Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – David Murray

Although these pieces are known and respected among pianists by reputation, the sonatas themselves are rarely heard or performed. This recording is one of only four recordings of these pieces in print, of the four recordings of these sonatas, only this recording and one other were performed on the piano, the instrument for which these sonatas were written. This recording is the only piano recording of these pieces to make use of historically informed practices. These pieces are accessible and exciting additions to Classical era repertoire and are suitable for working concert pianists, advanced piano students, or teachers who are looking for new repertoire.

”Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was so well known in the mid-18th century that when one mentioned the name ‘Bach’ it was generally in reference to him, not his father, J. S. Bach. His style bridged many of the conventions from the Baroque to the early Classical eras, and both Haydn and Mozart, neither prone to giving high praise to other musicians, admired his work greatly. These three sonatas, named for the Prussian count to whom they are dedicated, are dramatically alert and superficially engaging, without offering very much emotional or intellectual depth (something you could never say about his father’s music). C. P. E. Bach (in the notes, the abbreviation is written both as CPE and C.P.E.) was expert at affecting emotion rather than directly expressing it. It is an admirable skill, on a certain level, and the music is never less than entertaining, even if there are a few patches where C. P. E. seems to resort to clichéd patterns, including a kind of ‘deedly-deedly-dee’ melodic structure. David Murray obviously relishes this material, and squeezes every drop of joy out of it that he can, with a style and grace that rescue the music from mere historical curiosity.” -Fanfare

Murray is the 2013 Emmy Award Winner for ‘Best Live Audio’ for a televised performance of Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 with the Georgia Southern Symphony…!

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