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
