Diedre Irons (fortepiano) plays Bach Photo: Screenshot NZSO/Latitude Creative
The versatility of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s music is impressive. He was primarily a composer of keyboard music, and that's what he is most famous for. No other composer of the 18th century Enlightenment wrote as many concertos for keyboard and orchestra as CPE Bach. The catalogue lists fifty solo concertos and ten sonatinas, plus two concertos and two sonatinas for two keyboards and orchestra. The six concertos of this set were published in 1773 and have a special place.
The fact that they were published at all was quite unusual for larger scale compositions. Printing all the parts was expensive, and such works didn't sell well because they were usually beyond the grasp of amateurs. But these six concertos were specifically intended for "connoisseurs and amateurs" and the composer did everything possible to make them accessible for potential performers.
Recorded 31 October 2020, Alan Gibbs Hall, Wellington College by RNZ Concert
Producer: David McCaw
Engineer: Darryl Stack
