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| | BBC - Classical Review - CPE Bach: Sonatas and Rondos, Mikhail Pletnev |
 | | Music was changing fast in the late 18th century, and C.P.E. is sometimes referred to dismissively as 'pre-classical', as though his music still had one foot anchored in the baroque world of his father, or that his ideas weren't quite fully realised. |
 | | In fact, conversation is at the heart of this music; C.P.E. Bach was a university man, an intellectual, a friend of poets, professors and writers - this music almost literally talks to us, with rhythms and intonation closer to speech than more orthodox music. |
 | | Some critics are going to feel that Pletnev goes over the top, particularly given the modern instrument, but I can't help thinking that Bach junior would have been thrilled if he heard this; he was testing the limits of the instrument he knew, and it sounds as if Pletnev's doing exactly the same. |
| www.bbc.co.uk /music/classical/reviews/cpebach_pletnev.shtml (761 words) |
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