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This recording of works by Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, the least well-known of the four composer sons of Bach, marks the completion of the FBO’s highly acclaimed series “Bach’s Sons” on the Carus label. Unlike his prominent brothers Carl Philipp and Johann Christian, the “Bueckeburg Bach” never ventured beyond the provinces, serving as a court musician for forty years at the court of the Count of Schaumburg-Lippe. But his music is anything but provincial. It moves impressively between the styles of both brothers, combining the artistic demands of Carl Philipp with the light Italian tone of the younger brother Johann Christian, and so defies easy musical categorization.

This compilation draws Christmas music from several recordings conducted by the late Herbert von Karajan, but emphasizes two of them, both from the 1960s: a collection of Baroque Christmas pieces in a mostly pastoral vein, and an LP on which he and the Vienna Philharmonic backed the great African American soprano Leontyne Price. Neither of these recordings is easy to obtain these days, and Karajan aficionados may well be pleased to have them in a single package. Beyond that, the Price pieces, from her heyday, are gorgeous.

This second opus represents a return to Korngold’s roots, an attempt to rediscover the innocence and enormous artistic fertility that characterised the young composer. His first quartet and his piano quintet attest to an unbelievable talent and a visionary spirit rooted in the musical ferment of Vienna at the beginning of the twentieth century. Beyond the fatigue one inevitably feels upon finishing a recording, we are suddenly aware of the distance we have travelled. Korngold’s music has transported us these last few years, but it has transformed us, too. This recording is our catharsis, a balm for the difficult years of Covid. Today, we realize just how lucky we are to be able to give concerts, to create encounters with audiences and to touch people through our recordings.