Harald Hoeren follows up his previous Johann Christian Bach recital devoted to the composer’s six Op. 5 Sonatas with the composer’s more mature Op. 17 group of six. As a stylist, Hoeren likes to round off ends of phrases and lean into accents with more rhetoric than necessary (like in the C minor sonata’s first movement). The zesty finales come off more heavy-handed than Robert Wolley’s more supple and flexible Op. 17 accounts for Chandos. What’s more, the latter’s richer sound, superior quality fortepiano, and perkier interpretations score over Hoeren’s earnest, slightly square, downbeat-heavy approach. At the same time, Hoeren’s trills, whether soft or loud, are always shapely and expressive. Try to locate the Chandos J. C. Bach Op. 17 version first, then this disc.
