RES10163 BWV 812-817 F J cla J ulian P . r ench Suites S vicho . Bach r d e rkins Disc One Disc Two (1685-1750) (1616–1667) (1681–1767) Partita No. 2 in D minor, FbWV 602 in A major, TWV 32:14 BWV 812-817 From Libro Secondo (1649), dedicated to 1. [2:32] Emperor Ferdinand III von Habsburg 2. [2:27] 1. Allemanda [3:47] 3. Sarabanda, TWV 41: A1 † [2:15] 2. Courant [1:25] 4. [3:00] 3. Sarabanda [3:25] 4. Gigue [1:15] Johann Sebastian Bach Julian Perkins Suite No. 4 in E-flat major, BWV 815 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) 5. Prélude, BWV 815a [1:43] Suite No. 1 in D minor, BWV 812 6. Allemande [2:51] 5. Allemande [4:19] 7. Courante [2:02] 6. Courante [2:31] 8. [3:24] 7. Sarabande [2:54] 9. & Menuet [2:39] Tracks 1–9 (disc one) and 12–26 (disc two) 8. Menuet I & II [2:48] 10. Air [1:55] Diatonically fretted clavichord by Peter Bavington (London, 2008) 9. Gigue [3:48] 11. Gigue [2:37] after an instrument made in Nürnberg c. 1785 by Johann Jacob Bodechtel (1768–1831) Suite No. 2 in C minor, BWV 813 Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816 Tracks 10–21 (disc one) and 1–11 (disc two) 10. Allemande [2:58] 12. Allemande [3:39] Unfretted clavichord made by Peter Bavington (London, 2005) 11. Courante [2:22] 13. Courante [1:49] after a late-eighteenth-century German instrument probably by Johann Heinrich Silbermann (1727–1799) 12. Sarabande [3:16] 14. Sarabande [5:05] 13. Air [1:37] 15. Gavotte [1:17] 14. Menuet I & II [2:52] 16. Bourrée [1:29] 15. Gigue [2:36] 17. Loure [2:26] 18. Gigue [3:37] Suite No. 3 in B minor, BWV 814 16. Allemande [3:50] Suite No. 6 in E major, BWV 817 17. Courante [2:34] 19. Prélude, BWV 854/1 [1:39] 18. Sarabande [2:59] 20. Allemande [3:37] 19. Anglaise [1:32] About Julian Perkins: 21. Courante [2:06] 20. Menuet & Trio [2:42] 22. Sarabande [3:48] 21. Gigue [2:30] 23. Gavotte [1:19] ‘Perkins plays with just the right dash of theatricality’ 24. Polonaise & Menuet [3:16] Sinfini Music Total playing time [58:11] 25. Bourrée [1:44] 26. Gigue [2:54] ‘Skilled and lovingly nuanced performances by Julian Perkins’ † From Six Sonates à Violon seul, accompagné par Clavichord International le Clavessin (Frankfurt, 1715), arr. Julian Perkins Total playing time [67:26] J.S. Bach by Elias Gottlob Haussmann (1695-1774)

