Collegium Musicum: Yale University

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Harpsichord Concerto in D Major, W. 27
Edited by Elias N. Kulukundis
 
 

The keyboard concertos of C. P. E. Bach, written for his own use, form the largest single group of orchestral works in his output, spanning his entire career. The Concerto in D Major, W. 27, was written in Berlin in 1750 and was probably first performed there in the same year. In keeping with his general practice, it consists of three movements in the sequence fast-slow-fast. There are two distinct versions of the work, however: the first, preserved in the original autograph, calls only for the usual string orchestra to accompany the harpsichord, while a second version preserved in later sources expands the orchestra to include woodwinds, brass, and kettledrums. The work was probably recast after 1775, during Bach’s Hamburg period, and it is this version that is published in the present edition.

"Of C. P. E. Bach's 52 concertos for one or two keyboard instruments and orchestra, the number available in modern editions is so small that any addition to their ranks is to be welcomed. The D-major concerto Wq. 27 is a fine, substantial work dating from 1750. . . . For this edition, Mr. Kulukundis has worked scrupulously with the sources." Peter Ward Jones, Music & Letters, July 1971. 

Music Sample