COMPOSERS: CPE Bach
LABELS: Harmonia Mundi
ALBUM TITLE: CPE Bach
WORKS: Symphony No. 1; Symphony No. 2; Symphony No. 3; Symphony No. 4 ; Cello Concerto in A, Wq183/2
PERFORMER: Alison McGillivray (cello); The English Concert/Andrew Manze
CATALOGUE NO: HMU 907403
The 18th-century music historian
Charles Burney once remarked
of CPE Bach that ‘his style is so
uncommon that a little habit is
required for the enjoyment of it’.
Inasmuch as CPE Bach’s music
almost invariably diverges from
current stylistic mainstream,
Burney’s assessment was astute and
in no sense unenthusiastic. This
new disc from the English Concert,
under Andrew Manze’s lively
and sensitive direction, contains
the four Symphonies which Bach
composed in 1775/6 and which
he himself considered the most
substantial works of their kind that
he had written. Each is scored for
pairs of horns, flutes and oboes
with bassoon, strings and continuo.
These are pieces of enormous
vitality and charm, often, as in the
second movement of the D major
Symphony, forward-looking with foreshadow. The north German
sensitively expressive aesthetic of
Empfindsamkeit is ever present
and is one to which these musicians
respond with spontaneity and
wonderfully transparent textures.
In addition to the Symphonies,
cellist Alison McGillivray plays one
of Emanuel Bach’s cello concertos.
This one, in A major dates from
1753 and is the latest of three which
he wrote or adapted from existing
harpsichord concertos while serving
at the Potsdam court of Frederick the
Great. McGillivray’s warm coloured,
lightly bowed and articulate
performance is a delight and nowhere
more so, perhaps, than in her
melancholy and beautifully poised
responses to its darkly coloured
Larghetto, fragrant with fine feeling.
Music and performances to treasure.
Nicholas Anderson