The Complete Keyboard Concertos - Volume 4

Abstract

The Works and their Sources Two different versions of the above-mentioned Concerto in D major have survived. We play the more richly ornamented later version preserved in a manuscript at the library of the Royal Conservatoire in Brussels. This work also raises an interesting theory. The simplicity and linearity of the right-hand part of the solo (especially in the first, less ornamented version) would suggest that this concerto was originally composed for a melody instrument. As we must assume that numerous flute con¬certos by C.P.E. Bach have been lost, all of which might still exist in keyboard ver¬sions, the idea that this concerto is one of them seems quite plausible. This already occurred to me when I played through this piece for the very first time many years ago, and I found its style strikingly different from that of the neighbouring con¬certos. Recently, my vague suppositions were supported by the scientific researches of the excellent C.P.E. Bach-scholar Elias Kulukundis. I should like to thank Jane R. Stevens for informing me of Mr. Kulukundis's researches. This theory throws a new light also upon the question of the solo instrument. It is rather obvious that a fortepiano with its thinner, flexible sound and its possibi¬lities of dynamic shading, is much closer to the flute than the noble, rich and heavy-sounding harpsichord, and is thus a more inspiring medium for transcribing a flute concerto for keyboard. For the recording of the two other concertos on this disc we used both Berlin autographs and parts from Brussels. In case of the Concerto in G major, H. 412 (W. 9), the parts contain a considerable number of mistakes (e.g. the two violin