More Bach JS Bach: Brandenburg Concertos Nos 3 & 5; CPE Bach: Sinfonia in C major; WF Bach: Sinfonia in F major Elbipolis Barockorchester Hamburg/Jürgen Gross (violin) Challenge Classics CC72960 54:23 mins
Of all musical dynasties the Bach family is the most remarkable. This engaging collection includes two of father Johann Sebastian’s Brandenburg Concertos while two Sinfonias represent the younger generation, one alluringly subtitled ‘Dissonant’ by Wilhelm Friedemann, reputedly Bach’s favourite son, and another by Carl Philipp Emanuel, the most radical and influential of the junior Bachs. Both Sinfonias are a fascinating mix of the conventional and the unexpected. The first movement of Wilhelm Friedemann’s ‘Dissonant’ lives up to its name by contrasting harmonically bold developmental writing with a stately opening motif. CPE escapes the merely quirky in a genuinely experimental first movement with spectacular rushing string figures interrupted by the kind of affective cadences beloved of the ‘sensitive’ style, for which he was renowned, and a slow movement of searing intensity.
Jürgen Gross and the Elbipolis Baroque Orchestra bring insight and virtuosity to all these works capturing the gallant sensibility of Wilhelm Friedemann and rising to the challenges of Carl Philipp Emanuel’s more demanding Sinfonia with exhilarating unanimity in the spectacular string writing of the first movement and bringing real weight and depth to its plangent Adagio. The outer movements of Johann Sebastian’s Brandenburg Concertos have an engaging bounce and a pleasing hint of inequality. The finale of the third is perhaps too brisk for comfort and some may find the presence of the harpsichord in the first movement of No. 5 a little faint, but the soloist seizes the opportunity to shine in a nicely-paced performance of the giant cadenza.
Jan Smaczny
