Orchestra

“La perfection technique, l’intensité d’articulation aux archets nous rappellent le Musica Antiqua Köln.”
– Magazine Diapason

As an introduction to the inPRIMETIME festival, Ensemble Masques plays the four famous Overtures or Orchestral Suites, BWV 1066-1069. The four works for orchestra each consist of a French overture, followed by typical baroque dances such as the rondeau, gavotte, minuet and bourrée. Here and there, Bach interrupts the suite structure with works unrelated to dances, such as Badinerie, Réjouissance or the famous Air from the third overture. What is more, Bach imbues the French dances with Italian flair. In the overtures, Bach makes the groups of instruments play in alternation. Ensemble Masques plays the Overtures in their original settings for solo instruments, also drawing on the original sources. The second overture is known today in B minor, but an older source exists with the same suite in A minor, with the solo part played on the oboe or violin rather than the traverso.

Programme
Ouverture nr. 1 in C, BWV 1066
Ouverture nr. 2 in a, BWV 1067
Ouverture nr. 3 in D, BWV 1068
Ouverture nr. 4 in D, BWV 1069

When
Saturday 05.02.2022 – 20.00 AMUZ

Festival
BACHSUITESinPRIMETIME

05 February, 2022 20:00

Harpsichord

“A performance by Esfahani would be something to treasure.”
– Anna Picard, The Times

When Bach worked at the Calvinist court of Leopold van Anhalt-Köthen (1717-1723), he mainly wrote instrumental music including the French Suites for harpsichord. The title gives the impression that Bach was entirely imitating the French style of someone like François Couperin. However a typical French suite begins with an introductory prelude, which is not the case in Bach’s French Suites – they begin with nothing other than an allemande! What is more, the association with France was only made posthumously in 1762, by Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg. The title probably refers to the galant character of the music. Bach uses less counterpoint here than in his other works.

Programme
Franse suite nr. 1 in d, BWV 812
Franse suite nr. 2 in c, BWV 813
Franse suite nr. 3 in b, BWV 814
Franse suite nr. 4 in Es, BWV 815
Franse suite nr. 5 in G, BWV 816
Franse suite nr. 6 in E, BWV 817

When
Thursday 10.02.2022 – 20.00 AMUZ

Festival
BACHSUITESinPRIMETIME

10 February, 2022 20:00

Cello

“Bertrand takes an expressive approach; these are not to be danced to, they are of the same aesthetic as Waltzes by Chopin — something to be admired, savoured, listened to and reflected upon. Bertrand, like Stephen Isserlis, seems to characterise each suite with a prevailing narrative.”
– The Classic Review

Bach’s Cello Suites dominated Klara’s Top 100 classical music charts for years. No wonder, because they are absolutely fascinating pieces. Bach composed stylised dance suites for single instruments, but his inventiveness as a composer creates the illusion of several instruments playing at once. Bach wrote the suites when he was working in Köthen. They were probably intended for Christian Ferdinand Abel, the virtuoso cellist at the court chapel. We are inviting two equally excellent cellists to AMUZ, each of whom will perform three suites.

Programme
Suite nr. 1 in G, BWV 1007
Suite nr. 2 in d, BWV 1008
Suite nr. 3 in C, BWV 1009

When
Saturday 12.02.2022 – 11.00 AMUZ

Festival
BACHSUITESinPRIMETIME

12 February, 2022 11:00

Harpsichord

”Le toucher de Bart Jacobs y fait des merveilles.”
– Diapason

The suites for keyboard date from various periods in Bach’s life: his early career in Arnstadt, the time he spent in Weimar at the court of Willem Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and the legendary Leipzig period. He wrote many of his famous works for the organ in Weimar, as well as the Suite, BWV 823. Only fragments of this suite have been preserved, which makes one wonder about the many works by Bach that have been lost over the centuries. Suites BWV 818 and BWV 819 can be found in many source documents, often in combination with the French Suites. They are educational pieces that Bach often got his students to play. One of them, Johann Philipp Kirnberger, wrote about the importance of playing these dances to be able to develop into a fully-fledged musician.

Programme
Suite in a, BWV 818a
Suite in Es, BWV 819
Suite in Bes, BWV 821
Suite in f, BWV 823
Suite in A, BWV 832

When
Saturday 12.02.2022 – 13.00 AMUZ

Festival
BACHSUITESinPRIMETIME

12 February, 2022 13:00

Violin

“In the Partitas, a number of individual movements stand out: the B minor Allemande and its Double for the way in which Beyer allows the music to breathe, and the Corrente, where her bow conjures up swarms of butterflies fluttering and soaring through the air; the questioning, philosophic D minor Sarabande and that Chaconne, in which she sustains a deeply attractive sense of delicacy throughout; and the E major Loure – so danceable and beautifully ornamented in the repeats.”
– Gramophone

The three violin partitas, along with three sonatas Sei solo a violino senza basso accompagnato, form a collection of virtuoso works for the unaccompanied violin. Just as in the cello suites, Bach creates the illusion of multiple-voice counterpoint in these partitas. He probably composed them during his years in Köthen, reusing material from his Weimar period. It is unclear who exactly was supposed to play the ferociously difficult violin solos. They were not published until 1802, and it would be many years before they became part of the core repertoire for violinists. The chaconne from the second partita is considered one of the most expressive pieces for violin solo in the Baroque.

Programme
Partita nr. 1 in b, BWV 1002
Partita nr. 2 in d, BWV 1004
Partita nr. 3 in E, BWV 1006

When
Saturday 12.02.2022 – 15.00 AMUZ

Festival
BACHSUITESinPRIMETIME

12 February, 2022 15:00

Harpsichord

“Kenneth Weiss ajoute à la technicité et à la sobriété des ces grands interprêtes (Gustav Leonhardt, Glenn Gould), un raffinement, une joie et une sensualité qu’on a peu l’habitude d’associer au clavecin.”
– Télégramme de Brest

Bach published the partitas for harpsichord, also referred to as the German Suites, separately in Leipzig between 1726 and 1731. He also brought the six works together as his first book, Clavier- Übung (1731), which forms his surprisingly late Opus 1. On the title page, Bach noted that the works were intended for ‘Gemüths-Ergoetzung’, the ‘amusement of the spirits’. However they are more than studies intended for entertainment: they have a complex compositional structure and require intense concentration on the part of the soloist.

Programme
Partita nr. 1 in Bes, BWV 825
Partita nr. 4 in D, BWV 828
Partita nr. 5 in G, BWV 829

When
Saturday 12.02.2022 – 17.30 AMUZ

Festival
BACHSUITESinPRIMETIME

12 February, 2022 17:30