Almost any helping of C.P.E. Bach's orchestral music makes a useful addition to any collection, and if you just want to sample this composer's works without any major cash commitment, it would be difficult to do better than these excellent Erato Ultima reissues. Here are four symphonies and four concertos, all expertly played by the fine Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra directed by Ton Koopman, who also plays the harpsichord in two of C.P.E.'s double keyboard concertos. The two flute concertos, in G major and A minor, are elegantly performed by Konrad Hünteler.

But the chief interest here is likely to be the symphonies, and this group of four contains some of the composer's finest orchestral efforts. These aren't the sprightly, suspenseful, and oft-programmed works for strings alone (H. 657-62) written in 1773, but a more lavishly orchestrated group (calling for pairs of flutes, oboes, bassoons, and horns) composed some five years later. They're all typical of the Mannheim-style symphonies that rivalled Haydn's at that time, and Koopman and his ABO players really capture the nervous restlessness and unpredictability of the music to superb effect.

Koopman, like his closest rival Gustav Leonhardt (with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment on Virgin Veritas), is especially good at managing Bach's frequent tempo changes and big dynamic contrasts, and the use of period instruments (the winds particularly) lends tremendous character and verve to these excellent accounts. There's a 1994 Naxos disc that includes these engaging symphonies, but the playing of the Salzburg Chamber Philharmonic is often rhythmically slack and there are occasional moments of poor ensemble and intonation--and even for a budget CD, just 52 minutes of playing time is a poor deal considering you can have Erato's classy double-disc set for nearly the same cost.

Koopman is joined by Tini Mathot in the F major double harpsichord concerto (H 408) and the rarely heard E-flat concerto for harpsichord and fortepiano. Again the performances are superb, with both soloists equally matched--but if you're especially interested in Bach's keyboard concertos, keep a watchful eye on the critically acclaimed ongoing series for BIS, featuring dazzling and ear-pricking performances by Miklós Spányi with Concerto Armonico directed by Péter Szüts. If you just want a serviceable overview, you'll find this bargain Erato set completely satisfying in every way. Highly recommended. [11/24/2001]

--Michael Jameson