CPE Bach – Sonatas & Rondos
Sonatas – H31, H66, H173, H247, H281, H286; Rondos – H265, H267, H272, H274, H283; Fantasies – H291, H300; Arioso with 9 variations etc
Marc-André Hamelin (piano) Hyperion CDA68381/2 136:51 mins (2 discs)
CPE Bach may have emerged from behind his father’s shadow over the last two decades, but despite his prolific output – 400 solo sonatas, fantasias, fugues and sets of variations – his musical style remains hard to characterise.
In a learned liner note for Marc-André Hamelin’s new album, Mahan Esfahani does his best to identify CPE’s achievement, if not his style. That achievement, says Esfahani, was best embodied in his Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments, which Haydn dubbed the ‘school of schools’ and which Beethoven used in…
