, an Aria, a Passepied, and a Gavotte, and whose opening movements all differ: Praeludium, Sinfonia, Fantasia, Ouverture, Preambulum, Toccata. Slightly less adventurous (and the most compact of the three sets) are the 'French' Suites (the title was not Bach's, and is superfluous since the suite was, by definition, essentially French in idiom even though its main exponents were German composers). Although the four standard movements, are always retained, and there are no Préludes, the 'extra' movements vary considerably: Menuets, Airs, Gavottes, Bourrées, an Anglaise, a Loure and a Polonaise. The 'English' Suites are the most conventional. Their titles is meaningless so far as the music itself is concerned, and derives from the fact that one contemporary copy (Bach's autograph score has not survived) bears the inscription 'Fait pour les Anglois'. They are, jowever, much larger in extent and more demanding in technique than the 'French' Suites, despite the fact that they are earlier in date. Their most remarkable features are their first movements, in each case a Prélude, all but one in triple metre and differing in character: No. 1 (12/8) three-part and somewhat organ-like in style; No. 2 (3/4) two-part, Italianate and in ternary form; No. 3 (3/8) almost orchestral in texture, like an Italian concerto movement; No. 4 (4/4) similar in style, with seven ritornelli separating six solo or concerto episodes; No. 5 (6/8) fugal, largely in three parts and in da capo form; and No. 6 (9/8), the longest, rather like a prelude and fugue or French ouverture, with varied texture. Of the remaining five movements in each suite, the second, third, fourth and sixth are in every case an Allemande (with running figuration and often quasi-polyphonic texture), a Courante (here always French in style, with a subtle combination of 3/2 and 6/4 metre, rather than in fluid 3/4 metre of the Italian corrente), a Sarabande (grave, and often richly textured and ornamented), and a  Gigue (mostly Italian rather than French in style, and, in the case of Nos. 3, 5 and 6, highly chromatic). The Courante of No. 1 is paired with a second Courante with two Doubles; the Sarabandes of Nos. 2 and 3 are followed by versions with agréments, which can be used to vary the repeats, and that of No. 6 has a Double. The fifth movement varies, but in each case consists of a pair of alternating dances, the second of which brungs a change of mode (minor to major, depending on the main key of the suite): Nos. 1 and 2 a pair of Bourrées: Nos. 3 and 6 a pair of Gavottes; No. 4 a pair of Menuets; and No. 5 a pair of Passepieds. © Robin Golding, 1985