Gramophone Magazine
June 2025
Editor's Choice

Ryo Terakado (violin), Fabio Bonizzoni (early keyboard instruments)

Bach, C P E: Fantasia in F-Sharp Minor for Keyboard and Violin, Wq80
Bach, C P E: Sonata in B-Flat Major for Keyboard and Violin, Wq77
Bach, C P E: Sonata in C Minor for Keyboard and Violin, Wq78
Bach, C P E: Sonata in B Minor for Keyboard and Violin, Wq76

Ryo Terakado: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, J.S. Bach’s second son, was, in my opinion, the one among his talented siblings who most deeply respected his father and remained faithful to his teachings while also striving to create music that reflected the changing times. Throughout his life, he composed chamber music, and among his Klavier Trios, there are sixteen pieces that explicitly designate a keyboard and a single melodic instrument. Among these, his crowning achievement in this genre—and a breakthrough work—is found in the four sonatas for violin and clavier composed in 1763 (Wq. 75–Wq. 78). In these sonatas, particularly in the slow movements, the contrast between the keyboard and violin idioms deepens the musical expression.

C.P.E. Bach also left behind intriguing works for the same instrumentation in his very late years, during the 1780s. The Fantasia in F-sharp Minor (Wq. 80) was based on his Fantasia for Clavier (Wq. 67), with a violin part added to enrich the texture and a newly composed Allegro appended. The original clavier fantasia was already a late work, but this violin-accompanied version was completed even later, in 1788, the year of his death. The violin is no longer an equal partner to the clavier. Instead, it is used solely to enhance the emotional depth and tonal color of the music, never carrying an independent melody. This represented an entirely new approach to the violin. Yet this very aspect intensified the depth of the music, creating an even stronger emotional impact. To this violin-accompanied version, C.P.E. Bach uniquely gave the subtitle C.P.E. Bachs Empfindungen (“C.P.E Bach’s Sentiments”). Moreover, the opening instruction reads Sehr traurig und ganz langsam ("Very sad and utterly slow"), revealing the heavy sorrow that weighed upon him at the time. As he faced the shadow of death, his inner turmoil is expressed through eleven dramatic tempo changes, portraying a heart deeply shaken.This CD includes this Fantasia along with three of the four sonatas mentioned earlier.