Bach wrote different versions of this second ‘French’ suite – recorded here for All of Bach with Pierre Hantaï. The suite thus shows that even Bach’s music wasn’t written down perfectly all at once from his head. Apparently, sometimes it was a real struggle to find the ‘right place’ for all the notes. The first two parts in particular exist in four or five successive versions. But also in the form of the suite as a whole, Bach was torn between several ideas: one minuet, two minuets… or no minuet at all?

For more information on BWV 813 and credits of this production go to https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/...

Recorded for the project All of Bach on June 29th 2021 at the Doopsgezinde Kerk, Haarlem. If you want to help us complete All of Bach, please subscribe to our channel http://bit.ly/2vhCeFB and consider donating http://bit.ly/2uZuMj5.

All of Bach is a project of the Netherlands Bach Society, offering high-quality film recordings of the works by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by the Netherlands Bach Society and its guest musicians. Visit our free online treasury for more videos and background material on https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/allo... For concert dates and tickets go to https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/conc....

Pierre Hantaï, harpsichord
Instrument: Bruce Kennedy after Michael Mietke, 1989

0:00 Allemande
3:34 Courante
5:34 Sarabande
9:16 Air
10:45 Menuet
12:20 Gigue