Leopold Koželuch, the great Czech contemporary of Mozart, won enormous prestige in his adopted city of Vienna. His sequence of keyboard sonatas, written over a four-decade span, exemplifies the high-Classic style and comprises some of the greatest such works of their time. This volume focuses on the years 1788–89 by which time Koželuch’s command of form and texture proves as daring as his harmonic palette. There is rhythmic vivacity in the opening movements of Nos. 25 and 28 and the beautiful Siciliana of No. 27 shows the increasing profundity of his slow movements. The same sonata’s finale is a breathtaking rollercoaster of vitality.

This recording was made on a period instrument: Fortepiano by Paul Downie (NZ), after Anton Walter (c. 1795)