The Age of Extremes

This recording brings together three important representatives of the generation of the empfindsamer Stil. In response to the late Baroque style of Bach and Händel, they systematically emphasized contrasts and extreme juxtapositions in their compositions. This avant-garde style remained fashionable only briefly, but anticipated many important aspects of early Romanticism. The album combines a harpsichord concerto by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (the eldest son of Johann Sebastian Bach) with two concerti by the Bohemian composer Georg Benda. These perfectly illustrate the empfindsamer Stil, which can rapidly alternate between excitement and melancholy, raging fury and cheerful serenity. The programme concludes with major harpsichord solo works by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and an adagio and fuga for orchestra by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, which demonstrate the composers' skills in the stile antico.