Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was born in Weimar on 8 March 1714, as the second (surviving) son of Johann Sebastian Bach. Once he said: "In composition and in clavier-playing I have never had any teacher other than my father". CPE received his general education at the famous St Thomas School in Leipzig, where his father had of course assumed the post of Thomaskantor. His first appointment to the court orchestra in Ruppin became a serious proposition only after the prince had ascended the throne as King Frederick II (later "the Great") in 1740.

The death in 1767 of Telemann, CPE's godfather, left the post of music director in Hamburg vacant. CPE's reputation had long since spread beyond the borders of Brandenburg, allowing him to make a successful application. In March 1768 he assumed his office in the Hanseatic city of Hamburg, a move that marked a great forward step for him, both musically and financially. As music director of all five of the city's main churches he had to write an enormous number of cantatas as well as further pieces of sacred music, including passions, oratorios and motets. Thoroughly partial to the pleasures of the flesh, the composer progressively suffered from gout and died of some unspecified "disease of the chest" on 14 December 1788.

This extensive CD edition is intended to help listeners become acquainted with and appreciate his phenomenal music in its entirety. After all, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was and remains much more than just someone's son.

Contents:
CD 1-26: Complete Works for Solo Piano
CD 27-31: Piano Concertos
CD 32-33: Harpsichord Concertos
CD 34: Harpsichord Concertos & Symphonies
CD 35-37: Symphonies
CD 38: Cello Concertos
CD 39: Oboe Concertos
CD 40-41: Flute Concertos
CD 42: Wind Chamber Music
CD 43-44: Flute Sonatas
CD 45: Viola da Gamba Sonatas
CD 46-47: Hamburger Quartalsmusiken
CD 48: Hamburger Festmusiken
CD 49: Magnificat
CD 50: Organ Works
CD 51: Chamber Music
CD 52: Sonata for Keyboard & Violin
CD 53-54: Complete Organ Works
CD 55: Cantata, Herrn Professor Gellerts geistliche Oden und Lieder
CD 56: Herrn Professor Gellerts geistliche Oden und Lieder
CD 57: Quartets, Trio Sonata
CD 58: Trio Sonatas
CD 59-60: Piano Concertos