If there is an archetypal Handel keyboard suite, it is the E major. Like most of the other suites, it is in four movements. And, like most of the other suites, those four movements are predominantly stylized dance movements preceded by a prelude. And, like most of the suites, it is a beautiful and beguiling work fully at the level of Bach's best keyboard suites. Unlike Handel's other suites, this work (published by the composer himself, in London, in 1720) is frequently performed. Or, more specifically, its last movement is still frequently performed: as lovely as the graceful opening prelude, the fine-boned Andantino Allemande, and the porcelain-skinned Allegro Courante, the closing Air con variazioni is what guarantees the Suite in E major immortality. Obliquely based on the English folk song "Four Days Drunk," but far better known by its title The Harmonious Blacksmith, the air and five variations is quintessential Handel: sturdy and supple, elegant and powerful, lyrical but virtuosic. It also features the only movement in Handel with the compound time signature 24/16 against common time.

© All Music Guide