The duo 'À deux fleustes esgales' is here expanded. The two treble voices are joined by a basso continuo made up of harpsichord and cello, for a programme of famous trio sonatas by 'the Bachs'. From the father Johann Sebastian to the sons Carl Phillip and Wilhelm Friedemann, the stylistic evolution from Baroque to Classical can be traced here through the many facets of that crucial period in music, the eighteenth century: · Counterpoint and flowing polyphony raised to their zenith by Johann Sebastian in such a way that instrumentation becomes almost immaterial · Wilhelm Friedemann retains a certain contrapuntal denseness, placed at the service of an instrumental style sometimes reminiscent of Italian concertante writing · Carl Phillip Emanuel concentrates on the melodic line, with the continuo assuming more of a harmonic function, in a style that makes room for fantasy and sensibility or Empfindsamkeit. This CD takes us through this development - a guided tour that is sheer delight.

Reinhard Goebel and Musica Antiqua Koln s recordings of J. S. Bach are classics of the Early Music movement. Equally revelatory is their championing of the music of the Bach family stretching from the mid-17th to the late 18th century: a treasure trove of vocal and instrumental works. Here they are complete in a single box for the first time, with Magdalena Kozená a stunning soloist.

The son of the peerless Johann Sebastian, Wilhelm Friedemann was the least famous Bach of his time. Yet he is now regarded by some as the most brilliant of the Bach children, and is occasionally reported to have been his father's favourite. A master of numerous different keyboard instruments, he was not particularly prolific, and of his 100 or so known works, many remained unprinted until the 20th century.

A transformative force in historically informed performance, Ton Koopman is renowned as a conductor, harpsichordist and organist. In 1979, aged 35, he founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in the city where he had studied with the great Dutch harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt. Drawing on an international pool of players, the ensemble soon gained a reputation for flexibility, colour and expressivity as it explored the music of such composers as the Bach family, Handel, Telemann and Buxtehude.

The novelties here are the Mattheson works, the first two fully composed, the third a figured-bass exercise from Mattheson's treatise on the subject. The sonata is a dramatic, virtuoso outing in the Italian style; the suite, ostensibly more french in character, retains a typical German heaviness.

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach was Director of Music in Halle from 1746 to 1764. This position was in many respects similar to that of Johann Sebastian Bach’s in Leipzig. Certainly, in performing his duties Friedemann Bach largely followed the example of his father – whether in matters of organ playing, choice of repertoire or making demands of the musicians. W. F. Bach was required to perform a cantata every third week and also on all feast days. The cantatas and Mass compositions performed here for the first time are works from this era – outstanding artistic contributions to the genre of the church cantata after J. S. Bach. Under the direction of Jürgen Ochs the eight singers of the Rastatter Hofkapelle perform both the choral as well as solo passages.

When on 12 May 1764 Wilhelm Friedemann Bach tended his resignation as Music Director and Organist at Halle a brilliant musical epoch came to an inglorious end. From the time of Samuel Scheidt the position of organist of the Halle Marktkirche had always been occupied by outstanding virtuosi and composers, and with W. F. Bach the last of them quit the service. The twenty or so surviving Halle cantatas by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach form a long-neglected body of music which is in many respects unparalleled. They represent extraordinarily individual attempts to emulate the musical achievements of his great paternal teacher and model, and to develop them further. Thus this son of Bach arrived at solutions to problems in his works which strive repeatedly towards grace and pathos, brilliance and originality, artistic diversity and natural simplicity.

The eighteenth century is probably the most extraordinary period of transformation Europe has known since antiquity. Political upheavals kept pace with the innumerable inventions and discoveries of the age; every sector of the arts and of intellectual and material life was turned upside down. Between the end of the reign of Louis XIV and the revolution of 1789, music in its turn underwent a radical mutation that struck at the very heart of a well-established musical language. In this domain too, we are all children of the Age of Enlightenment: our conception of music and the way we ‘consume’ it still follows in many respects the agenda set by the eighteenth century. And it is not entirely by chance that harmonia mundi has chosen to offer you in 2011 a survey of this musical revolution which, without claiming to be exhaustive, will enable you to grasp the principal outlines of musical creation between the twilight of the Baroque and the dawn of Romanticism.

Listening to this disc will certainly blow the cobwebs away. On second thoughts, the experience could more accurately be described as blasting the cobwebs away. Superbly performed interpretations breathe life and a sense of adventure into this music that ranges from late Baroque to the Classical period.

J.S. Bach’s talent seems to flow in his grandson’s blood at least as strongly as in any of his sons. Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach’s two symphonies (as well as the vocal works featured here) inhabit the sound-world of mid- to late Mozart, albeit without the brilliance (in every sense of the word). This Bach’s wind writing is tasteful, and makes good use of the (then) newly-arrived clarinet. The Andante of the C major symphony is quite beautiful, with a dolefully sweet oboe solo throughout the movement. The period strings of Das Kleine Konzert are lively, clean, and in tune, although the violin soloist is not quite up to the rapid passage-work at the end of the G major symphony.

Daniil Trifonov returns with an album dedicated to J.S. Bach. He explores the scientific, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of Bach's cosmos, his faith, family, and world. Centered around Bach's mystical masterpiece, The Art of the Fugue, Trifonov's project investigates the man behind the myth - a genius of humility and humor, whose loves, losses, and devotion inspired what Trifonov calls "some of humanity's most emotionally rich and fascinatingly sophisticated expressions in music."

Die Sechs Duette F54-59 wurden von Wilhelm Friedemann Bach ursprünglich für zwei Flöten geschrieben. Für diese Aufnahme ließen sich Omar Zoboli und Sergio Delmastro von der melodischen und rhythmischen Raffinesse der Werke inspirieren und arrangierten diese für ihre diversen Leib- und Mageninstrumente. Der Einsatz unterschiedlicher Klangfarben von Oboe, Englischhorn, Saxophon Klarinette und Bassetthorn lässt die Kompositionen dabei in ganz neuem Licht erscheinen.

The well-known painting of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach reproduced on the cover of this CD must be one of the most immediately attractive composer portraits ever made. The wide-brimmed hat, the fur-lined coat, the wisp of steely hair and, above all, the reddened but unmistakably genial face (displaying, if I’m not mistaken, his father’s nose) suggest a man one would want to accompany straightaway to the nearest coffee-house. But Friedemann was actually a little more complex than that, both as a person who could be lazy and argumentative and as a talented musician torn between the styles of the late baroque and early classical periods, so it is perhaps no surprise to find that there is considerable variety in the music on this disc.

The musical world of the eighteenth-century court at Dresden is characterised by its diversity: Vivaldi, Hasse, Ristori and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach were all highly esteemed. The Zürcher Barockorchester perform selections from this demanding repertoire and successfully transport listeners to Dresden’s vibrant Augustan era.