J.S. Bach: The French Suites, BWV 812-817 Zhu Xiao-Mei

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): French Suite No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 813:
• 1 French Suite No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 813: Allemande 02:48
• 2 French Suite No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 813: Courante 01:48
• 3 French Suite No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 813: Sarabande 02:33
• 4 French Suite No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 813: Air 01:17
• 5 French Suite No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 813: Menuet 01:15
• 6 French Suite No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 813: Gigue 02:12
• French Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 815:
• 7 French Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 815: Allemande 02:32
• 8 French Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 815: Courante 01:44
• 9 French Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 815: Sarabande 02:32
• 10 French Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 815: Gavotte 01:10
• 11 French Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 815: Air 01:26
• 12 French Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 815: Gigue 02:16
• French Suite No. 1 in D Minor, BWV 812:
• 13 French Suite No. 1 in D Minor, BWV 812: Allemande 03:09
• 14 French Suite No. 1 in D Minor, BWV 812: Courante 01:54
• 15 French Suite No. 1 in D Minor, BWV 812: Sarabande 02:14
• 16 French Suite No. 1 in D Minor, BWV 812: Menuet 1 00:58
• 17 French Suite No. 1 in D Minor, BWV 812: Menuet 2 01:36
• 18 French Suite No. 1 in D Minor, BWV 812: Gigue 02:25
• French Suite No. 6 in E Major, BWV 817:
• 19 French Suite No. 6 in E Major, BWV 817: Allemande 02:19
• 20 French Suite No. 6 in E Major, BWV 817: Courante 01:32
• 21 French Suite No. 6 in E Major, BWV 817: Sarabande 02:49
• 22 French Suite No. 6 in E Major, BWV 817: Gavotte 01:06
• 23 French Suite No. 6 in E Major, BWV 817: Polonaise 01:19
• 24 French Suite No. 6 in E Major, BWV 817: Bourrée 01:27
• 25 French Suite No. 6 in E Major, BWV 817: Menuet 01:08
• 26 French Suite No. 6 in E Major, BWV 817: Gigue 02:17
• French Suite No. 3 in B Minor, BWV 814:
• 27 French Suite No. 3 in B Minor, BWV 814: Allemande 02:51
• 28 French Suite No. 3 in B Minor, BWV 814: Courante 02:02
• 29 French Suite No. 3 in B Minor, BWV 814: Sarabande 02:15
• 30 French Suite No. 3 in B Minor, BWV 814: Anglaise 01:22
• 31 French Suite No. 3 in B Minor, BWV 814: Menuet 01:10
• 32 French Suite No. 3 in B Minor, BWV 814: Trio 01:24
• 33 French Suite No. 3 in B Minor, BWV 814: Gigue 01:58
• French Suite No. 5 in G Major, BWV 816:
• 34 French Suite No. 5 in G Major, BWV 816: Allemande 02:50
• 35 French Suite No. 5 in G Major, BWV 816: Courante 01:34
• 36 French Suite No. 5 in G Major, BWV 816: Sarabande 03:50
• 37 French Suite No. 5 in G Major, BWV 816: Gavotte 01:05
• 38 French Suite No. 5 in G Major, BWV 816: Bourrée 01:16
• 39 French Suite No. 5 in G Major, BWV 816: Loure 02:24
• 40 French Suite No. 5 in G Major, BWV 816: Gigue 03:21
• Total Runtime 01:19:08

Info for J.S. Bach: The French Suites, BWV 812-817

This new recording of the French Suites by Johann Sebastian Bach is the fourth album release of Zhu Xiao-Mei on the Accentus Music label and will be available in May 2017.

“It is with children in mind that I recorded these French Suites, always having heartfelt simplicity and purity in their mind. Children see the world with hope, optimism, and cast in light – much like Miró sees the world. I find a childlike purity in him, similar to what I hear in the French Suites. There is a quote by Miró that touches me enormously and makes me think a lot whenever I play, as it reflects something that may be the most difficult aspect of musical interpretation – and of art in general: “To gain freedom is to gain simplicity.” (Zhu Xiao-Mei)

Zhu Xiao-Mei and Accentus Music plan to continue their collaboration with a recording of Bach’s English Suites by the end of this year.

Zhu Xiao-Mei, piano

ZHU Xiao-Mei
occupies a place all her own in today’s musical world. Deliberately keeping her concerts few and far between, she appears in public only to perform especially demanding works, “mountains of the soul” which she judges essential, in interpretations matured over a long period of gestation, taking music to the most varied audiences in places that appeal to her and where she enjoys playing. But though she is nowadays the guest of the leading concert halls and the most prestigious festivals, though she plays with some of the most renowned orchestras and gives concerts everywhere in Europe, in Asia and in America, her career very nearly never took place at all.

Born in Shanghai, introduced to music by her mother at a very early age, she was already appearing on radio and television by the time she was eight.

At the age of ten she entered the Peking Conservatory, where her brilliant studies were interrupted by the years of the Cultural Revolution. She was sent to a reeducation camp on the border of Inner Mongolia for five years. However, thanks to sympathetic helpers she was eventually able to continue playing the piano.

On returning to Peking, she completed her studies at the Conservatory, and left China as soon as the regime gave its first signs of opening to the outside worlds. In 1980 she emigrated to the United States, then decided to settle in Paris in 1984.

From that time on, the career of ZHU Xiao-Mei, although begun relatively late and without any media coverage, began to take flight, going against all trends and fashions, in an incredible demonstration of the Confucian adage that

“life begins at forty”. She gives concerts all over the world, focusing on a repertoire which she limits to a few composers she cherishes above all others: Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann. At its very centre is Bach and his great cycles: The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Partitas and the Goldberg Variations, the work with which her name is particularly associated and which she has given in recital more than two hundred times, as well as The Art of Fugue.

Her autobiography La Rivière et son secret was published by Editions Robert Laffont (Paris) in October 2007 and was awarded the Grand Prix des Muses in 2008 (English translation at amazoncrossing: The Secret Piano).

ZHU Xiao-Mei is regularly invited to partipate to the jurys of international piano competitions (Clara Haskil, Long-Thibaud, Bach Leipzig,…). She has also teached during many years at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris.

Booklet for J.S. Bach: The French Suites, BWV 812-817