Bach Orchestral Suites

When Bach was 32, he was hired as Kapellmeister, or Music Director, of the court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen.  The Prince had ascended to the throne at age 10, and when he hired Bach, he was a musically well-educated 23.  Though the Prince lived only for another decade, his influence on Bach’s music is the reason we have the Brandenburg Concertos, the Well-Tempered Clavier, and the four Orchestral Suites.  Not least in this influence is that fact that the Prince paid Bach four times what he was later to earn at other appointments.

It is thought that Bach probably wrote many more than the four Orchestral Suites, or Ouvertures, as he called them, but any there may be have yet to come to light in modern times.  Baroque oboe specialist Gonzalo X. Ruiz, who performs in this new recording, makes a strong case, though, for his belief that the Second Orchestral Suite, BWV 1067, was originally composed to feature the oboe, not the flute as we always hear it today.  Particularly notable is the final movement, a famous 90 seconds known as the "Badinerie," long a favorite of flute players.  Ruiz asserts that this finale to Suite No. 2 has been misspelled over the years; it is actually a "Battinerie," considerably more “battle than chit chat.”

Ruiz’s reconstruction of BWV 1067 is joined by exhilarating performances by the Ensemble Sonnerie of the other three suites, all under the leadership of their director, the awe-inspiring violinist Monica Huggett.  The performances are played with delicate clarity and magnificent technique.  Baroque performance practice keeps getting better and better, and has reached a new pinnacle in these Bach suites.