Best English Suite

[phil13]

Personally, I think No.6 owns them all.

Phil

[arensky]

I've always liked the g minor the best.

[pianistimo]

it's the only one i know right now (the g minor) so i like it the best.  how can you choose, really.  they all seem kinda 'background' music.  i mean - you play one - you've played them all.  if i was playing for a wedding - i'd play the one that i know - without the gigue probably.  that thing is murder.   (i could play it, btw - but whew - for recital - that is really off the wall). 

[phil13]

how can you choose, really. they all seem kinda 'background' music. i mean - you play one - you've played them all.

Not so, actually.

Granted, many of the dances are similar, but what makes every Suite unique are the Prelude and the Gigue, in my opinion. Each one from each suite is different from the rest, and each one is interesting in its own right. The A minor Suite (especially the Gigue) always reminded me more of Ireland than the others- I'm not sure why. The E minor and G minor Preludes are both exquisite, too.

What makes me so fond of the D minor Suite is its Prelude, which is really an introduction and fugato, the dark opening is so radically different, so much more serious than the other, more playful, 5 Preludes. The 6th Suite, in general, strikes me as the darkest and most profound.

Phil

[phil13]

More opinions?

Phil