The fact is, nobody is quite sure how or why these
keyboard pieces got the nickname “English.” Bach probably wrote them early on
in his career, maybe around 1715-1723, and they’re among the composer’s
earliest keyboard suites. Bach didn’t even call them the “English Suites,” and
they didn’t acquire the name until the nineteenth century when one of Bach’s
biographers, Johann Nikolaus Forkel, declared that Bach had written them for an
English nobleman. However, Forkel never backed up his claim, so who knows. The
funny thing is that these suites have more in common with French suites of the
period than English, particularly in their preludes.
Anyway, the German organist and composer Johann Sebastian
Bach (1685-1750) wrote his six keyboard suites, BWV 806–811, for harpsichord,
which Richard Egarr plays on this splendid two-disc set from Harmonia Mundi.
Egarr has been the conductor of the Academy of Ancient Music for most of the
past decade, but he also continues making solo recordings like this one.
If you've heard any of Egarr’s past work, whether
conducting, playing solo, or in accompaniment, you know he favors lively
rhythms and expressive phrasing. There is nothing genteel, sedate, or old
fashioned about his Bach. The Suites
bounce along with maximum zest, yet they never betray their essentially
aristocratic origins. Egarr shows great imagination in his interpretations,
which in the hands of a few other musicians I’ve heard can seem a lot alike.
Each suite begins with a substantial prelude (becoming
longer and more complex as the suites go on), followed by six or seven dance
movements--allemandes, courantes, gavottes, gigues, minuets, passepieds, and
bourrees. While the melodies pour forth graciously from all the suites, it’s
the final three I favor most for their smoother, more-flowing lines. And it’s No. 5 in E minor I like best of all for
its noble heart and No. 6 in D minor
for its sheer grandness and drama.
Most of all, though, it’s Egarr’s spirited presentations
that make it all come alive. The performances and recording sparkle.
A number of years ago, it was 1978 to be exact, Deutsche Harmonia
Mundi released one of the best-sounding harpsichord albums I had ever heard,
Bach’s Goldberg Variations with
Gustav Leonhardt. Since then, the album has been my standard of comparison for
other harpsichord recordings. Richard Egarr recorded this Bach program in 2011
at Potton Hall, Suffolk, England, and it holds up pretty well next to
Leonhardt’s disc. Both recordings have a reach-out-and-touch-it quality,
although the older Leonhardt recording sounds a tad richer, perhaps because of
the miking and engineering involved, perhaps just because of the nature of the
different harpsichords used. In any case, the sound of Egarr’s disc is vibrant
and clear, miked at an ideal distance for realistic listening.
However, be aware that a harpsichord is a fairly bright
instrument compared to the mellowness of a modern piano. So, yes, the
instrument can appear little zingy. Frankly, when played too loudly, the sound
got on my nerves. But, then, that’s just me; I’ve never cared overmuch for solo
harpsichord playing, period. Heard at a normal, natural playback level for the
instrument, though, Egarr’s harpsichord sounds quite lifelike, with a glowing
high end and plenty of snap in its transient response.
In the booklet insert Egarr writes an informative little
essay on the Suites, and the folks at
Harmonia Mundi provide the jewel case with a light-cardboard slipcover.
To hear a brief excerpt from this album, click here:
JJP
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