New Album: Franz Ignaz Beck Sonatas Op. 5
Leaf Music announces the distribution of a new digital recording from historical piano specialist Anders Muskens, being released in digital format on June 27.
Sonatas for Keyboard Op. 5 – Franz Ignaz Beck continues Muskens’ tribute to the Carl Theodor Jubilee Year (1724-2024) with compositions by German composer, violinist, director and keyboardist Franz Ignaz Beck (1734-1809), performed on original instruments. Muskens recorded this album on a Square Pianoforte by Longman & Broderip (John Geib), London 1788 (restored by Paul Kobald in 2018) from his own personal collection. Carl Theodor was a prominent regional monarch in German history, cultivating the Mannheim court orchestra; 2024 marks the 300th anniversary of his birth.
Franz Ignaz Beck was born in Mannheim, given his musical education by Johann Stamitz, famous composer, violin virtuoso and director of the Mannheim Court Orchestra. His early career was dramatically impacted by a duel during which his opponent feigned death. To avoid repercussions, Beck fled and travelled exensively throughout Italy, performing concerts and refining his compositional abilities. He settled in France, and later faced a tribunal during the French Revolution along with his entire theatre ensemble. Fortunately, he was proven innocent and continued as a central figure in Bordeaux’s cultural life until his death in 1809. He wrote symphonies, vocal and operatic works and keyboard sonatas. The 18 Sonates pour le Clavecin ou le Piano Forte were published in Paris around 1772 and are full of wit, charm, sensuality and coquetry.
Prolific early music specialist Anders Muskens has had other recordings distributed by Leaf, including Vogler: Travel Souvenirs for Keyboard, Beethoven’s Forgotten Piano Concerto, Beethoven: Waldstein & Appassionata Sonatas and Army of Generals Volume II: Carl Theodor’s Court Orchestra in Mannheim 1742-1778. Muskens is a Canadian fortepianist, harpsichordist, conductor, and musicologist whose work focuses on the revival of eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century performance traditions. He is active in Europe and North America, and completed a Masters in Fortepiano at the Royal Conservatoire of the Hague under Dr. Bart van Oort and Petra Somlai, with Fabio Bonizzoni and Patrick Ayrton for harpsichord. He is represented as a performer by the Sonus Agency for Early Music and is the founder of the ensemble Das Neue Mannheimer Orchester, an international initiative to revive the music of the Mannheim School in the second half of the eighteenth century.
The new album was produced with support from the Forschungszentrum HOF/MUSIK/STADT and Adriana Jacoba Fonds and was recorded at the Nikomedeskirche, Weilheim-Tübingen.
Listen to Beck’s Sonatas for Keyboard Op. 5 on your favourite streaming platform.
Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across Canada. Our growing catalogue of solo, orchestral, and chamber music is distributed by Naxos of America to the world’s most important music retailers, download providers, and streaming services. Leaf is also a provider of professional audio and video production, post-production services and integrated music marketing and distribution in Canada.