Father and Son Einav Yarden

• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714 - 1788): Rondo in C Minor, Wq. 59/4:
• 1 Bach: Rondo in C Minor, Wq. 59/4: Allegro 04:22
• Rondo in G Major, Wq. 57/3:
• 2 Bach: Rondo in G Major, Wq. 57/3: Poco andante 04:12
• Fantasia in E-flat Major, Wq. 58/6:
• 3 Bach: Fantasia in E-flat Major, Wq. 58/6: Allegro di molto 05:53
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903:
• 4 Bach: Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903: I. Fantasia 06:07
• 5 Bach: Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903: II. Fugue 05:10
• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: “Prussian Sonata” No. 2 in B-flat Major, Wq. 48/2:
• 6 Bach: “Prussian Sonata” No. 2 in B-flat Major, Wq. 48/2: I. Vivace 04:51
• 7 Bach: “Prussian Sonata” No. 2 in B-flat Major, Wq. 48/2: II. Adagio 03:38
• 8 Bach: “Prussian Sonata” No. 2 in B-flat Major, Wq. 48/2: III. Allegro assai 02:46
• Fantasia in C Major, Wq. 61/6:
• 9 Bach: Fantasia in C Major, Wq. 61/6: Presto di molto 05:31
• Sonata in D Major, Wq. 61/2:
• 10 Bach: Sonata in D Major, Wq. 61/2: I. Allegro di molto 02:24
• 11 Bach: Sonata in D Major, Wq. 61/2: II. Allegretto 01:17
• 12 Bach: Sonata in D Major, Wq. 61/2: III. Presto di molto 01:26
• Johann Sebastian Bach: English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 807:
• 13 Bach: English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 807: I. Prelude 04:10
• 14 Bach: English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 807: II. Allemande 03:37
• 15 Bach: English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 807: III. Courante 01:45
• 16 Bach: English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 807: IV. Sarabande 03:37
• V. English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 807:
• 17 Bach: V. English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 807: Bourree I – Bourree II – Bourree I 04:07
• VI. English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 807:
• 18 Bach: VI. English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 807: Gigue 03:15
• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Arioso with 7 Variations in F Major, Wq. 118/4:
• 19 Bach: Arioso with 7 Variations in F Major, Wq. 118/4 07:35
• Total Runtime 01:15:43

Info for Father and Son

When I first discovered C.P.E Bach’s keyboard music, I remember being completely amazed by its versatility and originality, by its inventiveness, spectrum of expression and its boldness. I was equally astounded by how much he preceded his time, that only one generation away from his father’s High Baroque, and long before the Viennese Classical School fully flourished, he experimented so widely, pushed boundaries tirelessly, and in many ways laid the foundation for what was to become the Classical style. That he influenced Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven is clear and known, but one could also argue that he foreshadowed in certain ways the Romantic period.

With this album I wish to shed light on this brilliant composer’s music, but wanted to do so while placing him next to the composer he most admired, but from whom he also needed to diverge and completely redefine himself – his father, Johann Sebastian Bach. The differences are extreme in every parameter, but some interesting parallels also emerge, as in the relationship to the written improvisation, the fantasia and the rondo.

The majority of the C.P.E. Bach pieces on this album were written in the later part of his career, but two of them were written in the 1740’s, in other words while his father was still alive and writing. Each in its way, they offer a window into this interesting transition period in musical style and in C.P.E.’s composition. The works from his later period further unfold his endless originality and ceaseless urge to experiment. The incredible masterpieces of J.S. Bach are milestones of beauty and perfection - and when heard next to the son’s pieces, they further highlight just how far, and in how many directions, the son went.

This recording was made using a Chris Maene Concert Grand built in 2017. This remarkable instrument combines the knowledge and materials used in modern piano building with those found in older historical instruments. The most striking feature is that unlike in modern grand pianos, in which the strings in the bass and middle registers cross, in this instrument all strings run parallel to each other. As a result, it combines the solidity of a modern concert grand piano with the transparent sound ideal of older instruments

Einav Yarden, piano

Einav Yarden
is praised for her “imagination and exceptionally vivid playing…sense of immense majesty, tempered by gentleness and quiet grace” (The Washington Post, USA), and “glistening rapture…ingenious humor” (Tagesspiegel, Germany). She has been regularly presented in recital at important venues around the world and as soloist with orchestras including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (and the Rundfunkchor Berlin), Minnesota Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Bradenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, Bucharest Philharmonic, and Jerusalem Symphony, under conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, Leon Botstein, Frédéric Chaslin, Stefan Blunier, Aldo Ceccato, Mendi Rodan, and Simon Halsey, among others.

Her engagements over the past couple seasons include solo performances at the 92nd Street Y in NYC, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, Salle Cortot in Paris, Nikolaisaal in Potsdam, and a solo performance at the Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth, subbing in for the international star Daniil Trifonov with just a few hours’ notice, and leaving the audience “deeply overjoyed and impressed” (Piano News, Germany). Other noteworthy stages on which she has performed include the Berlin Philharmonie and the Philharmonie Chamber Music Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, the Rose Theater at Lincoln Center in New York, the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Schumannsaal in Düsseldorf, Musée d’Orsay Auditorium in Paris, and others.

In 2018 Einav Yarden released her third CD for Challenge Classics, with solo piano works by Schumann. The recording received widespread international acclaim. Her 2016 album release of Haydn sonatas on Challenge Classics was awarded the quarterly German Record Critics’ Award ("Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik"), selected as CD-of-the-Month for Germany’s distinguished Piano News magazine, and received much enthusiastic press internationally. Her first release with Challenge Classics, “Oscillations”, which combines works by Beethoven and Stravinsky, also received international praise. Her performances and recordings have been broadcast on many prominent classical radio throughout most of Europe, in the US, Canada, England, Israel and elsewhere in the world.

A passionate chamber musician, she devotes herself regularly to collaborations with other musicians and enthusiastically incorporates unique repertoire into her programs. Major festival appearances include the Ruhr Piano Festival (Germany), La Roque d’Anthéron International Piano Festival (France), Ravinia Festival (USA), Verbier Festival (Switzerland), Menton Festival, and Flâneries Musicales de Reims Festival (France), Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, and Upper-Galilee Chamber Music Festival (Israel), and others.

Einav Yarden taught piano at the Frankfurt University for Music and Performing Arts (HfMDK Frankfurt) in 2021. She also taught chamber music from 2016-18 at the Univerity for Music Freiburg and served a substitute professor of piano at the Music Conservatory of Lucerne University in the fall 2018-19 semester. Between the summers of 2012 and 2017, she was a Collaborative Pianist at the Ravinia Festival’s esteemed Steans Music Institute. Among her competition awards are top prizes at the International Beethoven Piano Competition in Bonn, the Minnesota International Piano-e-Competition, Canada’s Esther Honens International Piano Competition, as well as top prizes at the Aviv Competitions in Israel, where she was awarded the piano Guralnik Prize and the prize for best performance of contemporary Israeli work.

She was a longtime student of the late renowned pianist Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory (Johns Hopkins University) in Baltimore, earning a Master of Music with high honors and a Graduate Performance Diploma. Prior to this, she received a Bachelor of Music with high honors from the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University under the instruction of Prof. Emanuel Krasovsky. She has also received piano guidance from Richard Goode, Elisso Virsaladze, and Prof. Zvi Meniker (on historical fortepianos). She is based in Berlin, Germany.

Booklet for Father and Son