Johann Christian Bach: Complete Keyboard Concertos (6 CD box set, FLAC)

Composer: Johann Christian Bach
Performer: Hanover Band, Anthony Halstead, Angela East, Adrian Butterfield, Graham Cracknell, Sebastian Comberti, Anna McDonald
Audio CD
SPARS Code: DDD
Number of Discs: 6 CD box set
Format: FLAC (tracks+cue)
Label: Cpo Records
Size: 1.7 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

# Concerto for harpsichord & strings in D minor, CW C70 (T. 298/7)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead

# Concerto for harpsichord & strings in B flat major, CW C68 (T. 298/1)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead

# Concerto for harpsichord & strings in F minor, CW C69 (T. 298/4)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead

# Concerto for harpsichord & strings in E major, CW C71 (T. 298/11)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead

# Concerto for harpsichord & strings in F minor (“Berlin”), CW C73 (T. 301/4)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead

# Concerto for harpsichord & strings in G major, CW C72 (T. 299/1)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead

# Concerto for harpsichord & strings in B flat major, Op. 1/1, CW C49 (T. 292/1)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead, Angela East, Adrian Butterfield, Graham Cracknell

# Concerto for harpsichord & strings in A major, Op. 1/2, CW C50 (T. 292/2)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead, Angela East, Adrian Butterfield, Graham Cracknell

# Concerto for harpsichord & strings in F major, Op. 1/3, CW C51 (T. 292/3)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead, Angela East, Adrian Butterfield, Graham Cracknell

# Concerto for harpsichord & strings in G major, Op. 1/4, CW C52 (T. 293/1)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead, Angela East, Adrian Butterfield, Graham Cracknell

# Concerto for harpsichord & strings in C major, Op. 1/5, CW C53 (T. 293/2)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead, Angela East, Adrian Butterfield, Graham Cracknell

# Concerto for harpsichord & strings in D major, Op. 1/6, CW C54 (T. 293/3)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead, Angela East, Adrian Butterfield, Graham Cracknell

# Concerto for keyboard & string orchestra in C major, Op. 7/1, CW C55 (T. 293/4)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
with Anthony Halstead, Sebastian Comberti, Anna McDonald, Graham Cracknell

# Concerto for keyboard & string orchestra in F major, Op. 7/2, CW C56 (T. 294/1)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
with Anthony Halstead, Sebastian Comberti, Anna McDonald, Graham Cracknell

# Concerto for keyboard & string orchestra in D major, Op. 7/3, CW C57 (T. 293/8)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
with Anthony Halstead, Sebastian Comberti, Anna McDonald, Graham Cracknell

# Concerto for keyboard & string orchestra in B flat major, Op. 7/4, CW C58 (T. 293/3)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
with Anthony Halstead, Sebastian Comberti, Anna McDonald, Graham Cracknell

# Concerto for piano & orchestra in E flat major, CW C75 (T. 290/1) Allegro di molto
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
with Anthony Halstead, Sebastian Comberti, Anna McDonald, Graham Cracknell

# Concerto for keyboard & string orchestra in E flat major, Op. 7/5, CW C59 (T.294/5) Andante
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
with Anthony Halstead, Sebastian Comberti, Anna McDonald, Graham Cracknell

# Concerto for piano & orchestra in E flat major, CW C75 (T. 290/1) Allegretto
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
with Anthony Halstead, Sebastian Comberti, Anna McDonald, Graham Cracknell

# Concerto for keyboard & string orchestra in G major, Op. 7/6, CW C60ab (T. 294/7) (2 versions)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
with Anthony Halstead, Sebastian Comberti, Anna McDonald, Graham Cracknell

# Concerto for keyboard & string orchestra in C major, Op. 13/1, CW C62 (T. 295/1)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead

# Concerto for keyboard & string orchestra in D major, Op. 13/2, CW C63 (T. 295/3)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead

# Concerto for keyboard & string orchestra in F major, Op. 13/3, CW C64 (T. 295/6)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead

# Concerto for piano & orchestra in E flat major, CW C75 (T. 290/1) Allegro
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead

# Concerto for piano & orchestra in E flat major, CW C75 (T. 290/1) Andante
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead

# Concerto for piano & orchestra in E flat major, CW C75 (T. 290/1) Rondeau: Tempo di Minuetto
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead

# Concerto for keyboard & string orchestra in B flat major (“The yellow haired laddie”), Op. 13/4, CW C65 (T. 296/2)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead

# Concerto for keyboard & string orchestra in G major, Op. 13/5, CW C66 (T. 296/5)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead

# Concerto for keyboard & string orchestra in E flat major, Op. 13/6, CW C67 (T.295/7)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead

# Concerto for piano & string orchestra in E flat major (“Bailleux”), Op. 14, CW C61 (T. 301/1)
Composed by Johann Christian Bach
Performed by Hanover Band
with Anthony Halstead

Goldilocks J.C. Bach

All of the CDs in this set are easy to enjoy, with stylish music full of a persuasive inspiration. The playing and conducting by Halstead is very idiomatic for the works themselves, which candidly means that he never tries to make them sound like utterly great music. This is the exactly correct approach, to my ears, as trying to make them into some harbinger of Mozart’s concertos would de a disaster. Of course they were an important element in influencing Mozart, but one should never read or interpret works anachronistically, nevertheless. This is one case where a sort of Goldilocks interpretation really is the spot-on take necessary to make the works still enjoyable but not freighted with more than they are. With all that, there are so some very stirring moments, elegantly so. Halstead’s playing is actually quite virtuosic in a unflappable way, without a trace of affectation that others have brought to some of these works, most notably Ingrid Haebler. I noticed another reviewer here praises Haebler’s interpretations in order to bizarrely call into question Halstead’s keyboard aplomb. That is not what one can hear on these fine CDs. Luckily, also, on these CDs the members of the Hanover Band do not go in for some of the sqwawkiness they have produced on other CDs.