Since reading Stravinsky’s assertion (in Poetics of Music) that “The more constraint one imposes, the more one frees oneself from the chains that shackle the spirit”, this paradox has fascinated me.
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-88), the second son of J.S. Bach, was a hugely talented composer in his own right, but his music is still rarely heard on the concert stage. In fact, it is not just his works, but the whole pre-classical repertory between Bach/Handel and Haydn/Mozart still lies largely unexplored except in recordings.
