Fenwick Smith and John Gibbons play C.P.E. Bach

During the 1750’s, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, son of Johann Sebastian Bach, was a musician in the court of Frederick the Great, the king of Prussia.  In addition to being a shrewd and powerful king, Frederick was quite an accomplished flutist, so it’s not surprising that most of C.P.E. Bach’s flute compositions come from this period.  Sonatas like this one show off the beauty of the flute, of course, but they also serve as showcases for the art of the keyboard – C.P.E. was a harpsichord virtuoso.  We hear them played by modern virtuosos, Fenwick Smith and John Gibbons.
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Bach, C.P.E.: Sonata in G for flute, W.86 (1755)
Fenwick Smith, flute; John Gibbons, harpsichord
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More information:  http://fenwicksmith.com/ and http://necmusic.edu/faculty/john-gibbons

Recorded in a live broadcast in WGBH's Fraser Performance Studio on September 11th, 2009.
©2009 WGBH Educational Foundation.
http://www.wgbh.org/classical email: classical@wgbh.org

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