Session Report: Rachel Podger on recording C.P.E Bach

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At the end of the third variation of C.P.E. Bach’s Arioso con variazione Wq79, there is – spoiler alert – an almost Schubertian glimpse into the abyss, from which we are saved only by an exquisite last-minute swerve. The moment is impeccably executed by Rachel Podger and Kristian Bezuidenhout in their new release of music for violin and keyboard by the composer, but it is not the only foretaste of later musical styles on the album. While the Sonata in G minor H542.5, the first piece and the earliest chronologically, almost inevitably harks back to the music of C.P.E.’s father J.S. Bach (Podger thinks it could be a collaboration), the second, the Sonata in C minor Wq78, brings other names to mind…