Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was admired and often cited as an example by Haydyn, Mozart and Beethoven, but just like these three musicians he too struggled to find an audience for his music. As one of Johann Sebastian’s sons, he was a custodian of his father’s rather daunting legacy.
The composer dates back to the beginning of the classical area but his music already seemed to show hints of romanticism. The very essence of his music and his originality has been considered as a “theatre of the soul” (Gilles Cantagrel) – the emotional staging of the music interspersed with surprises and sudden modulations, fiercely dynamic oppositions and silences sometimes heavy with anguish. Like all the artists of his time, Carl Philipp was a prolific composer and wrote nearly fifty concertos for the harpsichord, which was his favourite instrument, along with the clavichord on which he took great pleasure in improvising for hours at a time.
Christian Zacharias is familiar with the composer and has already devoted several recordings to his work. For this concert in November 2019 with the Auvergne National Orchestra, who he conducts from behind his own instrument, he selected the Concerto in D minor, Wq. 23, H. 427. It is a piece which illustrates the innovativeness of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s style perfectly, particularly in the Poco Andante, whose expressive effusion prefigures Mozart’s greatest concertos. The extraordinary Rondo in C minor with its harmonic instability is featured as an encore and takes us to right to the edge of the abyss before leaving us there with its question-like inconclusive ending. A musical style that seemingly initiates and embodies the “Age of Sensibility” to which Hadyn and Mozart later greatly contributed. © François Hudry/Qobuz