Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major

With their ceremonial gilding of trumpets, timpani and oboes, BWV 1068 and BWV 1069 are the most exuberantly splendid of the four suites; yet the brass and wind adornments to BWV 1068 are probably a later addition and can be found in a set of parts produced around 1730. Some suspect a strings-only original. And while in performance the pared-back version sounds utterly convincing, there’s no denying that Bach’s second thoughts lend jubilant punctuation and an almost al fresco frisson. After a distinctly purposeful “Ouverture”, complete with breathless concerto-like passages for solo violin, the famous “Air” proposes a haven of calm. But it’s not just about the violin melody. The measured octave-leaping bass, and the sumptuous enrichment of the second half’s texture by lower violins and violas all combine to embed the restful poise. Tranquillity accomplished, now the dancing can finally begin, and Bach wraps up BWV 1068 with a pair of pugnacious “Gavottes”, a pithy “Bourrée” and a rollicking “Gigue”. About J.S. Bach's Orchestral Suites Unlike the six Brandenburg Concertos, Bach’s Orchestral Suites (he designated them Ouvertüren⁠—Overtures) were not conceived as a set. And though they probably achieved their final form in Leipzig, where they would have been perfect for the convivial coffee-house gatherings of the student Collegium Musicum, their composition likely spans more than two decades (culminating in BWV 1067 dating from the late 1730s). The design leans on the French model nurtured by Lully, in which a sequence of dance movements is preceded by an overture whose outer sections, full of pomp and circumstance, bookend a faster, fugal core. While the ground plan is French, however, Bach inevitably bends it to his own purposes, and no two suites are exactly alike.