English Suite No. 3 in G Minor

A single note becomes two, then three, then four, and before long the whole keyboard is resonating thunderously. When a contrasting solo-like section intrudes, it’s clear that the “Prelude” to Suite No. 3 is grandly conceived along concerto lines; and the grandeur invades the suite as a whole. Whether in the opening chorus of the St. John Passion or the mighty organ Fantasia, BWV 542, G minor was always a turbulently dramatic key for Bach, and after a carefully wrought “Allemande” and “Courante”, the “Sarabande” plumbs the emotional depths, its gravitas further enriched by the deeply expressive embellishments that Bach appended—something he’d perhaps noted in Couperin’s recently published Pièces de clavecin (Keyboard Pieces). G-major sunshine momentarily breaks through in the second of the two “Gavottes” which is styled “Musette”, a rustic dance supported by the drone of bagpipes. And to finish, the “Gigue” buckles up for a flight of fugal fancy whose learning never overshadows the visceral exhilaration whipped up by its heady momentum. About J.S. Bach's English Suites The six English Suites represent Bach’s first and conspicuously imposing essay in keyboard anthologising. In reality, however, they’re no more English than the Hanover-born King George I! A copy owned by Bach’s son (and adopted Londoner) Johann Christian is inscribed “made for the English”, and the suites share similarities with those by the French-born, London-based Charles Dieupart; but it’s to continental Europe they owe their compositional allegiance. Composed during the second decade of the 18th century, and likely in Weimar, they graft onto the root stock of the French Suite the fruits of Bach’s exposure to the new Vivaldian concerto model. Prefaced by a muscular “Prelude” each Suite nurtures its own scheme of dances, and each cultivates a striking individuality.