Bach: English Suites 1-3 Vladimir Ashkenazy

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1680 - 1750): English Suite No. 1 in A Major, BWV 806:
• 1 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 1 in A Major, BWV 806: 1. Prélude 01:53
• 2 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 1 in A Major, BWV 806: 2. Allemande 03:24
• 3 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 1 in A Major, BWV 806: 3. Courante I 01:39
• 4 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 1 in A Major, BWV 806: 4. Courante II 02:23
• 5 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 1 in A Major, BWV 806: 5. Double I 02:23
• 6 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 1 in A Major, BWV 806: 6. Double II 02:21
• 7 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 1 in A Major, BWV 806: 7. Sarabande 03:50
• 8 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 1 in A Major, BWV 806: 8. Bourrée I 02:00
• 9 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 1 in A Major, BWV 806: 9. Bourrée II & Bourrée I Da Capo 02:35
• 10 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 1 in A Major, BWV 806: 10. Gigue 02:41
• English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 807:
• 11 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 807: 1. Prélude 04:22
• 12 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 807: 2. Allemande 02:26
• 13 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 807: 3. Courante 01:51
• 14 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 807: 4. Sarabande 02:40
• 15 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 807: 5. Les agréments de la même Sarabande 03:02
• 16 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 807: 6. Bourrée I 02:19
• 17 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 807: 7. Bourrée II & Bourrée I Da Capo 02:23
• 18 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 807: 8. Gigue 03:34
• English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808:
• 19 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808: 1. Prélude 02:53
• 20 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808: 2. Allemande 02:32
• 21 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808: 3. Courante 02:30
• 22 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808: 4. Sarabande 03:03
• 23 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808: 5. Les agréments de la même Sarabande 03:39
• 24 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808: 6. Gavotte I 01:35
• 25 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808: 7. Gavotte II & Gavotte I Da Capo 01:40
• 26 J.S. Bach: English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808: 8. Gigue 02:51
• Total Runtime 01:08:29

Info for Bach: English Suites 1-3

Vladimir Ashkenazy has announced he will release his new recording of Bach’s English Suites 1 – 3 on a unique double album with his first Bach recording from 1965, the Concerto in D minor, on 15 October 2021. Over half a century, a remarkable 56 years, spans the two recordings marking the longest exclusive association between pianist and record label, Decca Classics, in history.

Vladimir Ashkenazy’s new recording of Bach’s English Suites 1 – 3 is the latest addition to his discography of the major keyboard works by the composer. Gramophone noted, “He always allows Bach his own voice, his manner at once masterly and self-effacing”.

Vladimir Ashkenazy began with his critically acclaimed recording of ‘The 48’ (the 48 Preludes & Fugues of The Well-Tempered Clavier). “The pianist’s straightforward, intelligent, and vibrantly clear interpretations are a joy to hear”, observed Classics Today and Gramophone added, “You will surely return to Ashkenazy for his unfailing lucidity and musicianship.”

His following Bach releases included the Italian Concerto and the complete French Suites and Six Partitas, described by the Washington Post as, “A feast for the ears. These are poised, elegant readings”.

One of the most outstanding pianists of our time: World-renowned pianist and conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy first came to prominence on the world stage in 1955 when he won second prize in the International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. In 1956 he won first prize in the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels and in 1962 he won joint first prize, with John Ogdon, in the International Tchaikovsky Competition. He established himself not only as one of the most outstanding pianists of our time, but as an artist whose creative life encompasses a vast range of activities and continues to offer inspiration to music lovers around the world.

Vladimir Ashkenazy signed to Decca in 1963 and remains the longest-serving artist on the label. He immediately became associated with the Russian repertoire and his first releases included concertos by Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky. Decca then suggested he recorded Bach’s Concerto in D minor which was the start of his fascinating journey with the composer he perhaps reveres above all others. Ashkenazy noted, “Next to Bach I am nothing”.

Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano
London Symphony Orchestra
David Zinman, conductor

Vladimir Ashkenazy
Among the foremost musical figures of our time, Vladimir Ashkenazy was born in Gorky in 1937. He began playing the piano at the age of six and was accepted at the Central Music School at the age of eight. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, having studied with Lev Oborin. He won second prize in the International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1955, first prize in the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels in 1956, and joint first prize with John Ogdon in the 1962 International Tchaikovsky Competition. Since then, he has built an extraordinary career, not only as one of the most renowned and revered pianists of our times, but as an artist whose creative life encompasses a vast range of activities and continues to offer inspiration to music-lovers across the world.

Conducting has formed the largest part of his activities for the past 20 years. Formerly Chief Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic (1998–2003) and Music Director of NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo (2004–7), from 2009 to 2013 he has served as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, collaborating on a number of exciting projects including composer festivals, major recording projects and international touring activities. His final concerts, in November 2013, featured Britten’s War Requiem.

Alongside these positions, Ashkenazy has continued his longstanding relationship with the Philharmonia Orchestra of which he was appointed Conductor Laureate in 2000. In addition to his performances with the orchestra in London and around the UK each season, he appears with them worldwide – including a number of tours scheduled for 2014 – and has developed landmark projects such as Prokofiev and Shostakovich under Stalin in 2003 (a project which he also took to Cologne, New York, Vienna and Moscow) and Rachmaninov Revisited in 2002 at Lincoln Center, New York.

Ashkenazy also holds the positions of Music Director of the European Union Youth Orchestra, with which he tours each year, and Conductor Laureate of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. He maintains strong links with a number of other major orchestras, including The Cleveland Orchestra (of which he was formerly Principal Guest Conductor) and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (Chief Conductor and Music Director 1988–96), as well as making guest appearances with many other major orchestras around the world.

Featuring an extensive repertoire that ranges from Bach to Bartók, Vladimir Ashkenazy’s Decca discography comprises a vast number of recordings, many of which have been crowned with prizes. He received Grammy® awards among others for Beethoven’s Piano Concertos with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Sir Georg Solti (1973), for Beethoven’s Sonatas for Violin and Piano with Itzhak Perlman (1978), a Ravel programme of solo works (1985) and Shostakovich’s Preludes and Fugues (1999).

To mark his 70th birthday in 2007, Decca issued a number of CDs and DVDs – both newly recorded and reissued from Ashkenazy’s enormous Decca discography – which embrace his work as one of the most acclaimed pianists of his generation as well as over 25 years as a conductor. A programme of music for two pianos by Debussy and Ravel, recorded with his son Vovka Ashkenazy, was released in 2009; 2010 saw the release of Bach’s Six Partitas, which Vladimir Ashkenazy has recorded for the first time. A disc featuring Rachmaninov’s Piano Sonata No. 1 and his Variations on a Theme of Chopin was issued in 2011, followed by another acclaimed piano duo recording – this one of Russian works – with Vovka Ashkenazy. A disc of lesser-known Rachmaninov solo works appeared in February 2013, with August bringing a new recording of Rachmaninov piano trios with violinist Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay and cellist Mats Lidström. Further releases in 2013, marking Ashkenazy’s 50th anniversary as an exclusive Decca artist, include a 50-CD “original jacket collection” of his key recordings as pianist and conductor, a 2-CD selection entitled “The Art of Ashkenazy” and digital-only anthologies of Chopin and favourite encores.

2014 will see the release of the album “Walking in the Air”, in which Vladimir Ashkenazy (joined by Vovka Ashkenazy for two-piano works) plays music by his longtime friend Howard Blake – including pieces dedicated to the pianist – as well as an 11-CD set containing Rachmaninov’s complete works for piano.

Ashkenazy has also been involved in several television projects, such as Music After Mao, filmed in Shanghai in 1979, and Ashkenazy in Moscow – a series of programmes marking his first visit in 1989 to the country of his birth since leaving the USSR in the 1960s. He has developed educational programmes with NHK TV including the 1999 Superteachers, in which he works with inner-city London school children, and in 2003–4 a documentary based around his Prokofiev and Shostakovich under Stalin project. (Source: Universal Music Group/ DECCA, 12/2013)

This album contains no booklet.