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W.F. Bach: Concerti / FBO
Classical | 2002 | 1 CD | 346 MB | APE+CUE+LOG+SCANS

“In Wilhelm Friedemann Bach’s opus orchestral music played a significant role. In spite of their difficult technical demands these works cannot be regarded merely as pieces for show. The present CD demonstrates how thoroughly they are worked out and what a high level they attain. A particular highlight of this CD is the world premiere release of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach’s Flute Concerto in D. This concerto was recently discovered in 1999 among the music archives of the Berlin Singakademie in Kiev by Prof. Christoph Wolff (Harvard University). These archives were previously believed to have been lost.”

“At the center of the newly discovered flute concerto lies a heartfelt largo, at nine minutes a genuine challenge to player Karl Kaiser, who manages to sustain the musical line impressively despite the hollow tone and unevenness of register inherent in virtually all performances on Baroque flute. With its vivacious outer movements, this concerto is quite a discovery (flutists take note) and Carus Verlag also publishes the score. For the cembalo concerto in E minor (as well as for the flute concerto and the Sinfonia), keyboard player Michael Behringer opts for a fortepiano rather than a traditional harpsichord. This was a marvelous idea for several reasons. First, it permits him to give an appropriately dynamically inflected performance of the concerto, the longest work here, avoiding the aural fatigue that accompanies so many recordings featuring harpsichord. Second, in the other two works his continuo playing remains thankfully unobtrusive, a critical factor in the success of the Flute Concerto where balance between soloist and orchestra always is an issue.
Finally, his choice of instrument throws into brilliant relief the disc's concluding work, the Concerto for Two Cembalos in E-flat, a thrilling piece in which the opposition of two harpsichords to a large orchestra including trumpets and drums (very unusual for the time) creates an explosive sonic panorama and sets the seal on W. F. Bach's claim to be taken seriously as a composer with a distinctive voice. On the whole this is brilliant, muscular music, and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra tears into it with relish. As period-instrument fans will know, this ensemble stands at the far left of the "historically informed performance" movement, generating sounds of a gruffness that, allied to emphatic rhythmic emphasis, may well startle those used to a more elegant and small-scaled approach--but it certainly works here. In particular, these renditions offer the necessary color and energy to sustain the long opening movements with total conviction (the opening of the double concerto is almost overpowering at 11-plus minutes), and, as noted above, they are stunningly recorded. No doubt about it: this one's a gem.

--David Hurwitz (Classics Today)”

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach

Flute concerto in D major 1
Sinfonia in d
Cembalo Concerto in E minor
Concerto a due Cembali in Es

Conductor: Gottfried von der Goltz
Ensemble: Freiburger Barockorchester
Soloist - violin: Gottfried von der Goltz
Soloist - flute: Karl Kaiser
Soloist - harpsichord: Michael Behringer, Robert Hill
Soloist - piano: Michael Behringer