Bach: Complete Keyboard Concertos, Vol. 15 / Keyboard Music, Vol. 15

Chronique

As Miklós Spányi's concurrent editions of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's keyboard concerti and solo keyboard music both run to 14 volumes and the end is at hand, BIS has decided to combine the final volumes of both series into a single, two-disc package. One might wonder if this was an afterthought, as each disc has its own booklet, nevertheless there is a third, four-leaf booklet included that contains a contents listing for the entire series. Overall, this has been an excellent series, introducing many important C.P.E. Bach works to record for the first time, particularly in the case of the concertos. The final volume is in essence no different from the others; the clavichord and tangent piano are recorded at some distance, not so bad in the solo works but a bit more of a challenge in balancing some of the concerti. Nevertheless, we have reached the end of the series and BIS isn't about to change its working habits to accommodate this mild objection.
From the standpoint of sheer playing, Spányi's work has been exemplary in all 30 volumes. Sometimes his approach can be a little dry and rigid in tempo, but as so many of these works are unfamiliar, that's a good deal better option than performances that might be all over the map in terms of tempo and expression. It's easy to read that into C.P.E. Bach's scores given his advancement of the concept of empfindsamer stil, a type of expressive playing that foreshadows some aspects of Romanticism. The question is always just how expressive does one want to go, and when is it appropriate? Clearly some of the minuets and other dances are just ordinary pieces that do not need additional expressive juicing, and in practically all cases, Spányi decides that restraint is the better option.
Among specific pieces on Concertos & Solo Keyboard Works, Vol. 15, is the most famous of C.P.E. Bach's piano concertos, the Concerto in D minor, Wq. 23, a serious, quirky, and reflective work that has been in circulation since the nineteenth century. The other two concerti are little less emotionally involved, but both have their virtues -- take for example the luscious and expansive Largo that opens the Sonatina in E flat, Wq. 105 -- and all three are realized very nicely here. The solo keyboard disc combines 13 of Bach's character pieces combined with two sonatas likely built up out of other character pieces; most striking of these being La Caroline (likely dedicated to Bach's daughter); the untitled Andantino in D minor, Wq. 116/18; and the combined pieces La Xenophon and La Sybille, played as a da capo pair.
Usually wrap-up volumes to long series like these tend to be kind of like taking out the composer's trash, tidying up the oddments and fugitive pieces that don't fit in elsewhere. Not only would BIS and Spányi's C.P.E. Bach: Concertos & Solo Keyboard Works, Vol. 15, serve as an excellent introduction to the series as a whole, but also to the listener who hasn't heard any of the previous volumes.

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