Koželuch: Complete Keyboard Sonatas, Vol. 7

Featuring

Kemp English
Leopold Kozeluch

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Recording & Production

This album is part of a groundbreaking world première recording of Leopold Koželuch's complete cycle of fifty keyboard sonatas.

Compositional Technique

Many of Leopold Koželuch's minor key sonatas, including the first from 1780, feature a slow introduction, predating Beethoven's Pathétique sonata by nineteen years, a feature not found in Haydn or Mozart's sonatas.

Performer Biography

Kemp English, the fortepianist on this album, was awarded a PhD with a Dean's Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence for his pioneering recording work and scholarship on Koželuch.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Leopold Koželuch was an early champion of the fortepiano, refusing to teach students who did not wish to understand the instrument, and was credited with reforming taste in keyboard music.

Composition History

Leopold Koželuch founded his own publishing firm, Musikalisches Magazin, in 1784, which served as an ideal vehicle for publishing his compositions.

Composer Biography

Leopold Koželuch, the composer, changed his name from Jan Antonín to avoid confusion with his older cousin, also a musician, and Germanized his Czech family name Koželuh ('tanner') to Koželuch.

Composer Biography

Leopold Koželuch declined Mozart's former post as court organist for the Archbishop of Salzburg in 1781, citing the Archbishop's treatment of Mozart as a deterrent.