This is Brazil-born Julia Brown's second and Naxos's
third volume devoted to the keyboard works of Johann Sebastian's eldest
and arguably most original son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. Previous releases
were well received. The first volume, in 2007, featured American soloist
Robert Hill playing Bach's masterly Polonaises and the strikingly original
Sonata in D (F.3) on a 1720-ish fortepiano reconstruction (8.557966).
The following year Brown, in her recording of Fantasias and (separate)
Fugues, took to the harpsichord - Bach did not indicate which particular
keyboard instrument his works were to be performed on. Occasionally
the choice is made for the performer, as in Brown's most recent recording
for Naxos (8.570571), of a number of Fugues by Bach that require a pedal
- hence her recourse to the organ.
None of the above Naxos recordings were released to mark the tricentenary
of Wilhelm Friedemann's birth in 2010. Surprisingly few other labels
appeared to recognise the date - Brilliant (94057), Ricercar (RIC 297)
and Accentus (ACC 20103) were among the honourable exceptions - although
a spate of monographs in 2011 suggests that many had originally intended
to!
A lot of falderal has been written about Wilhelm Friedemann, chiefly
in the nature of unsubstantiated tittle-tattle based on unverifiable
or disreputable sources, especially Carl Bitter's 1868 biography and
Albert Brachvogel's bio-fantasy - unhelpfully made into an opera by
Paul Graener and subsequently a Traugott Müller film, and more
besides. In the internet age fable can soon become 'fact', and the unfounded
rumours that Bach was a debauched ne'er-do-well with an Oedipus complex
are perpetuated even by otherwise reliable sources like Encyclopedia
Britannica. The in many ways scholarly Bach Cantatas Website offers
a typically trashy example, taken from a long-since amended Wikipedia
entry: "Unlike the rest of the family, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach was a
man of idle and dissolute habits, whose career was little more than
a series of wasted opportunities". No reference in either case to recent
academic studies!
Thankfully there has been no such complicity in Julia Brown's or Robert
Hill's booklet notes - they in any case concentrate rightly on the music.
Naxos, however, have used the same portrait of the composer - originating
from early biographer/cataloguer Martin Falck (of the 'F' numbers) -
on each of the three volumes, one that doubtless lends credence in its
way to the image of Bach the cockscomb. The problem is, Wilhelm Friedemann
was discredited as the subject a couple of years ago, as David Schulenberg's
excellent new biography, 'The Music of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach' (University
of Rochester Press, 2010, p.11-12) explains. In fact, the subject is
now thought to be Johann Christian Bach (1743-1814: not Wilhelm Friedemann's
half-brother, the famous 'London' one).
As for the music-making on this generously-timed disc, the recital finds
both Bach and Brown at their best. The four three-movement Sonatas may
be in the standard fast-slow-fast format, but they are instantly memorable
for their witty elegance, invention and abundant melody. The Sonatas
in E flat and B flat are especially so, with their sudden pauses, fits
of speed and improvisatory feel, and the lyricism of the slow movements
rates alongside the best of any Bach. The virtuosic Suite in G minor
is the best work of all, its five dance movements glistening with the
almost edible chromaticism of an immensely fertile imagination and paying
tribute to Wilhelm Friedemann's father's own genius and benefaction
in a language that undoubtedly made him proud. Brown plays with warmth
of expression and a great sense of enjoyment instantly communicated
through a fine-sounding instrument. Sound quality is very good, the
church acoustic only mildly resonant.
Byzantion
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