Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Fantasia

Tini Mathot

Label: Challenge Classics
Format: CD
Barcode: 0608917226225

Catalog number: CC 72262
Releasedate: 01-09-14

In his day, C.P.E. Bach was often characterised as being an ‘original genius’. His compositions bear striking witness to this fertile originality. For a longtime C.P.E. Bach was viewed as the most renowned Sturm und Drang

composer. However the free fantasy, so fabulously represented by C.P.E. Bach, is a phenomenon whose roots date back at
least a century earlier. Likewise, the music’s improvisatory character, firmly grounded in a formidable improvisatory ability and C.P.E. Bach’s exceptionally unique harmonic insight, was already a prominent feature in music written long before the Sturm und Drang period, that of Johann Jakob Froberger and the composers who employed the Stylus Phantasticus (Dieterich Buxtehude, Nicolaus Bruhns and the young Johann Sebastian Bach). Rather than attempting to categorise C.P.E. Bach as belonging to a particular stylistic period, it is far better to view him as a highly individual and original composer. His keyboard music forms a unique oeuvre, without any equivalent in his day (incidentally, the word keyboard is used here to refer to clavichord, fortepiano and harpsichord!). Freedom permeates this music, along with unexpected harmonic modulations, rhetoric, virtuosity, special effects, precisely notated articulations, every dynamic gradation, unlimited variety, abrupt stops and tempo changes.

These pieces were composed during the final decade of C.P.E. Bach's life
Recorded on a 'Hammerflügel' fortepiano by Anton Walter (1752-1826)

In his day C.P.E. Bach was often characterised as being an ‘original genius’. His compositions bear striking witness to this fertile originality. For a long time C.P.E. Bach was viewed as the most renowned Sturm und Drang composer. Rather than attempting to categorise C.P. E. Bach as belonging to a particular stylistic period, it is far better to view him as a highly individual and original composer. His keyboard music forms a unique oeuvre, without any equivalent in his day (incidentally, the word keyboard is used here to refer to clavichord, fortepiano and harpsichord). Freedom permeates this music, along with unexpected harmonic modulations, rhetoric, virtuosity, special effects, precisely notated articulations, every dynamic gradation, unlimited variety, abrupt stops and tempo changes. This all adds up to an absolutely unique and brilliant style.

This CD features three free fantasies (1784, 1786, 1787), three rondos (1778, 1779, 1780), a set of Folia variations (1778) and one sonata (1763). The majority of these works are from the series of keyboard works ‘for connoisseurs and amateurs’ published by C.P.E. Bach himself. With the exception of the sonata, all the works featured on this CD were composed in Hamburg during the final decade of his life. It is the older C.P.E. Bach speaking in these works, his fiery temperament and rich inventiveness undiminished.

Fantasia in f-sharp minor (H 300, Wq 67)