Concerto in A Major, Wq 172 for cello and piano by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Revised, edited, and with cadenzas by Ferdinand Pollain. Published by Salabert
Until the Romantic Era, the music of German composer Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-88) was even more renowned and celebrated than that of his father, Johann Sebastian; Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven were all strong admirers. He was a preeminent composer in the empfindsamer stil (sensitive style) and sturm und drang (storm and stress) movements, key transitional styles between the Baroque and Classical periods. His strikingly original music also anticipated major stylistic traits of the Romantic Era, with its deep expression and harmonic and rhythmic freedom. Today, he is particularly well-known for his keyboard music, concertos, string symphonies, and chamber music with strings.
CPE Bach wrote three cello concertos in the early 1750s, later rearranged in versions for harpsichord and flute. His third, the Cello Concerto in A Major, Wq 172 (1753), is the most overtly virtuosic of the three, featuring wide leaps, fast string crossings, exuberant arpeggios, and fascinating rhythmic clashes between soloist and orchestra. Extroverted, playful outer movements with surprising modulations frame a striking, melancholy slow movement, prominently featuring the plaintive upper register of the cello. The concerto is popular today thanks to this revision and piano reduction by Ferdinand Pollain. Advanced level, Grade 5.
