C.P.E. Bach: Piano Concertos Wq.5/Wq.8/Wq.30

Already in his first piano concerto in A minor Wq1, which he composed at the age of 19 in Leipzig, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach can only with difficulty conceal his ability to introduce a personal tone into the still very young genre of piano concerto. This applies both to the pianistic side, with its unconventional technical demands (leaps of up to two octaves – and thus typical instrumental melodies, elaborate ornamentation, etc.), and to the formal side, with unexpected continuations and sometimes abrupt developments.

This tendency can be traced in the concertos that soon followed, but especially in Wq5 and Wq8. His later statement, “I have taken all the liberties I needed,” proves its validity early on. The piano concerto becomes his most personal genre, which – free from constricting conventions – sometimes takes on an experimental character (Wq15 and Wq31). The fact that the first four-movement piano concerto in music history (Wq43 / 4, 1771) was also written under such conditions should be noted here as a supplement.

Since Wq1, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach has demonstrated the enormous capacity for development and change of the genre of the piano concerto; throughout his life, the concertos have occupied him and led him to ever new paths. Thus, over 55 years, a cosmos has emerged that only we today have the privilege of discovering.