Kemp English - Kozeluch: Complete Keyboard Sonatas, Vol. 6 (2016)

The Bohemian composer Leopold Kozeluch moved to Vienna in the late 1770's where he enjoyed great success. Not only was he a leading publisher but he forged a highly successful compositional career in the city, lauded for producing the ideal sonata for the fortepiano, an instrument he championed over the harpsichord. In some artistic circles he was considered a finer composer than Mozart, foreshadowing the later works of Beethoven and Schubert. Volume 6 in the series of Leopold Kozeluch's Sonatas charts the years 1785-86 during which he enjoyed huge esteem as the composer of "the ideal of the high-Classic style". The four sonatas in this disc exemplify perfectly this Viennese compound of virtuosity, drama, and elegance with figurations of simplicity and grace that anticipate Mozart's own sonatas.