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Review: A Rare Showcase for Bach. His Sons, That Is.

Johann Sebastian Bach was both the scion and the father of musicians: Four of his 20 children became significant composers. These sons were, in their own time, the innovators in the family; though acknowledged as a master craftsman, J.S. was seen as somewhat old-fashioned as the Baroque period gave way to new styles.

That was then. For some two centuries, of course, it’s Bach’s sons who have been largely relegated to the sidelines. But on Thursday at Alice Tully Hall, thanks to Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra, the four composer children took pride of place in a fascinating program, “Sons of Bach.”

Listen to the music played at the concert:

In recent decades, much deserved attention has been coming to Carl Philipp Emanuel, whose career was mostly based in Hamburg, and Johann Christian, Bach’s youngest child — known as the “London” Bach, since he thrived in that city. But Mr. Botstein’s program opened with a rarity by the lesser-known Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, “Erzittert und fallet” (“Tremble and falter”), a 30-minute church cantata.

Like his father, W.F., the eldest of the concert’s four Bachs, was a renowned organist. He held a prestigious post in Dresden for many years. But his career as a composer did not fulfill his early promise. Many of his scores are thought to have been lost.

This cantata, with a text presenting God as the fearless victor over blustering dark spirits, begins with a startling dramatic stroke: the unaccompanied chorus sings sputtered declamations of the word “Erzittert” to grab the listener’s attention. Sung by the excellent Bard Festival Chorale, it worked.

The music plunges into a jubilant yet focused chorus of bustling counterpoint. The next movement, a melting tenor aria, presents Jesus as an entrancing prince. Later, a duet for tenor and soprano depicts the divine-human relationship as the almost romantic connection of a shepherd and a beguiled follower. The work has somewhat stiff passages, but also music of inventiveness, especially a turbulent chorus that evokes thunder, lightning and rushing water. The soprano Amanda Woodbury, the mezzo-soprano Taylor Raven, the tenor Jack Swanson and the baritone Chris Kenney all sang splendidly.

Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, who was mostly based at the court of Bückeburg, was also an underachiever as a composer. But Ms. Woodbury and the orchestra made a persuasive case for his “Die Amerikanerin” (“The American Woman”), an unusual and elegant nine-minute secular vocal work, with a text about a determined man pursuing his lost maiden in an exotic realm.

Johann Christian Bach’s Symphony in G Minor (Op. 6, No. 6) was written in the late 1760s — around the same time (and in the same key) as Haydn’s Symphony No. 39 and Mozart’s Symphony No. 25. Bach’s work holds its own with those scores, especially the urgent, compact and stormy first movement.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach has been riding high of late. Mr. Botstein ended the program by leading the fine soloists, robust chorus and excellent orchestra in a majestic account of this composer’s 40-minute “Magnificat.” C.P.E. came across as his father’s son, especially in the intricate double fugue that concludes the piece. It would have made papa proud.

American Symphony Orchestra

Performed on Thursday at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center.

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