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Photography: Rudi Wells compiled a final, definitive version of the By far the majority of surviving suites. There is, then, a certain latitude in of this period are of the ‘fretted’ type. the way that the performer may approach Almost exclusively these instruments have the music: any number of readings can be a four-octave compass from C to c2 – in other adopted, and while we cannot be entirely words, the two octaves either side of middle sure whether some of the changes – such C. Their advantage over other types of as the addition of preludes to Suites 4 and keyboard instruments was that they were 6 – were sanctioned by the , they portable, relatively cheap and easy to nevertheless come from those closely maintain: ideal for domestic music making. associated with him. It is hardly a coincidence, then, that the keyboard compass required by Bach’s Instrumentation ‘teaching’ pieces of the early is exactly the same as that of the majority Bach’s original heading for each of the of the surviving clavichords. Whereas the French Suites was ‘pour le Clavessin’. ‘public’ keyboard music – Parts 1, 2 and While it is certainly true that he would 4 of the Clavier-Übung series – required have performed them on the , an extended ‘harpsichord’ compass to a by far the more common instrument in low G, the ‘private’ music disseminated Germany in the eighteenth century through manuscript copies only needed was the clavichord. Indeed, it is no a range of four octaves. If any corroboration exaggeration to say that the clavichord were needed for the ubiquitous use of the was the instrument of choice for personal clavichord, one need look no further than the practice and domestic entertainment. serial publication Singende Muse an der (1684-1748), Pleisse, which appeared in instalments in Bach’s kinsman and musical lexicographer, the 1730s. It was aimed at the amateur described the clavichord as the ‘first market, and as if to emphasise the point, grammar’, while for the title-page illustration shows two sets (1681-1764) it was ‘beloved above all of couples singing to the accompaniment others’. It could render ornaments of small fretted clavichords. (Manieren) clearly, but its chief characteristic was that it enabled the player Bach and the Suite to achieve the ‘singing style’ so highly valued by Bach and his contemporaries. By Bach’s time, the keyboard suite had Performer’s Perspective enjoyed a long and varied pedigree. The idea as, say, the Partitas, Bach includes the more References of linking dance movements together by fashionable polonaise in conjunction with Walther, J.G., Musicalisches Lexicon (, 1732) I like to believe that the French Suites were key and musical motif was not new, but the minuet, gavotte, air and bourrée. Bach’s wedding present to his second wife, Allemande-Courante pairings coupled Though more unusual, the ‘Loure’ of the Mattheson, J., Das neu-eröffnete Orchestre (Hamburg, 1713) Anna Magdalena, whom he married in 1721 with a Sarabande came to the fore around fifth suite is similarly derived from the ‘Sperontes’ [J.S. Scholze], Singende Muse an der Pleisse following the death the previous year of his the mid-seventeenth century. The chief French courtly dances of the late- (Leipzig, 1736) first wife, Maria Barbara. Originating from his exponent of this new format, certainly seventeenth century. David, Mendel and Wolff (ed.) The New Bach Reader largely halcyon years in Cöthen, the French (New York, 1998) in German-speaking lands, was Johann Suites are evocative vignettes of domestic Jakob Froberger (1616-1667) who fashioned Bach’s French Suites have proved enduringly music-making chez Bach. With their vocal an individual keyboard style that fused popular. First mentioned publicly as suites The manuscript copies of the French Suites by Bach and his pupils can be studied online. qualities – which are perhaps a tribute to elements from his Italian training under ‘without preludes’ in the composer’s Anna Magdalena, who was a professional Frescobaldi and his knowledge of the obituary, and given the ‘French’ tag for A representative sample can be found as follows: singer – and their open, galant textures, these French harpsichordists and lutenists. the first time by another Bach pupil, works seem particularly well suited to the Bach (1722) http://bit.ly/1PHnF3d In particular, he adapted the broken- Friederich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718-1795) intimate hues of the clavichord. chord lute writing known as the style in 1762, they continued to circulate in Anna Magdalena Bach (1725) http://bit.ly/1Rl60yj brisé to the keyboard, a technique manuscript before their eventual Gerber (c 1725) http://bit.ly/1MOZvgJ Vogler (c 1725) http://bit.ly/1OG2AY8 The posthumous title accorded to the French which we can hear reflected particularly publication as part of the Altnickol (post 1744) http://1.usa.gov/1mzw8tN Suites may have had as much to do with in Bach’s . The actual sequence edition in 1881. Though no more ‘French’ differentiating the collection from the of movements was very much up to in style than many other suites by Bach, larger-scale (and more overtly French-styled) personal choice during much of the part of their appeal is that they are , as celebrating bon goût. seventeenth century, but by the 1690s technically less demanding for both Despite the music’s grace and nobility, the the format allemande-courante- performer and listener than the French Suites could just as well be called sarabande-gigue had become a standard. Partitas or the English Suites. The the Italian Suites – with four zippy Italian- The suites of Bach’s Leipzig predecessor deliberately light, galant idiom that Bach style correntes alongside two more , for instance, consistently adopts is certainly very beguiling. intricate French-style , adhere to this pattern. By the 1720s, Hearing them on the clavichord underlines imbued with lyrical pathos, and rumbustious however, it had become increasingly this dainty, intimate style, and captures that often combine Vivaldian brilliance common to insert further dance the domestic music making of Bach and with the rustic qualities of an English jig. movements between the sarabande his new wife in 1722. Although each suite has a consistently and the gigue. The choice of these entitled Courante in the sources, their lighter dance types – Galanterien – © 2016 Warwick Cole running figurations show them to be allowed for great flexibility, and while Italian Correntes – does such a discrepancy the French Suites are not as encyclopaedic merely show an effort on the part of the early scribes to maintain French decorum in the archaic quality to Bach’s first French Suite that so-called French Suites, or could it also imply a draws in part from such as Froberger, particular way of playing these pieces? I have Kerll and Pachelbel, whose music Bach is enjoyed discovering all these qualities on the alleged to have studied secretly by moonlight in seemingly delicate clavichord. his youth (comparable to Handel’s claim of clandestine clavichord sessions in his parents’ A particular thrill associated with the French attic). The key of D minor was described by Suites is the lack of any one definitive source. Bach’s contemporary, Mattheson, as having a The differences between the early versions ‘devout’ or ‘grand’ character, and the of the first five suites in Anna Magdalena’s melancholic quality of Froberger’s Allemande notebook and the plethora of handwritten is echoed in the opening Allemande to the copies compel the performer to decide how French Suites which, being in the tradition of best to approach the musical text. As Davitt the French Tombeau, may have been a tribute Moroney writes, musicians are ‘invited to to Bach’s first wife. take up the exhilarating, if dangerous, challenge’ of devising their own edition of Given their close friendship, it is touching these works. Collating the sources has indeed that Telemann’s suite (except the Sarabanda) proved exhilarating and challenging – though I was long attributed to Bach as BWV 824 and hope the results do not sound distractingly forms part of the notebook for Bach’s eldest dangerous! It has allowed me creative son, Wilhelm Friedemann. Its open textures freedom in combining different versions, could have been a model for Bach’s French adding some extra movements, varying Suites, and the posthorn-like theme to repeats and realising chordal patterns – Telemann’s Gigue finds a distinct resemblance whilst also inspiring the occasional in the Gigue to the fourth French Suite. The ‘Perkinism’. curiously un-contrapuntal aspect of much of the French Suites is perhaps another nod to When recording the French Suites, many Telemann, whose music so often evokes the fine musicians opt to include Bach’s two then fashionable galant style. It is an apt miscellaneous suites, BWVs 818 and 819. emblem of the way in which Bach’s music But, treasuring Bach’s indefatigable embraces the new as much as the old that a curiosity for music by both his peers and his whole century separates the deaths of forbears, I have instead chosen to include Froberger and Telemann. pieces that may have inspired him. There is an © 2016 Julian Perkins Subscribers

