Hyperion Records

Suite No 2 in B minor, BWV1067, for flute and four-part strings with continuo is almost certainly Bach’s latest preserved example of this genre, although it is possible that the surviving set of Leipzig parts, with flute and viola in the hand of Bach himself, is copied from an earlier score, or one which had been adapted recently from a lost earlier version. However, on stylistic and other, historical, grounds it seems improbable that this popular suite was composed before the 1730s, and the actual use of the flute in the music would, even in 1737 or later, have been up-to-date even in Paris.

The overture movement has been described as portraying opposing extremes, with the outer sections langorous and even mournful, whilst the bubbling central portion is active and full of the joy of life. Even if these interpretations, based as they must be on operatic vocal music, might have surprised Bach, the balance achieved by this contrast seems to be a part of the essential spirit of nearly all of his instrumental music. One interesting detail is the fact that the second slow section of this movement seems to transform the opening one, which is clearly in common time, into an even more expressive version of itself in triple (3/4) time.

The dances are all absolutely delightful—and also extremely original in each genre. The sarabande makes eloquent use of the (by 1740) quite orthodox notion of following the melody in canon with the bass line; the polonaises may be based on a real Polish dance, which is exchanged between treble and bass in a distinctly different way, and the minuet may possibly have been intended to be playable with the badinerie as its companion alternativement. Played that way, with the minuet ending the work, the substitution of triple for duple measures and the contrasts of character from the opening movement receive an effective reflection, but there is absolutely no evidence of this in what is otherwise a very clearly transmitted set of parts.

from notes by Stephen Daw © 1996