CPE & WF Bach: Concertos for 2 Harpsichords - MAK, Goebel

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
Concertos for 2 Harpsichords
Andres Staier, Robert Hill, Musica Antiqua Köln, Reinhard Goebel
Archiv 419 256-2

It was the Bachs who launched the harpsichord on its career as a concerto soloist and the sons did not wait to follow in father's wake; the first of Carl Philipp Emanuel's 52 concertos, spanning more than 50 years, probably just predates the first of JSB's. Neither did they pursue the practice of having more than two soloists. In his F major Concerto (the numbering of which differs from that given in Grove: H410, Wq46) CPE accepts the formal plan of the ritornello but not the concept of its unity of thematic mood; he introduces a diversity that is more like that of the exposition in sonata form—though the resemblance ends there, and the element of contrast is maintained in the 'solo' episodes, not derived from the ritornello material. The elegiac slow movement (Largo e con sordino) is a gem, with sighing appoggiaturas and 'operatic' halts and hesitations, of which JSB himself might well have been proud. After so much pathos (10 minutes) the briefer, happy and brilliantly scored Allegro assai provides the necessary counterbalance. This work alone is worth the price of the record.

Wilhelm Friedemann also joins baroque and classical approaches, though not within any one movement, in his two concertos for two harpsichords—with and 'without' orchestra: the central movement or FlO, written for the soloists alone, is self-sufficient in the same way as is JSB's Italian Concerto, as is also the final movement of F46, a work whose first movement changes thematic mood in a way that JSB's never did. More conservative than CPE (who in his Concerto provides no shocks to the system), WF nevertheless beguiles and captures one's attention. The performances of these otherwise unrecorded works are full of precision, life and loving care, and they are exceptionally well recorded and balanced. This is a most worthwhile and desirable issue.

J.D. - Gramophone Magazine