CPE Bach (Carl Philipp Emanuel)

[Mandryka]

https://static.qobuz.com/goodies/29/000173892.pdf

The booklet from Tom Beghin's Wq 50 recording.

[Anooj]

Opinions on this one? Quite cheap at JPC at the moment, but the reviews for it are all over the place in appraisal.

[Cato]

Here is a way to test the performance.  Unfortunately, each movement is on a separate YouTube page!

This page should allow you to find the entire performance:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAeAbBzytOkYyXRSAg6Kgvw

Here is the first movement of the First Prussian Sonata:

[André]

Opinions on this one? Quite cheap at JPC at the moment, but the reviews for it are all over the place in appraisal.

I love that pianist's Clementi sonatas series. Clementi and CP Bach share a similar inclination to inject dramatic gestures as well as a love of pathos that Beethoven would pick up later (Pathétique sonata).  I think she should be excellent in CPE as well.

[Mandryka]

I just listened to the andante of the first sonata - I thought she made it sound like an operatic recitative without words. I think that's pretty interesting.

[SonicMan46]

Keyboard Concertos w/ Miklós Spányi mainly on tanget piano; w/ two different orchestras - my collection is about complete! Vols. 14 & 15 eClassical MP3 DLs at half price with a coupon found online (burned to one CD-R); and Vols. 19 & 20 physical copies also at half price in the mail - CPE wrote over 50 of these KB concertos (believe Spanyi has added some extras on these 20 recordings) - NOW, he has also recorded 40 volumes of the composers solo keyboard works mostly on clavichord - list of compositions HERE, if interested.  Dave

 

[Jo498]

Not sure about the exact number, there are at least 2 double concerti, one of them for harpsichord and fortepiano/hammerklavier and a bunch of pieces called "sonata" but with orchestra and keyboard, not sure if or how they were/are distinguished from the bona fide concerti...
And some have also been played on organ, again not sure if this was specified or not. (AFAIK all the other concerti by CPE Bach (cello, flute, oboe) also have versions as harpsichord concerti.)

I am not sufficiently invested in the composer to get the whole lot but few I have from the BIS series seem very good to me.

[SonicMan46]

Not sure about the exact number, there are at least 2 double concerti, one of them for harpsichord and fortepiano/hammerklavier and a bunch of pieces called "sonata" but with orchestra and keyboard, not sure if or how they were/are distinguished from the bona fide concerti...
And some have also been played on organ, again not sure if this was specified or not. (AFAIK all the other concerti by CPE Bach (cello, flute, oboe) also have versions as harpsichord concerti.)

I am not sufficiently invested in the composer to get the whole lot but few I have from the BIS series seem very good to me.

Well, from his compositional link given in my previous post, his cello (3), flute (4), & oboe (2) concertos are arrangements of his KB concertos, as shown below.

The Spanyi concerto recordings with him mostly on an excellent sounding tangent piano are well done with great BIS engineering - was hard for me to decide when to stop, but kept finding these (took months) at good prices (BRO, Amazon MP, JPC, Prestomusic, and eBay) and just 2 are DLs although the booklets were available.  These are worth exploring - probably will not delve into the 40 CDs of Spanyi doing the solo works.  Dave

* H 430. Keyboard Concerto in A minor (Wq 26) (1750)
    * H 431. Flute Concerto in A minor (Wq 166) (1750) (arrangement of H.430)
    * H 432. Cello Concerto in A minor (Wq 170) (1750) (arrangement of H.430)
* H 434. Keyboard Concerto in B-flat major (Wq 28) (1751)
    * H 435. Flute Concerto in B-flat major (Wq 167) (1751) (arrangement of H.434)
    * H 436. Cello Concerto in B-flat major (Wq 171) (1751) (arrangement of H.434)
* H 437. Keyboard Concerto in A major (Wq 29) (1753)
    * H 438. Flute Concerto in A major (Wq 168) (1753) (arrangement of H.437)
    * H 439. Cello Concerto in A major (Wq 172) (1753) (arrangement of H.437)
* H 444. Keyboard Concerto in G major (Wq 34) (1755)
    * H 445. Flute Concerto in G major (Wq 169) (1755) (arrangement of H.444)
* H 465. Keyboard Concerto in B-flat major (Wq 39) (1765)
    * H 466. Oboe Concerto in B-flat major (Wq 164) (1765) (arrangement of H.465)
* H 467. Keyboard Concerto in E-flat major (Wq 40) (1765)
    * H 468. Oboe Concerto in E-flat major (Wq 165) (1765) (arrangement of H.467)

[Anooj]

What volumes in Spanyi's CPE Bach solo keyboard series are the most essential, if I only had to get a couple of them?

[Mandryka]

What volumes in Spanyi's CPE Bach solo keyboard series are the most essential, if I only had to get a couple of them?

My posts starting here

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php?msg=1524619

may, or may not, be a help.  For what it's worth I haven't bought any of them, but return to many of them via streaming very frequently.

[SonicMan46]

Just arrived from BRO, a small order of some CPE discs - I 'threw in' some of his solo KB works performed on clavichord by Linda Nicholson & Jocelyne Cuiller (had read some good reviews before adding to my cart) - although I have a lot of his KB music on other instruments (mainly piano, harpsichord and fortepiano), very little on clavichord - enjoying both of these discs - for those knowing this repertoire on the clavichord, what other performers and/or specific recordings might be considered?  Thanks - Dave

P.S. of course, I'm aware of Spanyi's BIS recordings (up to 42 discs now) and have streamed a few - but?

