Bach - English Suite No. 6 in D minor, BWV 811 (Robert Levin, Alan Curtis)

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The vast and complex prelude, with its mesmerizing figuration and strict counterpoint is really a combined prelude and fugue. After the sustained introduction over tonic and dominant pedals, Bach develops the possibilities inherent in so-called invertible counterpoint – in which the constituent voices sound equally effectively no matter how they are apportioned in the texture. (Needless to say, this device requires considerable compositional skill.) This device, explored throughout the English Suites, reaches a high point here. After the prelude comes a sophisticated allemande, whose basic semi quaver (16th note) movement is enhanced by the use of ornamental figuration also found in other Bach keyboard works, such as the B-flat major Invention, BWV 785, and the G-minor prelude, BWV 861, from Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier. This is followed by a French courante superimposed over an Italian »walking bass« (as in the second double of the First Suite). The impressive and tersely composed sarabande is enlarged upon and illuminated by the addition of a fully written-out double, in the French style brisé (i.e., with figured arpeggiation), clearly intended to be performed as a separate piece. Of the pair of gavottes, the first, like the courante, continues the »walking bass« patterns, while the second (like that of Suite III) is a gavotte ou la musette, with hypnotic drone effects. After this whimsical pair of pastoral flurries, the suite – and the entire collection – concludes with what is perhaps Bach’s most extraordinary gigue. In the second section of this demonic and difficult piece Bach foreshadows his own much later use of »mirror writing«, so exhaustively explored in The Art of Fugue (BWV 1080). With its striking harmonies and long chromatic trills on extended pedalpoints, the movement presents (as does the B-Minor fugue, BWV 869, from Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier) a sort of compositional »crown of thorns« – a bizarre yet compelling conclusion for a collection that appears to be one of Bach’s earliest masterpieces.

Suite No. 6 in d Minor, BWV 811 (Robert Levin, piano)
1. Prélude 0:00
2. Allemande 7:12
3. Courante 10:43
4. Sarabande 12:55
5. Double 16:06
6. Gavotte I 18:30
7. Gavotte II 19:56
8. Gavotte I repetatur 21:06
9. Gigue 22:36

Suite No. 6 in d Minor, BWV 811 (Alan Curtis, harpsichord)
1. Prélude 26:00
2. Allemande 34:09
3. Courante 38:34
4. Sarabande 41:10
5. Double 42:45
6. Gavotte I 44:22
7. Gavotte II 45:53
8. Gavotte I repetatur 47:07
9. Gigue 48:11

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