Johann Bernhard Bach's four Orchestral Suites, composed for the court orchestra of the cultured duke of Saxony-Eisenach, are amongst the most varied and sophisticated musical works of the high baroque period in Middle Germany. It was not by chance that Georg Philipp Telemann, a one-time Kapellmeister at Eisenach, commented retrospectively: "I have to praise this orchestra, arranged for the most part according to the French style, for it surpassed the very famous Parisian opera orchestra." From 1703, Bernard Bach was engaged as harpsichordist in this noble orchestra. His Orchestral Suites provide the only surviving "soundtrack" of the illustrious musical life at the Eisenach court during the 1710s and 20s. And what a soundtrack: cosmopolitan, and truly European, with sparkling virtuosic brilliance, as if written by a fiery Italian, whilst displaying the elegant taste of a noble Frenchman. In other words, the "mixed taste", for which the best German composers of the late baroque period were famous, in it's finest form. Little wonder then that Bernhard Bach's suites became core repertoire for Johann Sebastian Bach's Leipzig Collegium Musicum, also influencing his compositions. All this provides sufficient motivation for the Thuringian Bach Collegium to continue their exploration through the Middle German courts for their second recording and, with unbridled enthusiasm in their music-making, to bring these jewels of the early Thuringian orchestral music back to life. Bon Appetit!

Tracklist:

Orchestral Suite No. 1: I. Ouverture
Orchestral Suite No. 1: II. Air
Orchestral Suite No. 1: III. Rondeau
Orchestral Suite No. 1: IV. Loure
Orchestral Suite No. 1: V. Fantaisie
Orchestral Suite No. 1: VI. Passepied
Orchestral Suite No. 2: I. Ouverture
Orchestral Suite No. 2: II. Gavotte En Rondeau
Orchestral Suite No. 2: III. Sarabande
Orchestral Suite No. 2: IV. Bourrée: Gayement
Orchestral Suite No. 2: V. Air: Grave
Orchestral Suite No. 2: VI. Menuett
Orchestral Suite No. 2: VII. Gigue
Il Zelo Di Leonata: Ouverture (Used 1730 By Johann Sebastian Bach In A Performance With His Collegium Musicum As Final Movement
Orchestral Suite No. 3: I. Ouverture
Orchestral Suite No. 3: II. Air
Orchestral Suite No. 3: III. Les Plaisirs
Orchestral Suite No. 3: IV. Menuet I - Menuet II - Menuet I
Orchestral Suite No. 3: V. Air
Orchestral Suite No. 3: VI. Rigadon
Orchestral Suite No. 3: VII. Courante
Orchestral Suite No. 3: VIII. Gavotte En Rondeaux
Orchestral Suite No. 4: I. Ouverture
Orchestral Suite No. 4: II. Caprice I
Orchestral Suite No. 4: III. Marche
Orchestral Suite No. 4: IV. Passepied I - Passepied II - Passepied I
Orchestral Suite No. 4: V. Caprice II
Orchestral Suite No. 4: VI. Air: Lentement
Orchestral Suite No. 4: VII. La Joye
Orchestral Suite No. 4: VIII. Caprice III

UPC: 4022143977700
Label: Audite
Release Date: 11.1.19
Format: CD

J Bach B / Thuringer Bach Collegium - Orchestral Suites (CD)