With the English Suites (the English is not Bachs and there is nothing particularly English about them) Angela Hewitt all but completes her survey of Bachs keyboard works (there will be one further CD mopping up various odds and ends). These six suites, along with the French Suites and the six Partitas, present Bachs mature thoughts on the standard baroque suite of dances and as such are the greatest examples of the form.
Unlike the smaller scale French Suites the English all begin with a large-scale prelude, often rather concerto-like and very virtuosic; these are works for a very accomplished professional player rather than the amateur that much keyboard music of the 18th century would have been aimed at.
Angela Hewitt rises to all the challenges in her usual superb style and needless to say these performances will meet with the acclaim of her previous Bach recordings.
