Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, after nearly 30 years as a chamber musician for Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, found freedom in 1768 by taking on a new role as cantor and music director for the city of Hamburg.
Composition History
These 'six easy harpsichord concertos' were explicitly aimed at the growing market of amateur musicians, with Bach himself publishing them by subscription.
Recording & Production
This album is part of a larger series of C.P.E. Bach's complete keyboard concertos, which Miklós Spányi launched with Concerto Armonico in 1994.
Instruments
The harpsichord used for this recording is a modern copy of an instrument by Joannes Daniel Dulcken, a prominent figure of the late Antwerp school, and includes a modern approximation of a 'swell device' for dynamic shading.
Compositional Technique
To make these concertos accessible for amateurs, Bach ensured the solo parts made modest technical demands, avoided complex chromatic progressions, and favored regular, often repeated, two- or four-bar phrases.
Performer Biography
Miklós Spányi, the harpsichordist on this album, has concentrated his performance and research on the works of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and has actively worked to revive Bach's favorite instrument, the clavichord.
Compositional Technique
In an innovative move, all but one of these concertos feature continuous movements, with passages leading directly from one movement into the next without a break.
You might also enjoy...
Müthel: The 5 Keyboard Concertos
C. P. E. Bach: The Keyboard Concertos Wq 43
Bach, C.P.E.: Concerti per il Cembalo
Bach, C.P.E.: Keyboard Concertos in G Major / C Minor / A Minor
