Wilhelm Friedemann Bach: Symphonies - Alpermann, AAM Berlin

Wilhelm Friedrich Bach
Symphonies, Concerto for Harpsichord
Raphael Alpermann, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Harmonia Mundi HMC901772

Classics Today Rating: 10/10

W.F. Bach, oldest son of J.S., had a long and controversial life (1710-84) marred by accusations of erratic behavior, the likely result of alcoholism. Be that as it may, his music certainly does not deserve the obscurity into which it has fallen. This splendid selection of pieces offers ample evidence of his skills, presenting music in a variety of forms from all periods of his professional career. The opening item, the Sinfonie in D Fk 64, features colorful writing for horns and oboes in its outer movements and some exquisite flute playing (remarkably rich-toned for authentic instruments) in the middle. The Adagio and Fugue in D minor, composed for church performances, opens with an exceptionally beautiful and deeply moving slow movement (given the right movie or TV commercial it easily could become a "pop" hit along the lines of Albinoni's Adagio or Bach's "Air" in G major), and the ensuing fugue offers no end of contrapuntal resource. Its attractive sister piece, the Adagio and Fugue in F minor, actually is an arrangement by Mozart, who composed its introductory slow section.

The four-movement Sinfonie in F dates from W.F.'s early, Dresden period, and in its quick movements it shows the same joy in wild contrasts of rhythm, dynamics, tempo, and dissonance that you can find in the music of Zelenka, though it ends with a charming minuet. By far the longest work on the program, the Cembalo Concerto in E minor is every bit as personal and interesting. Less focused on highlighting the keyboard soloist than are similar works by his father or more famous brother (C.P.E.), this piece shows an unusual degree of integration between strings and keyboard. Soloist Raphael Alpermann's selection of an attractively un-clangy, delicately lute-toned instrument adds to the impression of his being "primus inter pares" in a remarkably vibrant and intricate dialogue. The rhythmically lively but also warm and tangy string playing by the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin under concertmaster Stephan Mai leads the ear on from one delight to the next, and Harmonia Mundi's sonics uphold the high standards of the house. If you love Baroque music, this disc is a must.

David Hurwitz, Classics Today.com

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