Carl Philipp Emanuel BACH (1714-1788) Keyboard Sonatas -
Volume 2
Sonata in F sharp minor, Wq.52/4, H37 (1744) [16:32]
Sonata in E major, Wq62/5, H39 (1744) [15:49]
Sonata in C minor, Wq65/31, H121 (1757) [11:57]
Sonata in A major, Wq65/32, H135 (1758) [13:26]
Fantasia in F sharp minor, Wq67, H300 (1787) [11:40]
Rondo in D minor, Wq.61/4, H290 (1785) [4:12]
Danny Driver (piano)
rec. 19-21 January 2012, Henry Wood Hall, London, England
HYPERION CDA67908 [73:38]
This release played by the Londoner Danny Driver is the second in the Hyperion
series of keyboard sonatas by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. A check through Driver’s
biography shows that he has made a speciality of recording music by lesser-known
and neglected composers from various eras including Balakirev,
Dale,
Bowen
Sonatas, Bowen
Concertos and Chisholm.
The first volume of five CPE sonatas was recorded in 2009 at the Concert Hall
at the Wyastone Estate, Monmouth (Hyperion CDA67786). For this second instalment
the Hyperion engineers have switched to the splendid acoustics of the Henry
Wood Hall.
It’s not especially surprising that CPE is known more for being one of the
children of the great Johann Sebastian than as a composer in his own right.
He is viewed as a significant link in the transition from the late-baroque
music of his father to the classical period of Haydn and Mozart. Before the
genius of JS Bach’s music became universally known it was the Weimar-born
CPE who was acknowledged as the finest composer of the Bach dynasty. As part
of my own Bach dynasty pilgrimage I recall visiting in 2011 the Weimar Lutheran
church in which he was baptised. During the years 1738/68 he was in the employment
of Crown Prince Frederick (who later became Frederick the Great) at the Prussian
Court in Berlin. Following the death of his godfather Georg Philipp Telemann,
CPE was appointed to the court of Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia at Hamburg
where he served between 1768 and 1788. A prolific composer in various genres
he wrote in excess of three hundred sonatas mainly cast in a three movement
fast-slow-fast form as well as numerous other single movement pieces.
These works have been catalogued by both E. Eugene Helm with his ‘H’ numbering
system and also by Alfred Wotquenne whose system allocated ‘Wq’ numbers.
The six keyboard works on this release, composed during the composer’s time
in Berlin and Hamburg, span a period of forty-three years from 1744 and 1787.
They prove remarkably attractive and easily accessible. Hearing these progressive
works soon after their composition must have been a breathtaking if possibly
unnerving experience for their first audiences. Despite excellent advocacy
in pianist Mikhail Pletnev’s successful 1998 Berlin release of Sonatas
& Rondos on Deutsche
Grammophon, CPE’s works remain relatively neglected and are certainly
deserving of wider circulation.
Struck by the consistent quality of these scores I did however find the Sonata
in C minor Wq65/31, H121, from his Berlin period, the most memorable
and enjoyable. I admired Driver’s playing of the restlessly scurrying opening
movement Allegro assai ma pomposo and the Andantino pathetico
punctuated with exuberant forte interjections contrasted with calmer
contemplative passages. In the dance-like Allegretto I delighted
in the confident playing of syncopated rhythms much in the manner of a Scotch
snap. Composed in the year before his death the substantial single movement
Fantasia in F sharp minor, Wq67, H300 is zestfully performed with
genuine affection amid divergent moods, dynamics and brisk shifts in tempo.
Driver is a sensitive player who never overstates or romanticises. His control
is sure, his articulation is crisp and there’s that real sense of spontaneity.
Michael Cookson
Driver is a sensitive player who never overstates or romanticises. Sure control,
crisp articulation and real spontaneity.
Support
us financially by purchasing this disc from |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |