Choices

Finished The Art Forger: A Novel by B.A. Shapiro last night. Enjoyed it, read most of the second half while listening to music in the den. Never did that before. Fun.

This morning I started off trying to listen to more of an album I began last night, Fantasy by pianist Danae Dorken. I chose Fantasia in F#-, H.300, Wq.67 by Carl Philipp Emanuael Bach. I thought it would be baroque and high spirited but it was slowish and brooding, not the best to get you going first thing, so I turned it off. I really don't know much music from this second surviving son of J.S. Bach. I should learn more:

Stylistically distant from his father's rigorous polyphony, C.P.E. Bach was something of a proto-Romantic; he was the master of Empfindsamkeit, or "intimate expressiveness." The dark, dramatic, improvisation-like passages that appear in some of Mozart's and Haydn's works are due in part to his influence; his music in time became known all over Europe. His impulsive works for solo keyboard, which lurch into unexpected keys, change tempo and dynamics abruptly, and fly along with wide-ranging themes, are especially compelling. One account of Bach's after-dinner improvisations described the sweaty, glazed-eyed musician as "possessed," an adjective that would be applied to equally intense and idiosyncratic musicians in the Romantic age. Many of his symphonies are as audacious as his keyboard pieces.

-- This from the biography of the composer on ClassicalArchives, (c) James Reel, All Music Guide.

Next I tried the father, J.S. Can't go wrong there. Continued with Glenn Gould playing the French Overture (Partita) in B-, BWV831, playing from the cd set that I own. This is the last piece on the album. So I finally finished. I'm sure it won't be the last time I visit this set.

Next up was a Mozart string quintet played by the Guarneri String Quartet plus an extra 2nd violin. I own this set, but it's not available on ClassicalArchives. Here is a very good set for you to listen to by the Grumiaux Trio ensemble. I heard the String Quartet No.2 in C-, K.406. The trouble with the Guarneri set is that the sound is not as good as I'd hoped. It's a live recording; maybe the mic's weren't set up properly. There's not enough bass and the violins sound a bit shrill. I love these quintets so much, I may have to purchase another set, maybe the Grumiaux.