A surprising start to 2022 in more ways than one. For one, most record labels bring out their A-list releases in November or December to coincide with the Christmas shopping season. The month of January is always rather low-key and lacklustre as far as new releases are concerned. I remember from my many years in music retail that our focus in January was on returning overstock rather than shelving new releases. And this is far from being an inconsequential release.

The other surprising factor is to hear what insights pianist extraordinaire Marc-André Hamelin brings to the music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788). After all, it seems that Hamelin's focus and personal mission has always been to tackle and master the more obscure and yet Herculean works of the repertoire from composers like Ornstein, Scriabin, Godowsky, Kapustin, Catoire, Busoni, Roslavets, Rzewski, Medtner, etc ... including his own technically challenging compositions. For example, one of his recent recordings was of the monumental piano sonatas by Russian composer Samuil Feinberg. Mind you he's also released back in 2007 an excellent recording of some of Joseph Haydn's piano sonatas. And C.P.E. Bach precedes Haydn by only twenty years so its not that much of a stretch, historically speaking that is.

Despite being one of Johann Sebastian Bach's sons, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach has always been dismissed as being a transitional composer, bridging the Baroque era to the Classical period. He composed over 150 sonatas for the clavichord, sometimes considered more harmonically adventurous than even Haydn or Mozart. For a pianist accustomed to bringing down the house with thunderous chords and paint blistering technical velocity, Hamelin certainly brings out all the charm, finesse and refinement intrinsic to this music. Poise and perfectly judged dynamic balance between the hands, fluid phrasing and tempered rubato, all come together to do the music full justice. There's a tendency for music from that period to sound overly formulaic, but Hamelin doesn't see it that way. Each and every phrase, ornamentation, harmonic twist sound fresh, musical and innovative under his highly insightful interpretation.

At one time or another, if you were an aspiring piano student, you may remember struggling to bring his Solfeggio in C minor up to speed, which is included in this recording. If only the rest of the new year could be as pleasantly surprising!