February is the shortest month of the year. That fact inspired #ClassicsaDay team (of which I’m a member) to make short classical pieces the theme for the month. The challenge is to select stand-alone works, not movements of larger pieces. Participants post links to short classical pieces in the social media channel of their choice, […]
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
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CPE Bach: Grosse Festkantaten – Simply Grand
It seems appropriate that these festival cantatas would be revived (and recorded) for a festival. The 300th anniversary of Carl Philipp Emanual (CPE) Bach’s birth prompted a music festival in Leipzig. The two cantatas on this release had not been performed since the occasions they were written for. “Ich will dem Herrn lobsingen” was written […]
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CPE Bach Violin Sonatas – Transparent and lively masterworks
This reissue from 2005 features four violin and piano sonatas by Carl Philipp Emanual Bach. He wrote three while serving at the court of Frederick the Great. The other was an early work, miscredited to his father. CPE Bach composed the three 1763 sonatas while employed by King Frederick II, They reflect the atmosphere of […]
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Forward-looking quartets by CPE Bach
According to one contemporary, CPE Bach’s quartets for clavier, flute, and viola were “whimsical, with crazy leaps, clownish modulations and often childish turns, together with the affectation of profound scholarship, all very finely teased out.” Wellll yes and no. Carl Philip Emmanual Bach wrote these quartets shortly before his death in 1788. They came at […]