Christine Schornsheim - Kirnberger, Müthel, Nichelmann: Harpsichord Concertos (2001)

Harpsichord Concertos is an entry in a multi-part series of discs of eighteenth century keyboard concertos performed by Christine Schornsheim. This disc brings together three concertos written by lesser known figures associated with the circle of Johann Sebastian Bach and that of his son, Carl Philip Emanuel Bach.
The disc opens with a Concerto in C minor by Johann Philipp Kirnberger. Of the three works, this is the one most strongly reminiscent of the elder Bach with its thick scoring, rolling counterpoint and insistent continuo. It is not a bad concerto, but it's not great, either. Far more challenging is the following Concerto in G major by Johann Gottfried Müthel, an eccentric, unpredictable piece that changes moods on a dime and leaves several cadences hanging on a note that leads nowhere. This concerto makes you want to hear more of Müthel, who worked for much of his life in Riga, Latvia, but apparently there is little else extant of his work.
Schornsheim saves the best for last -- the Concerto in E major by Christoph Nichelmann -- which concludes the disc with a masterwork. Nichelmann worked alongside C.P.E. Bach in the Court of Frederick the Great, but died early at the age of 45. Though he studied with both Bachs, Nichelmann was his own man and his concerto sounds the least like them. It is structurally solid, rhythmically exciting, and has some striking cadenzas to boot. All of this music is played with the utmost sympathy and authority by Schornsheim, who is joined by Berliner Barock-Compagney. If you enjoy eighteenth century keyboard concertos, you owe it to yourself to pick up this disc, especially for the Nichelmann.