IYO, which of Bach's son's was the most talented? W, CPE or JC ?

[Ken B]

All these posts and no PDQ mention?

An attempt at fairness I think.

[Luke]

W.F. for me, as the old man himself thought. At his best, he was an outrageously inventive, convention-ignoring composer, and though C.P.E. may have ultimately achieved far more, and in a far more polished, accomplished way, in terms of raw talent and audacity I think W.F. is da man. Living in the immediate shadow of J.S., knowing him more intimately than the other boys, probably did uniquely incapacitating things to the mind of a man who could well have otherwise gone on to be an independently great composer in his own right; who knows if this wasn't a contributing factor in his later alcoholism? You can see the tortuous splits in his musical personality right there in the notes, repeatedly slicing across the sense and syntax of the music mid-phrase - am I like my father, my younger brother, myself....? If he could have harnessed this more fully, it would have been something extraordinary. But in some of his most finished works like the Polonaises (which Julius Epstein thought 'among the most beautiful Clavier compositions of all time') he shows what amazing things he could have done, I think.

[Karl Henning]

Luke is back, and dadgummit, now I'm curious to hear some WFB . . . .

[SonicMan46]

Luke is back, and dadgummit, now I'm curious to hear some WFB . . . .

@ Luke - great summary - thanks for your thoughts.

Karl - last week I just went through my modest WF Bach collection - just a half dozen discs - the harpsichord concertos (2-CD set @ a bargain price from the Amazon MP) still impress me - a 'must-have' recording in a Dubins review reprinted HERE - Dave

[Karl Henning]

Note taken, Dave.

Tangentially, though it is arguably a "minor" concerto, the Dukelsky Pf Cto is brilliant.  Have you had a chance yet to hear?

[SonicMan46]

Note taken, Dave.

Tangentially, though it is arguably a "minor" concerto, the Dukelsky Pf Cto is brilliant.  Have you had a chance yet to hear?

Ooops - slipped my mind! The CD below arrived a few days ago and I've done just one cursory listen but thoroughly enjoyed - definitely 20th century w/ some jazzy like elements - will do a CLOSER repeat listening today!  Great review HERE - as you likely know, Duke (or Dukelsky) did not orchestrate the piano concerto - done by Scott Dunn, the pianist on this recording; so, I guess that 'other' scores could appear?  Dave