W.f Bach

The symphonic works featured on this 2CD set all come from a period during the second half of the eighteenth century that has come to be known as the “Age of Enlightenment” when Frederick the Second ruled over Prussia. Alongside acknowledged masterpieces by Mozart and Haydn, the program also includes pieces by Hasse, Graun and C.P.E Bach that are receiving their first ever recording. The music is performed by the rising stars of the Austrian Chamber Group “Modern Times_1800”.

The novelties here are the Mattheson works, the first two fully composed, the third a figured-bass exercise from Mattheson's treatise on the subject. The sonata is a dramatic, virtuoso outing in the Italian style; the suite, ostensibly more french in character, retains a typical German heaviness.

Mattheson, a pal of Handel's who, if the story is to be believed, almost killed the latter in a duel in Hamburg when both were young, was a composer of considerable talent. Anyone who enjoys Handel's harpsichord music will feel very much at home here. I have hundreds of harpsichord recordings and would rank this in my top ten. Don't miss this beautiful jewel!

By Don G. Evans (Randallstown, MD USA)