CPE Bach: 1-5 July

[Dave2002]

I loved the solo flute piece played by Emmanuel Pahud. OK, it was played on a modern flute, and perhaps I would have preferred to hear an instrument more in keeping with the period in which it was written, but it was played with a lot of expression and free feeling. I have played that piece, but never performed it.

Just playing the notes "as written" does not, IMO, make for a very interesting experience, either to play or to listen to. This performance brought the piece to life, and although parts are quite technically challenging, which might be of interest to a player, these were not at all apparent to this listener in this rendition.

Pahud is an extremely good player. Are there any other good recorded performances of this work? Perhaps this one sets an unbeatable standard - though one to aim at.

Here is another player - playing on an older style instrument - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpRJhhHI0E8

[doversoul1]

I loved the solo flute piece played by Emmanuel Pahud. OK, it was played on a modern flute, and perhaps I would have preferred to hear an instrument more in keeping with the period in which it was written, but it was played with a lot of expression and free feeling. I have played that piece, but never performed it.

Just playing the notes "as written" does not, IMO, make for a very interesting experience, either to play or to listen to. This performance brought the piece to life, and although parts are quite technically challenging, which might be of interest to a player, these were not at all apparent to this listener in this rendition.

Pahud is an extremely good player. Are there any other good recorded performances of this work? Perhaps this one sets an unbeatable standard - though one to aim at.

Here is another player - playing on an older style instrument - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpRJhhHI0E8

This might be an interesting recording for the work, as I find Ashley Solomon, the director of the group, usually very good.

C.P.E. Bach - Sanguineus and Melanchilicus
Florilegium

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7926438--c-p-e-bach-sanguineus-and-melanchilicus

[doversoul1]

Yes, in some ways it anticipated Busoni's late piano music, all those recondite key changes. Only 170 years' catching up to do there, dovers!

That’s nothing in the world of early music

Did you hear the last item?
Solfeggio in C Minor
Eugen Cicero, piano

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006ff9

[Mal]

I loved the solo flute piece played by Emmanuel Pahud.

Haven't heard him in this, I must tune into the programme! I like Wq132 modern by Gallois/Mallon/Toronto Camerata on Naxos and period by Florilegium on Channel... both Penguin rosette winning disks.

[Dave2002]

This might be an interesting recording for the work, as I find Ashley Solomon, the director of the group, usually very good.

C.P.E. Bach - Sanguineus and Melanchilicus
Florilegium
https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...-melanchilicus

The piece Sanguineus and Melanchilicus is also here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4wfc3H9yKQ

[Serial_Apologist]

That’s nothing in the world of early music

Did you hear the last item?
Solfeggio in C Minor
Eugen Cicero, piano
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006ff9

Hi dovers!

Yes, I'm listening to all these programmes this week. I'm much struck by CPE's originality and how much his music looked forwards, particularly in the fields of harmony, mood contrast and orchestration - in many ways those in his immediate aftermath were marking time, by comparison, and I feel that had his influence been more accessible - we learned how Beethoven had wanted to lay his hands on the scores - music might have evolved differently. Analogies with the British Landscape School of Capability Brown and Humphrey Repton, comparing the preceding contrapuntal Baroque approach as aligned to the earlier formal Dutch and French landscaping schools, were most enlightening.

[Mal]

The piece Sanguineus and Melanchilicus is also here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4wfc3H9yKQ

Florilegeum:

Naxos again seem to be providing excellent competition at budget prices: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-reYQyV43tE

[Serial_Apologist]

Hi dovers!

Yes, I'm listening to all these programmes this week. I'm much struck by CPE's originality and how much his music looked forwards, particularly in the fields of harmony, mood contrast and orchestration - in many ways those in his immediate aftermath were marking time, by comparison, and I feel that had his influence been more accessible - we learned how Beethoven had wanted to lay his hands on the scores - music might have evolved differently. Analogies with the British Landscape School of Capability Brown and Humphrey Repton, comparing the preceding contrapuntal Baroque approach as aligned to the earlier formal Dutch and French landscaping schools, were most enlightening.

PS - This is a less than subtle hint, but I hope my posts on this thread will encourage a few into listening to some 20th and 21st century classical music!

[MickyD]

The piece Sanguineus and Melanchilicus is also here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4wfc3H9yKQ

It's a CD worth getting - on Channel Classics. I like the Accent disc of Il Gardellino, too, some of which we heard in Monday's programme - lovely playing and acoustic.

[doversoul1]

PS - This is a less than subtle hint, but I hope my posts on this thread will encourage a few into listening to some 20th and 21st century classical music!

Like these? I rather liked them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyinFG4RR1s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxBGG74ztVo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJfF1THDnuY

[Serial_Apologist]

This week we look at CPE Bach's music and reputation in the light of the sensational rediscovery of much his archive in 1999. Throughout the week, we'll hear recent recordings of this 'new' music. In this episode, Donald Macleod tells the story of the loss – and eventual rediscovery in 1999 – of much of CPE Bach’s music, following a fascinating journey.
[...]
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006ffg

Just re-bumping this thread up, since this week's COTW consists of the repeats of these programmes. Just click on the link. Listening again just reminds me how much I love this man and his music!

[ardcarp]

I'm joining in the bumping! For those interested in harpsichords and fortepianos, today's episode ended with a complete performance of a CPE Bach late work, a double concerto for those two instruments (plus strings flutes and horns). The style was very sturm und drang I thought, though mixed with some Haydn-esque humour.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006fgv

(last item on the programme)

[Serial_Apologist]

I'm joining in the bumping! For those interested in harpsichords and fortepianos, today's episode ended with a complete performance of a CPE Bach late work, a double concerto for those two instruments (plus strings flutes and horns). The style was very sturm und drang I thought, though mixed with some Haydn-esque humour.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006fgv

(last item on the programme)

The whole week's series was well worth re-listening to, I thought. What always strikes me about the music of that age was how quickly the new music emerged, fully-fledged, alongside as well as supplanting the contrapuntal Baroque era. Previous transitions had been much more gradualist - chief among which the emergent Baroque from high Renaissance polyphony a hundred years previously - as would be future changes, when one thinks of the 10 years it took Schoenberg to progress from the harmonic language of his Op 1 and 2 Lieder to that of the finale of the String Quartet No 2, not to mention the more protracted length of time needed for his contemporaries beyond the circle to accommodate to the implications. I can only think of one comparison, namely the emergence of the Bebop style of jazz which came out of the Swing era at the beginning of the 1940s, likewise in part in reaction against previous orthodoxies.

[ardcarp]

What always strikes me about the music of that age was how quickly the new music emerged, fully-fledged

Whilst I agree with you SA, I suspect our thinking on the subject may be skewed by the towering genius of Bach (J.S.) who was taking the harmonic and cotrapuntal language of The Baroque to unbelievable places...but ultimately to a blind alley. (It pains me to say so!) Think of Zelenka, who was a bit older than Bach and yet allowed glimpses of the Galante into his style. That's put rather crudely, but I guess you know what I mean. If you Google 'early galant composers' you may get a shock.