BaL 28.9.24 - JS Bach: English suites (BVW 806–811) [piano]

[Pulcinella]

1500
Building a Library

Lucy Parham selects her favourite piano version of JS Bach's Six English Suites (BWV 806-811).

Confusingly, Bach's English Suites are collections of dances in the fashionable French style of the early 18th century, each prefaced by a Prelude. On one level, the Suites are a didactic compendium of keyboard style and technique, including written-out examples (in the Second and Third Suites) of the kind of ornamentation Bach would have expected from players, his students and his own children. But these highly stylized and sophisticated dances are also full of typically Bachian small- and large-scale patterning and meaning, from the musical cypher on Bach's name, to the overarching descending organisation of keys of each successive Suite.

Here is a link to Presto's listing of available recordings of the full set, but note that only piano versions are included in this BaL.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/works/45381--bach-j-s-english-suites-nos-1-6-bwv806-811/browse

Here are the piano contenders (gleaned from the Presto list):

Ramin Bahrami
Vladimir Feltsman
Walter Gieseking
Glenn Gould
Angela Hewitt
Ivo Janssen*
Robert Levin
Murray Perahia
Andrew Rangell*
Inge Rosar*
Wolfgang Rubsam*
Andras Schiff
Rochelle Sennet
Pietro Soraci
Amadeus Webersinke*

* Added courtesy of Mandryka.

Lucy's choice:
András Schiff (piano)
Decca 4216402

[MickyD]

Can we expect a second programme with harpsichord versions? I bet we can't. Anyone else up for contributing to such a thread?

[AuntDaisy]

Can we expect a second programme with harpsichord versions? I bet we can't. Anyone else up for contributing to such a thread?

Amazing just how many hapsichord versions are on Pulcinella's Presto list.
I listened to the 1984 Gustav Leonhardt last week (CDs 10 & 11 of the New GL Edition box set). Happy to add my two-penneth (or witter on, as usual).

BTW Did Trevor Pinnock record all of them? #3 is on his Chromatic Fanatsia & Fugue CD.

[vinteuil]

BTW Did Trevor Pinnock record all of them? #3 is on his Chromatic Fanatsia & Fugue CD.

... I don't think so -

https://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVP/Pinnock.htm#SoloKey

.

[richardfinegold]

Great discussion so far of what the reviewer will be discussing, versions featuring piano.
I have Schiff and then a player I suspect most Forumites have never heard, Sergei Schepkin, a Russian born Bostonian. I may also have Richter in a big box, not sure if he recorded them all.
I prefer the coloristic and dynamic opportunities that a Piano offers vs a Harpsichord. I don’t care what instrument JSB originally composed them for ; I live in 2024, not 1724. I haveLeonhardt on my shelves for when I’m in the mood for the skeletons copulating on a tin roof

[Pulcinella]

Great discussion so far of what the reviewer will be discussing, versions featuring piano.
I have Schiff and then a player I suspect most Forumites have never heard, Sergei Schepkin, a Russian born Bostonian. I may also have Richter in a big box, not sure if he recorded them all.
I prefer the coloristic and dynamic opportunities that a Piano offers vs a Harpsichord. I don’t care what instrument JSB originally composed them for ; I live in 2024, not 1724. I haveLeonhardt on my shelves for when I’m in the mood for the skeletons copulating on a tin roof

I've added the (non-copulating, I hope) piano versions to the original post!

[smittims]

I have Richter's 1991 recording of suites 3,4 &6. I don't know of any others he made.

As a lifelong Gieseking fan I'm quite content with his recordings, though I do admire Glenn Gould's 1970s studio verisons for their panache.

[AuntDaisy]

...
I prefer the coloristic and dynamic opportunities that a Piano offers vs a Harpsichord. I don’t care what instrument JSB originally composed them for ; I live in 2024, not 1724. I haveLeonhardt on my shelves for when I’m in the mood for the skeletons copulating on a tin roof

I quickly put Wanda Landowska's 1936 Suite no 2 on to help me recover! Gould to follow though...

... I don't think so -
https://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVP/Pinnock.htm#SoloKey

Thanks vinteuil, that's a very useful Pinnock list.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Completely coincidentally this was on Breakfast his morning


Johann Sebastian Bach

English Suite no. 2 in A minor, BWV 807: I. Prélude

Performer: Alessio Bax.


former Leeds winner and a new release. Too fast , one paced and staccato for me but these pieces which are only really grade 8 -ish take a lot of thinking about to avoid the “sewing machine “effect - whether on piano or harpsichord. Practised this a lot recently and I’ll be interested to hear the winner (Perahia?)

[MickyD]

I'd suggest Richard Egarr's fine set...with his beautifully burnished-sounding harpsichord, I guarantee no skeletons there. (But I have always found the Beecham description amusing).

[CallMePaul]

I have tried to like Bach on the piano (an instrument he was ambiguous about) but feel it much better suited to the harpsichord. I have the 1984 Leonhardt set, plus Rudolf Buchbinder in no3, the only English Suite he has recorded. I look forward to hearing Mahan Esfahani's version when it is released, having enjoyed his Bach recordings to date.

Who in R3 asked a pianist rather than an early music specialist to do this BAL, and why is it restricted to recordings on an instrument for which the suites were not written? May I repeat the oft-quoted statement (who said it I don't know) that Bach would have written differently if writing for the piano?

[Mandryka]

1500
Building a Library

Lucy Parham selects her favourite piano version of JS Bach's Six English Suites (BWV 806-811).

Confusingly, Bach's English Suites are collections of dances in the fashionable French style of the early 18th century, each prefaced by a Prelude. On one level, the Suites are a didactic compendium of keyboard style and technique, including written-out examples (in the Second and Third Suites) of the kind of ornamentation Bach would have expected from players, his students and his own children. But these highly stylized and sophisticated dances are also full of typically Bachian small- and large-scale patterning and meaning, from the musical cypher on Bach's name, to the overarching descending organisation of keys of each successive Suite.

Here is a link to Presto's listing of available recordings of the full set, but note that only piano versions are included in this BaL.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/works/45381--bach-j-s-english-suites-nos-1-6-bwv806-811/browse

Here are the piano contenders (gleaned from the Presto list):

Ramin Bahrami
Vladimir Feltsman
Walter Gieseking
Glenn Gould
Angela Hewitt
Robert Levin
Murray Perahia
Andras Schiff
Pietro Soraci

Add Andrea Bacchetti, Andrew Rangell, Ivo Janssen, Inge Rosar, Wolfgang Rubsam (Naxos ), Amadeus Webersinke, Alexander Borowsky.

[Mandryka]

I have Richter's 1991 recording of suites 3,4 &6. I don't know of any others he made.

As a lifelong Gieseking fan I'm quite content with his recordings, though I do admire Glenn Gould's 1970s studio verisons for their panache.

Have you heard Jorg Demus's 1958 recording for Duchesne? Never commercially off LP but I'm happy to share my transfer with all comers. It's worth hearing.

https://www.discogs.com/release/12257774-Jörg-Demus-Bach-Intégrale-Des-Six-Suites-Anglaises-Vol2

[Pulcinella]

Add Andrew Rangell, Ivo Janssen, Inge Rosar, Wolfgang Rubsam (Naxos ), Amadeus Webersinke.

Added and acknowledged.
Thanks.

[Barbirollians]

Lucy Parham again ! Do they have nobody else to review piano recordings nowadays ?