Albums pairing music by Johann Sebastian Bach with that of his sons come along every so often, but one like this, examining a single genre, is not so common despite its obvious potential. The execution is not flawless, but the music on this album is rare, interesting, and well performed. Listeners actually get only two cantatas by the Bach sons, and the program closes with the 1747 version of the Cantata No. 82, "Ich habe genug," BWV 82, beautifully sung by Benjamin Appl but doesn't add much to the program. There are also a pair of symphonies by (probably) Carl Philipp Emanuel and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, the latter more experimental in its wild voice-leading than the usually unorthodox C.P.E. The two actual cantatas by Bach's sons are quite intriguing. Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach's Pygmalion is a secular work for bass and ensemble, a semi-dramatic piece with lots of recitative. The intriguing thing is that Johann Christoph Friedrich seems to do anything to avoid following his father's example: there is a bit of Vivaldi here, Handel there, as well as more modern influences like Gluck. The opening sacred cantata, C.P.E. Bach's Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Stande, Wq deest (the work gets its world premiere here, and no doubts are raised about its authorship), is again closer to J.S. Bach's example. There's plenty more to hear, and Reinhard Goebel, leading the Berliner Barock Solisten, expands upon the finer points in his notes. This may be of most interest to devotees of the Bachs, but it's listenable for anyone.
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