Reviving Friedemann

The enterprising folks at Naxos have embarked on a complete set of recordings of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach's son Wilhelm Friedemann. The first volume is out, and it's a real treat. It includes 12 feisty and playful polonaises (in contrasting major and minor keys), a beautiful sonata which reminded me a little of Scarlatti, and an A-minor fantasia that oscillates between courtly grace and passionate outburst. Robert Hill captures all the twists and turns of the music on a delightfully untwangy fortepiano, which deftly undercuts any tendency toward sentimentality that might creep in. I greatly look forward to the next volumes in the series.