Jermaine Sprosse: |The King’s Men

The CD-production “The King’s Men” puts three composers centre-stage who have one thing in common: they were all – whether at the same time or in succession – harpsichordists at the Königliche Hofkapelle of Frédérick the Great in Berlin. The composers in question are Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Christoph Nichelmann, and Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch. Appropriately, the young performer Jermaine Sprosse has chosen works for harpsichord or fortepiano for his debut recording. The choice of instrument – harpsichord or fortepiano – is determined by the expressive content and character of the individual work. As colourful and diverse as the instrumentation are Jermaine Sprosse’s performances. He breathes new life into an essential feature of eighteenth-century performance practice: the use of varied repeats. At times improvised ad hoc, these varied repeats allow the performer to engage in an active dialogue with the notated score, the music itself, and last but not least with the composer himself. The result: lively and multifaceted music from the context of Frédérick II’s court.