Johann Sebastian Bach: The French Suites Murray Perahia

• 1 1. Allemande 03:31
• 2 2. Courante 01:55
• 3 3. Sarabande 02:54
• 4 4. Menuet I-II 03:02
• 5 5. Gigue 02:58
• 6 1. Allemande 02:51
• 7 2. Courante 01:44
• 8 3. Sarabande 03:07
• 9 4. Air 01:21
• 10 5. Menuet I-II 03:07
• 11 6. Gigue 02:03
• 12 1. Allemande 03:10
• 13 2. Courante 02:00
• 14 3. Sarabande 02:50
• 15 4. Anglaise 01:19
• 16 5. Menuet I-II 03:08
• 17 6. Gigue 02:16
• 18 1. Allemande 02:50
• 19 2. Courante 01:50
• 20 3. Sarabande 02:40
• 21 4. Gavotte I-II 03:47
• 22 5. Menuet 00:58
• 23 6. Air 01:39
• 24 7. Gigue 02:24
• 25 1. Allemande 03:08
• 26 2. Courante 01:43
• 27 3. Sarabande 04:09
• 28 4. Gavotte 01:15
• 29 5. Bourree 01:19
• 30 6. Loure 01:56
• 31 7. Gigue 03:28
• 32 1. Allemande 02:43
• 33 2. Courante 01:41
• 34 3. Sarabande 03:17
• 35 4. Gavotte 01:06
• 36 5. Polonaise 01:29
• 37 6. Petit Menuet 00:59
• 38 7. Bourree 01:24
• 39 8. Gigue 02:32
• Total Runtime 01:31:33

Info for Johann Sebastian Bach: The French Suites

One of the worlds best-loved artists, and a longtime proponent of Bach on the modern piano, Murray Perahia has been hailed as one of the composers - most rewarding interpreters both live and on disc.

For his debut recording on Deutsche Grammophon, Perahia turns to the six French Suites works that are at once delicate, profound, tender and joyful, and all suffused with the rhythmic vitality of the dance.

Perahia produced a series of award-winning recordings of Bachs keyboard works in the late 1990s and since then Bach has become his bench mark.

Bachs French Suites are new to his recording catalogue. It is his first release in the past 5 years and first release for DG.

Murray Perahia, piano

Murray Perahia
In the more than 40 years he has been performing on the concert stage, American pianist Murray Perahia has become one of the most sought-after and cherished pianists of our time, performing in all of the major international music centers and with every leading orchestra. He is the Principal Guest Conductor of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, with whom he has toured as conductor and pianist throughout the United States, Europe, Japan, and South East Asia.

Born in New York, Mr. Perahia started playing piano at the age of four, and later attended Mannes College where he majored in conducting and composition. His summers were spent at the Marlboro Festival, where he collaborated with such musicians as Rudolf Serkin, Pablo Casals, and the members of the Budapest String Quartet. He also studied at the time with Mieczyslaw Horszowski. In subsequent years, he developed a close friendship with Vladimir Horowitz, whose perspective and personality were an abiding inspiration. In 1972 Mr. Perahia won the Leeds International Piano Competition, and in 1973 he gave his first concert at the Aldeburgh Festival, where he worked closely with Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, accompanying the latter in many lieder recitals. Mr. Perahia was co-artistic director of the Festival from 1981 to 1989.

Having completed a tour of North America with a debut recital in Mexico in the 2012-13 season, Mr. Perahia will embark on a recital tour of Japan followed by his historically first appearances in Australia where he will perform at the Sydney Opera House and in Melbourne in November 2013.

Mr. Perahia has a wide and varied discography. Sony Classical has issued a special boxed set edition of all his recordings including several DVDs entitled The First 40 Years. His recording of Brahms Händel Variations, which won the Grammophone Award in 2011, has been called “one of the most rewarding Brahms recitals currently available.” Some of his previous solo recordings feature a 5-CD boxed set of his Chopin recordings, Bach’s Partitas Nos. 1, 5, and 6 and Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas, opp 14, 26, and 28. He is the recipient of two Grammy awards, for his recordings of Chopin’s complete Etudes and Bach’s English Suites Nos. 1, 3, and 6, and numerous Grammy nominations. Mr. Perahia has also won several Gramophone Awards.

Recently, Mr. Perahia embarked on an ambitious project to edit the complete Beethoven Sonatas for the Henle Urtext Edition. He also produced and edited numerous hours of recordings of recently discovered master classes by the legendary pianist, Alfred Cortot, which resulted in the highly acclaimed Sony CD release, “Alfred Cortot: The Master Classes.”

Mr. Perahia is an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, and he holds honorary doctorates from Leeds University and Duke University. In 2004, he was awarded an honorary KBE by Her Majesty The Queen, in recognition of his outstanding service to music.

Booklet for Johann Sebastian Bach: The French Suites