John Adam Reincken was a celebrity. When the genial Johann Sebastian Bach was a sixteen-year-old secondary school pupil, he made his way on foot from Lüneburg to Hamburg to experience in person this undisputed master of improvisational artistry. What the young man heard must have made a profound impression on him.
In his toccatas Bach closely follows his great model and even quotes motivic material from Reincken’s works.
Sonja Kemnitzer’s rendering of harpsichord compositions by Reincken is a revelatory listening experience immediately conveying a lot of this fascination.
Sonja Kemnitzer’s versatile playing means that there is never a dull moment and knowledgably and lovingly presents the affections going along with each and every (of the many!) variation.