Subscribers were essential in supporting music publications throughout the eighteenth century, and I have adopted this tradition in order to help fund this recording. I am very grateful to the British Clavichord Society (www.clavichord.org.uk) and the subscribers listed below for their much valued interest in and support for this project.

Anonymous Mark Ransom Peter Bavington Mark Robson Dr Simon Bailey Christopher Sayers Terence & Margaret Charlston Koen Vermeij Jane Dodgson Judith Wardman Christopher Gold Charlotte Way David & Wendy Langdon Richard & Jackie Whitehouse Nicole Lebon Hugh & Penny Whitfield

I should also like to thank Emma Abbate, Peter Bavington, Dr Rosemary Bechler, Adam Binks, Peter Brooke, Professor OBE, David & Clare Griffel, Stephen & Cherry Large, Karin Richter, Oliver Sändig, Peter Melville Smith, Dr Ruth Smith, Judith Wardman, and many others who have made this project possible.

Julian Perkins Clavichords

Suite by Froberger & French Suites Nos. 1, 5 and 6 Tracks 1–9 (disc one) and 12–26 (disc two) Diatonically fretted clavichord made by Peter Bavington, London, 2008, after an instrument made in Nürnberg c. 1785 by Johann Jacob Bodechtel (1768–1831).

The original was in the collection of the late Christopher Hogwood CBE, and now forms part of The Michael & Sonja Koerner Collection at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Canada.

