Symphoniker Hamburg / Roland Kluttig

When people spoke about »Bach« in Mozart’s day, they weren’t talking about Johann Sebastian. Mozart gushed: »Emanuel Bach is the master, we are his students; whenever one of us creates anything good, it is because we have learnt from him.« Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – from 1768 Hamburg’s Director of Music, as successor to his godfather Telemann – was one of the main representatives of the sensitive style in the transition period from Baroque to Viennese Classicism. The focus by then was on the »feeling heart«, in accordance with his motto: »We must play from the soul, not like trained birds!« And so his Symphony in B minor and Cello Concerto in A major captivate with honest empathy.