C. P. E. Bach's five flute concertos date from his years at Berlin and Potsdam as harpsichordist to Frederick the Great. James Galway and the...

C. P. E. Bach's five flute concertos date from his years at Berlin and Potsdam as harpsichordist to Frederick the Great. James Galway and the Wurttemberg Chamber Orchestra play three of them. The best known is the Concerto in D minor (Wq22) but this, in fact, may never have been intended by Bach as a flute work. He wrote it for harpsichord and strings, but a copy for flute exists, made by Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia who was a gifted musician and an assiduous collector of music. Bach was in close contact with her at Frederick's court and perhaps authorized the flute transcription after all, he himself was shortly to do the same with the remaining concertos, all of which follow the D minor work in their date of composition. The Concerto in A major (Wq168) exists in alternative versions for solo harpsichord and solo cello while the Concerto in G major (Wq169) exists in an alternative version for harpsichord and strings.

Galway gives characteristically warm and polished performances of the three concertos and he is very well supported by the Wurttemberg strings. This orchestra and their conductor were responsible many years ago for some of the liveliest repertory on the old Vox-Turnabout label and since then seem to have lost none of their vitality. The quirkiness in some of Emanuel Bach's writing and its brooding intensity, especially in slow movements, is played down here in the interests of elegance and gracefulness of expression. They are qualities which these artists understand well and it may well be that this ingenuous view of the music, somewhat lacking in introspection but plentifully equipped with virtuosity, will commend itself to listeners in a way that others do not. The sound, generously assisted by a spacious acoustic, is certainly very beautiful yet I felt that a veneer of artificiality covered the Largo con sordini of the A major Concerto. The deeply felt, passionate utterances of this music are conveyed only in part here, and I found Galway's insistent vibrato hard to justify. That, however, is perhaps more of a personal matter.

Nevertheless, in spite of reservations this is an enjoyable recital, beautifully recorded and impressively played. But readers with a taste for period style and a feeling for Bach's essential individuality may well prefer Konrad Hunteler's performances on Erato/Warner Classics with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra directed by Ton Koopman.

-- Nicholas Anderson, Gramophone [2/1991]