CPE Bach - Der Frühling

The Guardian 60

Café Zimmermann, Rupert Charlesworth (tenor)
(Alpha Classics)

Zimmermann’s cafe was the scene of the Leipzig Collegium Musicum concerts during the 1730s, and it is easy to imagine the talented Carl Philipp Emanuel being presented along with his younger siblings by their proud father, Johann Sebastian. Most of the music here dates from later in Emanuel’s European career, and it ranges fascinatingly from the bold and eccentric in the A minor Sinfonia, to the sweet and sentimental in the songs and arias that give the disc its title. A middle course is steered by a B flat Trio Sonata and a lively Sonatina with horns and (too reticent) harpsichord. Excellent, tight-knit playing by the eponymous cafe players.