PASC034:
Concertos for Two Keyboards - JS Bach & CPE Bach
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Lionel
Salter
Charles Spinks
George Malcolm
The London Baroque Orchestra
Conductor: Karl Haas Recorded
in 1954
Released as Parlophone Odeon PMA 1009
Download ID: 170985/432822
Duration 34'04"
Play
sample movement:
There
is no doubt that music ran in the blood of the Bach family. Johann
Sebastian Bach, stands as one of the towering musical geniuses of
all time, whilst his second son, Carl Philipp Emanuel inherited
probably the largest share of his father's talent.
Here
we offer the listener an opportunity to sample these two composers side-by-side
in very similar circumstances - double concertos for two keyboards and
orchestra. J.S. uses strings alone in his orchestration, whereas C.P.E.
employs a slightly fuller orchestra, with the addition of two horns and
two flutes.
Despite
this being a father and son operation, the two works are separated by
a full sixty years - the earlier work was written for a performance in
Leipzig in 1729 and is firmly rooted in the Baroque era, whilst the latter,
one of C.P.E. Bach's last works, was written in Hamburg in 1788, and sits
astride the Roccoco and early Classical schools.
In
these recordings, both rated with maximum double-stars in the British
fifties collector's bible, The Record Guide, the instruments used
are contemporary instruments based on a 1778 harpsichord by Kirkman and
a Stein fortepiano commonly in use in the period 1770-90 and highly praised
by Mozart.
This
superb restoration by Peter Harrison brings out what the aforementioned
Record Guide describes as "A delicious work in the galant manner, which delightfully pits against each other the dying harpsichord
and the new-born forte-piano" beautifully.
Those
with a keen ear will note the sudden drops to extreme silence between
movements - this is not some trick on the restorer's part to try and reduce
hiss from the original taped recording, but is in fact how the record
was released; what remains between movements is what little is left of
the vinyl surface noise after processing and remastering. Although there
is a temptation in circumstances like this to generate tape hiss artificially
to create a "bridge" between movements, we have preferred to
be true to the original recording.
REVIEW
OF JS & CPE Bach - Double Keyboard Concertos (Salter, Spinks, Malcolm, London Baroque Orchestra, Haas,
1954)
This
recording fascinates for several reasons. First it shows that
well before the "original instruments" movement of
the late 1960's, Bach was played with great musical taste, informed
intelligence and love. Second the contrast between the styles
of Bach senior and his most famous son is very great and merits
some discussion.
The
performance of Bach senior may seem a bit slow, used as we
are to the jog trotting of Andrew Parrott and Trevor Pinnock.
But the performance really grows on you! The humanity, the
deep joy, the spirituality gets to me. The insouciance and
devil-may-care of Bach junior makes one want to laugh aloud.
Carl
Phillip was a dutiful son who made his father very proud as
he became court composer to Frederick the Great. He also played
a major role in creating the rococo, galant style which utterly
destroyed his father's style well before his father's death
and helped bury his name except as a pedagogue for 75 years.
One wonders how Bach's sons can have been so little touched
by their father's work.
Hearing
the two works in such a beautiful remastering, with the son
we enjoy a delightful party; whereas the father gives us a
brief glimpse of eternity.
Reviewer:
Bill Rosen
Find
out more:
J
S Bach: Concerto in C minor for two harpsichords and strings: 3rd mvt.: Allegro
Download
our Illustrated Catalogue Complete
catalogue of recordings, fully indexed by composer and performer,
with links to website pages
Restoration
by Peter Harrison:
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