Wilhelm Friedemann Bach:
Symphony D minor for Strings and b.c., BR-WFB C Inc.1

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach:
Symphony in E flat major for Strings and b.c,. Wq/H deest
Symphony in C major for Strings and b.c., Wq/H deest
Symphony in E minor for Strings and b.c., Wq 177

Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach:
Symphony in D minor for Strings and b.c.

Johann Ernst Bach:
Symphony in B major for Strings, two Bassoons and b.c.

Johann Ludwig Bach:
Concerto in D major for two Violins and two Oboes, Strings and b.c.

Johann Sebastian Bach:
Symphony in D major for Violin, two Oboes, three Trumpets, Timpani, Strings and b.c., BWV 1045

Every generation creates its own forms of expression. Often, this happens in abrupt rejection of what has gone before. And not infrequently, the provocative gestures in which a new attitude to life is articulated disappear again just as quickly as they appeared. Such thoughts may also have moved Johann Sebastian Bach when, in the early 1740s, his two eldest sons took up the genre of the symphony, which had come from Italy and was accompanied by a novel treatment of the orchestra and compositional technique. Together with their genera tional peers, they created an independent line of tradition that was later referred to by music historians as the "symphony of the North German school." The fact that the symphony did not remain a short-lived fashion, favoured by a handful of young savages, but advanced to become a genre that was soon considered the "acknowledged paramount form of instrumental music", was one of the most significant and momentous musical achievements of the 18th century.

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Recording: 11–15.04.2021, Philharmonie Berlin, Kammermusiksaal.