Bach: Keyboard Music, Vol. 6

Featuring

Miklós Spányi
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

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Compositional Technique

Many works in this volume, including the sonatas Wq62/18 and Wq62/20, feature repetitions of phrases or smaller units, a characteristic of mid-eighteenth-century comic opera styles.

Performer Biography

Miklós Spányi, the performer on this album, has concentrated his work on Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's oeuvre and actively works to revive C.P.E. Bach's favorite instrument, the clavichord.

Instruments

The clavichord used for this recording is a replica of an instrument by Christian Gottlob Hubert, one of the most famous clavichord builders of the second half of the 18th century.

Historical Context

The sonatas on this album were composed between 1757 and 1764, a period coinciding with the Seven Years' War, during which Frederick the Great of Prussia sought to establish his realm as a world power.

Composer Biography

Despite the wartime conditions in Berlin, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach remained in the city and spent pleasant moments with musical and literary colleagues.

Composition History

The sonatas Wq62/18 and Wq62/20, composed in 1757, may have been created as 'antidotes to the harshness of wartime existence,' featuring little tension and consonant harmonies.

Critical Reception

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach called his six sonatas, published in 1766, 'easy,' which is suspected to be a publicity trick as 'easy' sonatas were highly sought after by amateur keyboard players.