68. Hantaï’s Bacchanalia

Among Johann Sebastian Bach’s keyboard suites, the “English” ones were likely composed earliest, at the beginning of the third decade of the 18th century. And why are they called “English”? It’s not certain. Perhaps – as the composer’s first biographer, Johann Nikolaus Forkel, speculated based on a note by one of the composer’s sons on a copy of the score reading “fait pour les Anglois” (“written for the English”) – were they dedicated to a specific representative of that nation? Or perhaps it was a matter of style? If so, that wouldn’t be a clear indicator, since the English have always had a rather eclectic musical taste. This also fits the English Suite in A minor, in which one can find French influences (for example, the inclusion of pairs of dances – such as the two Bourrées here) or Italian ones (the left-hand line in the Courante). The fact that not all of the suite pieces were composed for keyboard instruments in no way precludes playing them on the harpsichord – adapting pieces to the circumstances was by no means unusual in Bach’s era. Moreover, the Lute Suite BWV 995, for example – from which Pierre Hantaï transcribed the Prelude for harpsichord – is itself a transcription: Bach adapted it from a Cello Suite. Bach also arranged the chorale Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten on more than one occasion – not only in the form of the prelude recorded in Anna Magdalena’s Klavierbüchlein. While in his dance suites the composer demonstrated his familiarity with the latest foreign trends, and his chorale preludes are closely tied to the austere Lutheran culture of his homeland, in every genre he is equally and unmistakably Bach – just as masterful and recognizable.

– Dominika Micał (pisanezesluchu.pl)