Krebs Keyboard Works Volume 4 - Devine
Auditioned using Qobuz at 96 kHz resolution, without a provided booklet.
Krebs is interesting historically as a composer; both he and his father studied with J.S. Bach. And given his time on this earth, his music should sound more like that of C.P.E. Bach than of his father. But the Bachian influence from Sebastian must have had a significant influence on Krebs, who remained in good standing with the elder Bach until his death. Kreb’s adherence to an older style is probably partly to explain his lack of ultimate success, despite his abilities at the keyboard. We can think of him as a contemporary of Bach, but that desepite being from the younger generation, vowed to hold onto baroque style even after it started becoming eclipsed with a lighter style focused more on melodic dominance.
I have not auditioned other releases in Devine’s series for Resounus. Volume 4 contains just over an hour of music, from Krebs’ keyboard works series, named in alignment with Bach’s own: Clavier-Übung. More specifically, Devine provides for us a large suite from the second book and several sonatinas from the third book.
Devine is on top form here, sounding better to my memory’s ear than some of his past releases I’ve auditioned. He has a good sounding instrument for this recording, although the overall sound quality is a notch below my ideal. It sounds good enough on its own, with some noticeable reverb that simply wraps the sound in a forgiving veil; in comparing some other harpsichord recordings, I felt closer to the source and with more color to the sound. I have up to yet not separated the work of a sound engineer from a performer’s contribution, but for me this was a 4/5 in terms of sound quality. Just short of ideal. I felt the sound worked better at lower volumes, which helped to obscure the effect of hearing too much room.
The suite in C major nearly takes up thirty minutes! Overall it’s style and foundation harks back to Bach somewhat where the lighter sonatinas are looking forward in style. The suite is eleven movements, again—huge—and oddly enough includes a Fugue as its second movement before transitioning to dances. If Krebs had been familiar with Handel’s suites, he might have gotten the idea from him to include a fugue as a suite movement. The opening prelude is rollicking and emotes joy and good feelings.
The fugue is less like a Bachian fugue from the Well-tempered Clavier and has a joy to it that matches the opening prelude, prizing an opportunity to let melody come out.
The Courante is less ambitious, relying too much perhaps upon sequences. The Gavotte is interesting for its jocular flavor. The Scherzo requires tight coordination of fingers. Devine answers the call and sparkles with keeping all his articulation tight and tidy. The Cantabile speaks to something resembling sung. After an introduction, we’re treated to a melodic line that, well, is tuneful. It repeats so it affords the performer to improvise a bit in the repeated sections. Devine doesn’t go too far afield. The final Gigue maintains the entire suite’s upbeat character, wrought of course in an expected dotted rhythm. The composer maintains a strong melodic role for the right hand which makes its way upward before coming back down. On its own, not profound music, but we can imagine this was high art entertainment in his day.
The sonatinas as a collection are nice and short three-movement works, fast-slow-fast, which may have had a pedagogical function, given their brevity and the lack of development that happens across each movement. That said, Devine plays them all beautifully, capturing in each, I think, an essential flavor.
In conclusion, Krebs plays an important role in helping us understand the larger musical culture that surrounded him in the world of Bach in the late Baroque. He is both a product of his time and of his musical mentors, one in particular being the famous J.S. Bach. While he may have had a technical capacity in alignment with his teacher, his musical ideas are certainly less profound, if we take these pieces as any indication. However for those who admire the style of the high baroque masters, including Handel, Bach, and Scarlatti, there is a reflection of those greats in this music as much as an earnest call to to embrace the emerging and developing music style of his time.
Under the command of Stephen Devine, Kreb’s ideas are clearly and cleanly presented, without ever introducing too much of his own personality. For us making sense of the transitional period from which Krebs comes, this is the intelligent way to share his voice.
