CPE BACH: Four Orchestral Symphonies, Wq. 183 LINER NOTES

3390

CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH FOUR ORCHESTRAL SYMPHONIES, Wq. 183

Berlin Chamber Orchestra Helmut KOCH, Conductor

CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH FOUR ORCHESTRAL SYMPHONIES, Wq. 183 Sinfonia In D Major, Wq. 183/1, H. 663 Allegro Di Molto 6:26 Largo 1:33 Presto 2:44 Sinfonia In E-Flat Major, Wq. 183/2, H. 664 Allegro Di Molto 4:06 Larghetto 1:21 Allegretto 3:44 Sinfonia In F Major, Wq. 183/3, H. 665 Allegro Di Molto 4:28 Larghetto 2:32 Presto 2:05 Sinfonia In G Major, Wq. 183/4, H. 666 Allegro Assai 3:12 Poco Andante 3:12 Presto 3:26 Berlin Chamber Orchestra Roland Münch, Harpsichord Helmut KOCH, Conductor

When Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach composed the four Orchestral Symphony in D Major, Wq. 183, No. 1 orchestral symphonies dedicated to Prince Frederick i. ALLEGRO DI MOLTO. William of Prussia in 1776, he was already sixty-two years old. In the course of his long career he had In a strikingly Romantic fashion, Bach generates a been active as a harpsichordist, composer, and sense of harmonic uncertainty by departing from the teacher at the court of Frederick the Great, and, from tonic as early as the fourth measure, before the tonic 1768 on, had served as the musical director of the has even been clearly established. The primary group five principal churches in Hamburg. By 1776 he had of the exposition grows out of a self-contained become known throughout Europe as one of the phrase of seven measures, in which an arpeggiated leading musical figures of his time, primarily as a figure played by the second violins, violas, and cellos composer of key board sonatas and concertos rather is pitted against a single high repeated note played than symphonies. In fact, for these four symphonies by the first violins. In the following repetitions of the of 1776 Bach borrowed fromn the realm of the seven-bar phrase this high note continues to concerto the alternation of solo and tutti, but divided function as the melodic "ceiling" but takes on a new the various solo sections between different members harmonic role each time. The resulting sense of of the orchestra instead of reserving the entire solo harmonic Aux is sustained in the next section by the for one instrument, as in a concerto. The symphonies introduction of chromatic chords as well as the old present in addition a fascinating blend of Baroque Baroque sequences. The secondary group presents textures and rhythms, a phrase structure for the first time a clearly-established key. occasionally echoing the Classical style of Haydn Subsequently the primary material is developed in and Mozart, and a strain of individualistic the same way as in the exposition, by repeating the expressivity not unlike that encountered later in the basic seven-measure kernel at different pitch levels. music of Beethoven. These symphonies refect the At the end of the recapitulation a series of tonic and variety of sounds their composer heard in his long dominant chords does finally emphasize D major as lifetime, from his earliest years in the home of his the tonic, only to be denied again at the very end by father, Johann Sebastian Bach, through the mid- a sudden shift to the key of E-flat major in order to century changes in musical style and performance provide a transition to the second movement. practice.

LARGO. In contrast to the first movement, this beautiful Largo presents a balanced, finely proportioned melody characteristic of the Classical style of Haydn and Mozart. Even so, Bach's Baroque heritage still may

be heard in the trio-sonata combination of two paired played in unison provides a clear line of demarcation high voices against a bass line with both melodic and between sections. harmonic functions. As if to update the trio sonata texture, Bach has filled in its characteristic middle Orchestral Symphony in F Major, Wq. 183, No. 3 register "hole" by writing parts for solo viola and solo ALLEGRO DI MOLTO cello, which double the high notes of the two solo The harmonic ambiguity at the beginning of this flutes.

Allegro results from the same structural design found in the first movement of the D Major Symphony: a PRESTO. The last movement of the symphony follows short, self-contained phrase repeated at different immediately after a short transitional passage at the pitch levels. Characteristic of Philipp Emanuel's style end of the second movement. The short, constantly is this pronounced tendency to play with a musical reiterated rhythmic patterns of this Presto provide idea immediately after it is first stated, so that the bustling activity so typical of the Baroque idiom. developmental procedures such as rhythmic fragmentation, melodic transposition, and harmonic Orchestral Symphony in E-Flat Major, Wq. 183, No. 2 redirection are not reserved for the development section.

ALLEGRO DI MOLTO. The many scalar passages played in unison and the LARGHETTO. rests punctuating this movement offer a glimpse of The entire slow movement is built around the what was to become characte- ristic of Beethoven's interplay of two melodic lines. Following the Classical treatment of counterpoint, the contours of the style. melodies approach but never fully take on the independence found in Baroque polyphonic writing, LARGHETTO. Although the slow movement is quite short, it is for an increase in activity in one part is accompanied nevertheless very intense with its sudden contrasts by a corresponding decrease in the other, and both lines cadence at the same time. in dynamics and texture and its melodic sighs.

ALLEGRETTO. During the course of this movement the motivic material of the primary theme does appear in the balanced, arched phrase structure of the Classical style, but as a fleeting development of the theme rather than as an organizing principle for the whole.

A very distinctive closing theme of dotted notes

PRESTO Balancing the frequent small-scale changes of melodic direction in the upper lines played by flutes, oboes, and violins, the bass line presents a much longer pattern of initial repetition of the tonic followed by a gradual step-wise ascent to the dominant. Similar long ascents and repeated notes in

the bass line are heard in the second part of the cadence the use of previously-heard melodic motives movement. In this way the bass line provides a links the new section to the old, while at the same harmonic framework within which the erratically time these melodic motives are given a new moving top lines may be understood, and offers a harmonic framework in order to accomplish the recognizable and predictable direction to the eventual return to the tonic. movement as a whole.

PRESTO. Orchestral Symphony in G Major, Wq. 183, No. 4.

The last movement presents a clearly-articulated ALLEGRO ASSAI. bouncing melody in 6/8 time that is quite dance-like in character. The composer evidently wished to be The steady pulsating Baroque rhythms of this Allegro sure this aspect of the movement would not go arer occasionally broken by long pauses, after which unnoticed in performance, for he wrote into the come harmonic surprises and completely different score, thematic material. Such dramatic disruptions and contrasts within a movement represent a distinct N.B. All notes in this Presto that have no slurs over departure from the Baroque tradition of unifying a them are not to be slurred. piece or a movement by composing with a single affect or emotion al state in mind.

RACHEL W. WADE POCO ANDANTE. The tempestuous opening movement of the symphony is followed by a slow movement in G minor of great beauty. In place of the short and tonally ambiguous motives so often encountered in Philipp Emanuel's music, we hear a balanced, delicately arched phrase unquestionably in G minor, which unfolds over eight measures. This Andante is a masterpiece of tonal organization and balance, both within phrases and between sections. Within individual phrases the constant interplay of suspension and resolution generates a strong sense of movement forward, until the cadence finally provides a temporary stopping point. After the

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