Michael Rische’s CPE Bach Project: Volume 6

Portrait of CPE Bach on the cover of the album being discussed (courtesy of Naxos of America)

According to my records, it has been about two years since the hänssler CLASSIC label released its fifth album of piano concertos composed by Carl Philipp Emanuel (CPE) Bach. The pianist behind this project has been Michael Rische. His sixth album was released half a month ago, and is currently available for purchase as a CD from an Amazon.com Web page. As of this writing, Amazon is promising delivery within two weeks.

As was the case on the fifth album, Rische is accompanied by the Berliner Barock Solisten, which he conducts from the keyboard; and, like all previous albums, the new release consists of three concertos. The first and last, Wq 11 in D major and Wq 24 in E minor, respectively, were written during the composer’s “Berlin period” in service to Frederick the Great. These are separated by the fourth of the Wq 43 concertos, composed, in the key of C minor, during Bach’s “free agency” in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

The C minor concerto is an excellent example of how Bach could be more adventurous without a royal master keeping him in check. He departs from the expected three-movement structure, inserting a Tempo di Menuetto movement between the Poco adagio movement and the concluding Allegro assai movement. Then just to keep his listeners on their respective toes, each of the first three movements segues seamlessly into its successor. This concerto was written in 1771; and I suspect that Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven pored over its score with no end of enthusiasm.

That seamless integration of the movements may explain the absence of any cadenza. Fortunately, the listener can turn to the Berlin concertos to find cadenzas, all composed by Bach himself. Even here, however, it is clear that Bach took pleasure in playing with the expectations of his listeners. He is particularly fond of deceptive cadences, a technique he may well have acquired from his father, Johann Sebastian. Indeed, while most music lovers tend to associate the attribute of “surprise” to Haydn, it is likely that Haydn has Emanuel to thank for building up his own portfolio of surprises.

These six volumes account for eighteen concertos. Rische’s notes for the program book claim that the “full count” is 52. From that point of view, he has passed the one-third mark. It would be nice if his volumes would emerge at a more rapid rate. However, one can tell from any single concerto performance that Rische puts a lot of effort into each concerto. We shall thus have to be patient and hope that our patience will be rewarded.