Bernhard Forck – Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 – C.P.E. Bach: Symphonies, Wq 175 & 183/17 (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Bernhard Forck – Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 – C.P.E. Bach: Symphonies, Wq 175 & 183/17 (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:18:41 minutes | 1,40 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

Cleverly paired with two symphonies by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – written in 1755/56 and 1775/76 respectively – Beethoven’s first two contributions to the symphonic genre reveal the bubbling creativity of a thirty-year-old composer determined to go even further in the renewal of the genre than another, very recent reference, Mozart’s ‘Jupiter’. So much is clear from the very first chord of his Symphony No. 1! Relive this decisive moment in the company of the musicians of the Akademie für Alte Musik, under the guidance of their Konzertmeister Bernhard Forck.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was much admired by Haydn, Mozart, as well as young Beethoven, who piously treasured his Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments. The two men never met (Beethoven was eighteen when Johann Sebastian’s son passed away), but there are many affinities between them. Both of their works span the transition between two eras of music, and both shared a passion for harmonic exploration and formal studies, combined with a love of the bizarre. It was therefore only right to bring them together on the same album. In his first two symphonies, Beethoven created a world of his own, drawing on the relatively recent history of the musical form that Carl Philipp Emanuel and Joseph Haydn had helped to shape and develop fifty years earlier. Although the works of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Beethoven presented here have little in common, they have a similar air of audacity and novelty about them, traits which have been wonderfully showcased by the musicians of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin under the baton of their “konzertmeister”, Bernhard Forck. An exciting example of mirroring works released by Harmonia Mundi as part of its monumental Beethoven edition commemorating the composer’s birth and death dates (2020 and 2027). – François Hudry

Tracklist:

1. Bernhard Forck – Symphony in F Major, H. 650, Wq. 175: I. Allegro assai (03:21)
2. Bernhard Forck – Symphony in F Major, H. 650, Wq. 175: II. Andante (03:06)
3. Bernhard Forck – Symphony in F Major, H. 650, Wq. 175: III. Tempo di Menuetto (02:28)
4. Bernhard Forck – Symphony No. 1, Op. 21: I. Adagio molto. Allegro con brio (09:11)
5. Bernhard Forck – Symphony No. 1, Op. 21: II. Andante cantabile con moto (07:12)
6. Bernhard Forck – Symphony No. 1, Op. 21: III. Minuet. Allegro molto e vivace. Trio (04:06)
7. Bernhard Forck – Symphony No. 1, Op. 21: IV. Finale. Adagio. Allegro molto e vivace (05:43)
8. Bernhard Forck – Symphony in G Major, H. 666, Wq. 183/4: I. Allegro assai (02:58)
9. Bernhard Forck – Symphony in G Major, H. 666, Wq. 183/4: II. Poco andante (03:28)
10. Bernhard Forck – Symphony in G Major, H. 666, Wq. 183/4: III. Presto (03:25)
11. Bernhard Forck – Symphony No. 2, Op. 36: I. Adagio molto. Allegro con brio (12:15)
12. Bernhard Forck – Symphony No. 2, Op. 36: II. Larghetto (10:30)
13. Bernhard Forck – Symphony No. 2, Op. 36: III. Scherzo. Allegro. Trio (04:25)
14. Bernhard Forck – Symphony No. 2, Op. 36: IV. Allegro molto (06:27)

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