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Track(s) taken from CDA67786

Sonata in B flat major, H25 Wq48/2

composer
1740; published in the 1742 set of so-called Prussian Sonatas

Danny Driver (piano)
Recording details: August 2009
Concert Hall, Wyastone Estate, Monmouth, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Simon Eadon
Release date: June 2010
Total duration: 12 minutes 54 seconds

Cover artwork: Ideal landscape (1776) by Johann Sebastian Bach (1748-1778)
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany / Bridgeman Images
 

Reviews

‘Danny Driver, a recent addition to Hyperion's bejewelled roster of pianists, makes his superlative case for music that is as inventive as it is unsettling. Playing with imperturbable authority, he captures all the mercurial fits and starts of the G minor Sonata … it would be impossible to over-estimate Driver's impeccable technique and musicianship, and also a warmth missing from Pletnev's earlier and razor-sharp recital … this is one of the finest of all recent keyboard issues and Hyperion's sound and presentation are ideal’ (Gramophone)

‘Listening to this extraordinary music, it is easy to understand why the audiences who first heard it in the 1740s were thrilled and bewildered in equal measure … Driver meets the interpretative challenges with a lively mind, dexterity and warm sensibility in a way that brings CPE Bach's startling originality sharply into focus’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘With 78 minutes of impeccable pianism, top-drawer recording quality and highly informative notes by Leta Miller, placing these remarkable works in context, this deserves a wide audience’ (International Record Review)

‘Driver's playing is scintilating …’ (Listen, USA)

‘In terms of this selection of CPE Bach’s sonatas, it’s a case of once you start, you’re hooked, something enhanced by playing of clarity, depth and poise, Driver always willing to go with the music’s unpredictability. This is invention at once intellectual and engagingly entertaining, containing the promise of surprise while retaining a secret or two for the next playing. There is an unpredictable logic to these pieces that is very likeable, be it the individual slow movements or the toccata-like faster ones; and whatever CPE Bach demands Danny Driver ensures a comprehensive realisation of these fascinating scores’ (Classical Source)
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