 

[Mandryka]

Just arrived from BRO, a small order of some CPE discs - I 'threw in' some of his solo KB works performed on clavichord by Linda Nicholson & Jocelyne Cuiller (had read some good reviews before adding to my cart) - although I have a lot of his KB music on other instruments (mainly piano, harpsichord and fortepiano), very little on clavichord - enjoying both of these discs - for those knowing this repertoire on the clavichord, what other performers and/or specific recordings might be considered?  Thanks - Dave

P.S. of course, I'm aware of Spanyi's BIS recordings (up to 42 discs now) and have streamed a few - but?

 

First, Cuiller has another disc, called Rêveries pour connaisseurs et amateurs.

Apart from some of the Spanyi discs which I have mentioned somewhere in this thread, there's Leonhardt and Tilney and Hogwood and Tom Beghin.

For my part, I'm not keen on the late music, the sonatas in the Kenner und Liebhaber collections. I can take the rondos better.

I've not heard (of) Nicholson so I'm a bit curious about that. Crazy place to put a vase of sunflowers.

[SonicMan46]

First, Cuiller has another disc, called Rêveries pour connaisseurs et amateurs.

Apart from some of the Spanyi discs which I have mentioned somewhere in this thread, there's Leonhardt and Tilney and Hogwood and Tom Beghin.

For my part, I'm not keen on the late music, the sonatas in the Kenner und Liebhaber collections. I can take the rondos better.

I've not heard (of) Nicholson so I'm a bit curious about that. Crazy place to put a vase of sunflowers.

Thanks for the comments and recommendations - as to Linda Nicholson, I do own the Bagatelles on fortepiano (well done); as to the Bach, she play on a 1767 clavichord by Johann Adolph Hass, Hamburg (A is tuned at 417 Hz and the instrument does have a lower pitch dynamic) - review attached of her and Cuiller. 

As to other suggestions, the two added below are ones looked at but not streamed. As to Spanyi with now 42 discs on BIS of the solo pieces many on clavichord - not sure I want to explore that collection.  Dave

   

[SonicMan46]

OOPS - anxious to consider that Colin Tilney disc, but own the Belder box below and he also plays the Wq 55 set on a clavichord, so a duplication - BUT, will try to put together a Spotify playlist of both - if different enough would consider having both performances?  Dave

[Mandryka]

Thanks for the comments and recommendations - as to Linda Nicholson, I do own the Bagatelles on fortepiano (well done); as to the Bach, she play on a 1767 clavichord by Johann Adolph Hass, Hamburg (A is tuned at 417 Hz and the instrument does have a lower pitch dynamic) - review attached of her and Cuiller. 

As to other suggestions, the two added below are ones looked at but not streamed. As to Spanyi with now 42 discs on BIS of the solo pieces many on clavichord - not sure I want to explore that collection.  Dave

   

Re Spanyi start with the clavichord masterpieces -- the Wurttemberg Sonatas and the Probestücke Wq 63 1-6.

[Mandryka]

Inspiring comments from Spanyi on the Wurttemberg Sonatas as Tolkienesque

 
These sonatas are not only long and technically difficult, but also contain a wealth of ideas and characters. In his last period C.P.E. Bach very consciously took steps to wards concise, extremely concentrated forms and a certain abstraction. In the 'Württemberg' Sonatas he makes very generous use of a wide range of thematic material.


As a result both of this and of the extended forms employed, the listener experiences the progress of time in a manner similar to the plot of a long novel or film. The sonatas have almost 'symphonic' or even 'operatic' dimensions and attitude. Far from being abstract, this music could rather be called romantic, conjuring up memories or causing us to imagine fantastic, colourful, extraordinary landscapes – in my mind similar to Tolkien's Middle Earth...

<snipped some stuff about the best instrument to use for them>

What a pleasure to revisit these Wurttemberg sonatas, Spanyi 16 and 17. Really fine music, I get more stimulation from them than anything in that genre from Haydn or Mozart or Scarlatti. You have to wait for Schubert to get something of this stature.

[SonicMan46]

Well, this afternoon I was listening to my Spotify playlist of Belder vs. Tilney in CPE Bach's Wq 55 - I like Belder's clavichord better and his upfront performance, but Tilney has subtleties of interpretation that some would prefer - did a ChatGPT (which I attached) that said about the same - both are good for their specific reasons - don't really need two 'clavichord' versions of these works so will not add Tilney to my Belder box - others may differ?  Dave

OOPS - anxious to consider that Colin Tilney disc, but own the Belder box below and he also plays the Wq 55 set on a clavichord, so a duplication - BUT, will try to put together a Spotify playlist of both - if different enough would consider having both performances?  Dave

 

[SonicMan46]

What a pleasure to revisit these Wurttemberg sonatas, Spanyi 16 and 17. Really fine music, I get more stimulation from them than anything in that genre from Haydn or Mozart or Scarlatti. You have to wait for Schubert to get something of this stature.

Well, I've been looking at those two Spanyi offerings for something 'cheap' to buy - seems unavailable - Prestomusic wants $18+ USD (plus shipping to me) and does not offer any DLs (e.g. I might have done 2 MP3s at 10 bucks each?) - SO, put together a Spotify playlist of the two recordings and will listen tomorrow, but still unlikely a purchase at those prices (plus, Discogs and eBay offer no bargains!) - Dave

P.S. Plus, have Markovina on piano & Procopio on harpsichord in these works - do I really need a clavichord version, despite CPE likely composing these works on his instrument(s)?

 

[Que]

P.S. Plus, have Markovina on piano & Procopio on harpsichord in these works - do I really need a clavichord version, despite CPE likely composing these works on his instrument(s)?

I think the Württemberg Sonatas work brilliantly on harpsichord and the performance by Procoprio is amazing. 

[SonicMan46]

I think the Württemberg Sonatas work brilliantly on harpsichord and the performance by Procoprio is amazing. 

Thanks Que for the support - my feeling also - plus like Markovina on piano -    Dave