Orchestral

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-88) was the big symphonic force in 18th-century Germany, and when anybody mentioned ‘Bach’ in Vienna it was to him rather than to his father that they were referring. Mozart is reported to have said of him: ‘He is the father, we are the children.’ The young Beethoven was taught keyboard technique by Gottlob Neefe with the aid of CPE’s celebrated treatise on the subject.

This recording is designed to show how CPE’s symphonies may have been distant models for Beethoven’s first essays in the genre. And althoughof the work in G major possesses a noble grandeur, and the concluding is adroit.