The Bach Orchestra Suites are among the most performed and interpreted baroque compositions. The early Sixties were the beginning of what will be called the philological era: ensembles like the Collegium Aureum and conductors like Karl Richter and Nikolaus Harnancourt were among the first to give an impulse to this new trend, with the aim to give back to the ancient music its original characters, distorted by inadequate execution practices.

Karl Richter particularly focused his attention on the Bach repertoire, ranging from organ and harpsichord compositions (as a soloist) to the instrumental repertoire as director of the Munich Bach Orchestra (Münchener Bach Orchester). Precisely of 1961 is this memorable recording made by the Archiv for Deutsche Grammophon, today hard to find. These are the 4 Suites for Orchestra, BWV 1066-1069, composed by Bach around 1719 (the date is uncertain). Although philological developments and executive practices have been further refined in over half a century, this fundamental recording remains at the top of an ideal classification of such composition.