Program Notes by Martin Pearlman

Compared to the enormous body of Bach's vocal music, there are relatively few purely orchestral works from his pen.  Aside from solo concertos, we have the six Brandenburg Concertos and the four Orchestral Suites, the former representing the pinnacle of writing in the Italian concerto style and the latter the equivalent culmination for the French style.  Unlike the Brandenburgs, however, the Orchestral Suites were never assembled by Bach into a single finished volume. We have no autograph scores for these works and therefore know the music principally through instrumental parts copied out by various copyists, including, among others, Bach's son Carl Philipp Emanuel, his student Johann Ludwig Krebs, and very occasionally Johann Sebastian himself.

Each of the four suites begins with an overture in the French style, with its characteristic stately opening followed by a faster, contrapuntal section and ending with a closing section in the affect of the opening.  These are by far the weightiest and longest movements of the suites, so much so that Bach (like some other composers) referred to the entire suites as "Ouverturen".  The center of gravity is therefore toward the beginning of the suites, while the movements that follow the overtures are shorter dances and character pieces. 

The numbering of the suites is not by Bach but follows what was originally thought to be the order of their composition.  However, that chronology has been revised in recent years.  The first and fourth suites are both thought to date from the mid-1720's, not long after Bach took up his position in Leipzig; the third dates from 1731 and the second from the late 1730's.  The order of suites on the present recording follows not the numbering but this rough chronology.

Suite No. 4 in D Major

The fourth suite, thought to be one of the earliest, requires the largest forces of the set.  In addition to the string ensemble and harpsichord, there are three trumpets and timpani, and Bach adds a third oboe to the woodwind group of oboes and bassoon.  Thus each section of the orchestra has a full quartet of three upper instruments and a bass. 

The authorship of this suite was in doubt, until Bach's Cantata BWV 110 was rediscovered in 1876. In that cantata, the opening sinfonia uses the music from this overture and superimposes choral parts onto the middle section.  Not only does that confirm Bach as the composer of the orchestral version, but it suggests that there may have been an original incarnation of the piece without the trumpet, timpani and perhaps even the third oboe parts, all of which may may have been added for the celebratory occasion of the cantata, which was written for Christmas of 1725. 

In the complex Overture, the oboes are independent of the violins, often imitating and trading figuration with them. Thus the oboes and strings must be carefully balanced, in order to give them more or less equal prominence. In the faster middle section, Bach plays with the contrasts among the various sections of the orchestra, giving us an episode for woodwinds alone, one with the brasses, woodwinds and strings trading off, and one for strings alone.

The Overture is followed by three French dances -- the Bourrée, Gavotte and Menuet -- and ends with a character piece, the Réjouissance.  As its name suggests, it is a piece of celebration and joy, but, just as Bach often carries dance movements to the ultimate point in their evolution, the Réjouissance becomes a surprisingly complex piece.  Despite its meter in 3, it periodically shifts into 4, with groupings stretching across the bar lines.  The effect is one of abandon and irregular meters. 

Suite No. 1 in C Major

The first suite is scored for two oboes, bassoon, strings and harpsichord, the woodwinds sometimes being treated as an independent trio.   In the opening and closing sections of the Overture, the winds simply double the strings to create a thicker orchestral sound, but in the faster middle section, they emerge several times as a virtuosic trio of soloists.  All the movements which follow are based on French dances.  Among the many interesting features in these pieces, we might mention the graceful, shifting accents in the Courante, as well as the second Gavotte, in which the woodwind trio is accompanied by the strings playing "horn calls".  The lively Forlane is in three layers:  a "tune" in dotted rhythms in the top voice, flowing figuration in the middle voices, and a relatively static bass line.  The suite closes with two Passepieds  both based on the same tune:  the melody from the first Passepied is played by unison strings in the second, as the oboes weave figuration above it.

Suite No. 3 in D Major

This suite enjoyed a particular renown in the nineteenth century.  Mendelssohn tells us in a letter that he played the overture for Goethe in 1830, and subsequently he revived the entire suite, altering some of the instrumental parts to suit modern instruments.  The second movement, the Air, became famous as "Air on the G String" in a nineteenth-century arrangement for violin solo.

The orchestration of this suite is almost the same as that of the fourth suite (minus one oboe):  three trumpets and timpani, two oboes and bassoon, strings and harpsichord.  In addition, there are a few passages indicated for solo violin.  But here Bach does not contrast the sections of the orchestra the way he did in the fourth suite.  The woodwinds in this Overture-- unlike the Overture in the fourth suite -- are never used independently; except for a few light accompaniments against the solo violin, they always double the violins to thicken the sonority.  The Air which follows is, of course, not a dance but a "song", a beautifully ornamented melody supported by a constant eighth-note pulse in the bass.  In the middle voices, where another composer might provide a simple harmonic support for the melody, Bach characteristically adds an interesting, though subtle and simple counterpoint.  The suite ends with three traditional French dances, the Gavotte, Bourrée and Gigue.

Suite No. 2 in B minor

The second suite is the most lightly scored of the four.  Written for a single flute, strings and harpsichord continuo, some people have considered it a solo flute piece, much like a concerto, and, in order to balance the solo flute, have performed the work with only solo strings in the orchestra.  However, the writing, particularly in the overture, is just as full and the character just as weighty as in the other suites, and it does not suggest an exceptionally light sonority.  Using multiple violins need not bury the sound of the flute, but the two can be blended into a richer sonority, especially with the sound of the wooden flute and the gut strings of Baroque instruments.  On this recording, where the flute simply doubles the violins in much of the overture, we use the larger string ensemble, but where there is a solo passage for flute, we reduce the accompaniment to solo strings.  Thus there is a lively alternation of solos and tutti in the orchestra for the overture, as well as in certain other movements of the suite. 

Of the other movements, the Sarabande is highly unusual in that the bass line imitates the violins and flute in a canon at the fifth throughout the movement.  It is the kind of intellectual play that Bach enjoyed, but it is worked out so gracefully and is so unexpected in a dance movement of this kind that it is easy to miss.  Here the inner voices of the second violins and violas need to be light enough that the canon in the outer voices is heard, while at the same time providing their own interesting counterpoint.  Through all this contrapuntal play we must feel the slow, underlying pulse of the dance, the Sarabande.

In the Polonaise, the flute first plays the tune as part of the orchestra.   Then in a variation, it plays soloistic figuration, while the bass line repeats the original tune. 

The suite ends not with a dance but with a character piece, the Badinerie.  The title is related to the Badinage ("banter" or "playfulness"), which one finds occasionally in suites by other composers.  In recent times, this movement has become popular as a lightning-fast virtuoso show-piece for flutists.   But while it is a quick piece, it still can suggest some of the character of a dance, beginning phrases in the middle of the bar, almost like a fast gavotte. 

Boston Baroque Performances

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