CPE Bach: Symphonies cover
Released

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment finds a perfect match in the symphonies of the CPE Bach; this is intelligent music full of energy and contrast, performed in ways musically and historically revealing. C.P.E. Bach’s music bridges the sound worlds of his famous father and the later Mozart-Haydn-Beethoven generation, and it has been undergoing a period of rediscovery after relative historical neglect. What is most remarkable about these symphonies is how much they contain: Baroque in dimensions but radical in their use of mercurial mood swings, by turns ebullient (track 1), lugubrious (track 11), and weird (track 7), sometimes all in the span of a few seconds (track 4).

Sean Wood

Recommended by

Suggestions
Bach cover

Bach

Alisa Weilerstein
Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina Volume 4 cover

Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina Volume 4

The Sixteen, Harry Christophers
Brahms: Violin Concerto, Op. 77; Double Concerto, Op. 102 cover

Brahms: Violin Concerto, Op. 77; Double Concerto, Op. 102

Gabriel Schwabe, Tianwa Yang, Antoni Wit
Tippett: Symphonies 1 & 2 cover

Tippett: Symphonies 1 & 2

Martyn Brabbins, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Dvorák: Stabat Mater cover

Dvorák: Stabat Mater

Eri Nakamura, Michael Spyres, Elisabeth Kulman, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek
Eberl: Concerto for 2 Pianos & Sonatas for Piano 4 Hands cover

Eberl: Concerto for 2 Pianos & Sonatas for Piano 4 Hands

Paolo Giacometti, Riko Fukuda, Michael Alexander Willens, Kölner Akademie
Stravinsky: Chamber Works cover

Stravinsky: Chamber Works

Barbara Hannigan, Igor Stravinsky, Juilliard School Ensemble, Royal Academy of Music