Bach’s English Suites were completed by 1717 during his time in Weimar and Bach himself called them ‘Suites with Preludes’ but his early biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel stated that they were composed for ‘an Englishman of rank’. There’s no solid evidence for this, though a copy written by Bach’s son Johann Christian (then living in London) noted that they were ‘written for the English’. The English Suite No.2 in A minor begins with an extended prelude, fugue-like in texture, dominated by the leaping three-note figure heard at the start. What follows is a succession of contrasting dance movements: a measured Allemande, a lively Courante, a chordal Sarabande, a pair of Bourées (one in A major) and a lively Gigue.  

Nigel Simeone