Deriving from French courtly music, Baroque suites are cyclical sequences of more or less stylised dance movements preceded by an elaborate overture. As they tend to consist of lively and “gallant” music, they are regarded as examples of outstanding courtly entertainment. Of Bach’s four suites, the second (B minor) and third (D major) enjoy the greatest popularity today.

Whether it’s the festive French overture, elegant dance movements like Polonaise, Menuett, Bourrée, Sarabande, Gavotte, Gigue – or the Badinerie und Air, the most famous movements with their almost folk music-like moods: notwithstanding all Bach’s technical mastery, the movements sparkle with Baroque joy and are always a genuine crowd-puller, both in their original versions and in the numerous arrangements for various instruments and ensembles.

Wolfgang Rübsam, who has been one of the world’s leading concert organists for decades, has now produced the first transcriptions of the two famous suites for organ.

Intended for a two-manual organ and always lying nicely under the fingers, the arrangements deliver outstanding Baroque organ music whether performed as a whole or as individual movements, expanding the canon of Bach’s organ works to include two significant transcriptions.