Bach wrote three important sets of suites for harpsichord, with six suites each. His set of six suites for cello solo have become very popular; if you search on Amazon.com for “Bach” today (we can’t vouch for tomorrow), the cello suites top any of his other music. This is the most stylized of dance music, far from the dance floor or ballet stage.

One can play chords on a stringed instrument by bowing any two adjacent strings, and Bach does this very effectively in both a and b sections of his D-minor gigue. The range of this music provides much of its exhilaration; the cello races up and down more than three whole octaves. Bach’s genius lies in making these athletic lines sound like wide-ranging melodies and broken chords supporting them, all at the same time.