C. P. E. Bach’s sonatas for organ were originally written for Princess Anna Amalia; “a princess who could not play the pedal or cope with difficulties, even though she had built for herself a beautiful organ with 2 manuals and pedal and liked to play on it”. It is on that very organ that these sonatas have here been recorded (I could spin the connecting thread further by pointing out that they are played by a veritable princess of the organ, although Marie-Claire Alain has no problems with pedals or other difficulties). The organ was built in 1755 by two German builders, Peter Migendt and Ernst Marx and had a chequered career before finally settling into its present home (the Karlhorst-Kirche, Berlin), but it makes a simply magical sound, beautifully captured in Erato’s intimate, crystal-clear recording.
The music may avoid the kind of technical demands with which Princess Anna could not cope and certainly does not require the kind of vast registration resource on which Alain seems to thrive – although she has taken the trouble to guide us through her registrations, and, as usual, we can only marvel at the unending variety of sounds she has been able to conjure up from just 22 speaking stops. But these are endearing performances of undeniably charming music. Little hints of Mozart, maybe even of Bach pere appear momentarily. For the most part, though, it is C. P. E. Bach’s distinctive individual voice which comes through with an approach to the organ which owes nothing to his father other than the skill in writing music which suits the instrument to perfection.'