Mahan Esfahani

Charles T. Downey, Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani’s alternately rousing, bland birthday tribute to C.P.E. Bach (Washington Post, April 7, 2014)

C. P. E. Bach, Württemberg Sonatas, M. Esfahani (Hyperion, 2014)

Mahan Esfahani came home Friday night, in a sense, to play a recital at the Library of Congress. The American harpsichordist, who grew up in Potomac, Md., offered a tribute to C.P.E. Bach, the son of J.S. Bach who was born 300 years ago last month. The program included only two sonatas by the birthday boy, paired with music by other members of his famous family and some unexpected choices, including a piece by Domenico Cimarosa as an encore.

Whenever the music offered fast-moving scales and figuration, as in J.S. Bach’s “Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue,” Esfahani ran with it, his agile fingers making remarkably clean and accurate contact with every key. By the last piece, C.P.E. Bach’s A minor “Württemberg” sonata (Wq. 49/1), though, both his hands and my ears had tired of dazzling runs. [Continue reading]

Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord
Music of C. P. E. Bach, others
Library of Congress

SEE ALSO:
Lloyd Grove, Reliable Source (Washington Post, February 23, 2000)

Mahan Esfahani, Leave us alone (The Iranian, October 11, 2003)