Bach : ouvertures – suites

As is true of so many of Bach’s familiar works, his Orchestral Suites had more than one incarnation. Three were in fact played at the time with reduced forces, as chamber pieces with one musician per part, and without the forceful elements of trumpet and timpani. We also know that the Suite No. 2, enjoyed now as a feature for the flute, previously existed in another key and with another solo instrument, either violin or oboe. Masques brings its trademark nuance and conversational style to bear in its intimate renderings of the Orchestral Suites Nos. 1, 2 (version for oboe) and 3 — home of the famous “Air.” Rounding out the programme is a suite once thought to have been written by Bach’s father, but which turns out to belong to his brilliant son Wilhelm Friedemann.