All four works on Vol. 11 of Miklos Spanyi's survey of the complete solo keyboard works of C.P.E. Bach are world-premiere recordings. Think of it: world-premiere recordings of works by the second and by far greatest of the sons of J.S. Bach, including the first recording of his first work in a genre that he was to make his own: the fantasia. Does it get any better than this?
For lovers of the passionate, the intellectual, and the very civilized C.P.E. Bach, the answer is no. Although even the most dedicated C.P.E. devotee will have to admit that while none of these world premieres are Bach at his best, they are still fascinating works. Written in the 1740s while Bach was Frederick the Great's composer in residence, the works on this disc are astoundingly innovative, astonishingly exploratory, amazingly emotional, and staggeringly difficult works. As he has in the previous ten volumes of the series, Spanyi performs Bach with the unique combination of improvisation and concentration necessary to rush with giddy abandon through breakneck arpeggios and still maintain complete control over every aspect of structure and every detail of articulation. And as they have in the previous volumes, BIS puts Spanyi's instrument, in this case a 1999 copy of a 1749 Silbermann fortepiano, in a hugely empty acoustic, making his instrument sound like Jokanaan in the cistern Salome.
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