Compass: BB–f³ Pitch: a¹=415 Hz Tuning: Bendeler III Case: Cherry Kindly loaned by Peter Bavington

Suite by Telemann and French Suites Nos. 2, 3 and 4 Tracks 10–21 (disc one) and 1–11 (disc two) Unfretted clavichord made by Peter Bavington, London, 2005, after a late-eighteenth-century German instrument that is probably by Johann Heinrich Silbermann (1727–1799).

The original is in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg.

Compass: FF–f³ Pitch: a¹=415 Hz Tuning: Werckmeister III Case: Walnut Kindly loaned by David Griffel

Clavichords prepared and maintained by Peter Bavington, and tuned by Oliver Sändig (www.peter-bavington.co.uk)

For more information about these instruments, please see: www.julianperkins.com/recordings More J.S. Bach from Resonus Classics Julian Perkins and Welsh National , he has performed concertos with groups including the Orchestra J.S. Bach: The , BWV 1007-1012 Described as ‘exuberantly stylish’ by The of the Age of Enlightenment, Orchestra of David Watkin (Baroque cello) Sunday Times, Julian Perkins enjoys a the Sixteen and New London Soloists. As a RES10147 varied career as a keyboard player and conductor, he has performed staged opera conductor, is artistic director of Cambridge productions for organisations such as the ‘David Watkin gives a definitive period instrument account of Bach’s six solo Cello Suites. It should be Handel Opera and founder-director of Buxton Festival, Dutch National Opera in any Bach lover’s collection' Sounds Baroque. His discography has Academy, Grimeborn Festival, Guildhall The Observer (5 stars) seen acclaimed solo and chamber School of Music and Drama, Kings Place, recordings for Avie, Coro, Chandos, Opus New Chamber Opera and New Kent Opera, Gramophone Award Winner 2015 Arte and Resonus Classics on a wide range and concert performances with, among of instruments, including the Royal others, the Bampton Classical Players, harpsichord by Burkat Shudi at Kew Palace. Barts Chamber Choir, Bury Court Opera, J.S. Bach: Motets These have included world premiere New London Singers, Rodolfus Choir, Saint Thomas Choir of Men & Boys, recordings playing Stephen Dodgson’s Southbank Sinfonia and Spiritato. Fifth Avenue, New York clavichord suites, harpsichord suites by John Scott (conductor) James Nares and John Christopher Smith, Julian read music at King’s College, RES10152 and directing Daniel Purcell’s opera-oratorio Cambridge, and completed his formal The Judgment of Paris. Clavichord recitals studies at the Schola Cantorum, Basle, ‘The tone of the New York trebles is sweet and have included appearances for international and the Royal Academy of Music, London. healthy. Fans of the cathedral choir sound will festivals at St Albans, Buxton, Canterbury, Singing is central to Julian's approach to relish an old fashioned large forces performance with organ, cello and violone continuo’ Colchester, Oundle, Ryedale and Two music; the prestigious Baylis programme BBC Music Magazine Moors, in repertoire including J.S. Bach’s at English National Opera and tours with two books of Das wohltemperierte Klavier. the Monteverdi Choir were formative As a harpsichordist and organist, Julian experiences. His mentors have included © 2016 Resonus Limited has appeared with many leading soloists Noelle Barker OBE, David Parry and Trevor è 2016 Resonus Limited and ensembles at venues such as the Pinnock CBE. A visiting teacher at the Royal Recorded in Sophie’s Barn, Chacombe, Oxfordshire on 20-23 June 2015 Producer, Engineer & Editor: Adam Binks Wigmore Hall, London, Lincoln Center, Northern College of Music, Julian is a Recorded at 24-bit / 96kHz resolution (DDD) New York, and Sydney Opera House, as Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, Cover image: Instrument detail © Resonus Limited well as at the BBC Proms and Edinburgh and was elected an Associate of the Royal Session photography © Resonus Limited International Festival. In addition to Academy of Music in recognition of his RESONUS LIMITED – UK participating in productions at The contribution thus far to the music profession. Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, [email protected] www.julianperkins.com www.resonusclassics.com RES10163