Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's contemporaries described his playing as deeply emotional, with one account noting his ability to make the instrument produce "a cry of sorrow and complaint."
Compositional Technique
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's Württemberg Sonatas show a new concern for "unity within diversity" and incorporate elements of the 'galant' style, foreshadowing Joseph Haydn.
Composition History
The Württemberg Sonatas, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's first published collections, were dedicated to Charles II Eugene of Württemberg, a student of Bach.
Composer Biography
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach spent thirty years in Berlin serving Frederick II, a king who was a passionate flautist but had simple and increasingly retrograde musical tastes.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach believed that a musician must be moved themselves to move an audience, stating, "one must absolutely stir the heart."
Recording & Production
This album was recorded in June 2014 at La Ferme de Villefavard in France, a converted granary with exceptional acoustics designed by Albert Yaying Xu, who also worked on the Cité de la Musique in Paris.
Instruments
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach composed the Württemberg Sonatas in 1743 on a "short octave clavichord" while suffering from gout.
