Keith Jarrett’s account of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s Wurttemberg Sonatas is a revelation.

“I’d heard the sonatas played by harpsichordists, and felt there was room for a piano version,” says Jarrett today. This outstanding recording, made in 1994 and previously unreleased, finds the pianist attuned to the expressive implications of the sonatas in every moment. The younger Bach’s idiosyncrasies: the gentle playfulness of the music, the fondness for subtle and sudden tempo shifts, the extraordinary, rippling invention…all of this is wonderfully delivered.

The fluidity of the whole performance has a quality that perhaps could be conveyed only by an artist of great improvisational skills. In Jarrett’s hands, CPE’s exploration of new compositional forms retains the freshness of discovery.

Recorded at Keith Jarrett’s Cavelight Studio in May 1994, the album includes liner notes by Paul Griffiths.

Keith Jarrett: piano

“The inventiveness and unexpected twists and turns of the music emerge, especially in the minor-key slow movements of the Fourth and Fifth sonatas.” – **** BBC Music Magazine

“Dating from 1994 (and never issued before), Keith Jarrett, who recorded music by JS Bach around the same time, also turned his attention and brilliant playing to music by Carl Philip Emanuel, with wonderful results…In the intervening years other pianists have, too, [recorded on the piano] and it’s no disrespect to them to say that Jarrett moves straight to the top of the list of interpreters on the instrument.” – Gramophone

“Lithe, intelligent performances…these sparkling, almost improvised-sounding sonatas chime with the pianist’s own ingenuity and virtuosity. Paul Griffiths has provided an elegant booklet note.” – The Guardian