Many scores by C.P.E. Bach were removed from Berlin by the Soviet army in 1945 and presumed lost. The rediscovered St John Passion will be performed in London during Holy WeekIn the days after the end of the Second World War, when parts of Germany were still in flames and the victors were starting to sift through the embers, valuable items were rescued and sent to other cities for safekeeping. The Ukrainian conductor Kirill Karabits tells me this is the story behind the present performance of a St John Passion by Carl Philipp Emanuel (C.P.E.) Bach, which Karabits himself discovered in the Kiev State Archive in 1999 when he was a student in Vienna with time to devote to research. He conducts what may be the modern premiere of this hour-long work during Holy Week in performances by the BBC
03 April 2014, The Tablet
Out of the flames
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