Leopold Kozeluch (1747-1818)
Sonate n° 9 en do, op. 9 n° 1, PXII:15
Sonate n° 10 en fa, op. 8 n° 2, PXII:16
Sonate n° 11 en mi bémol, op. 10 n° 1, PX:4
Sonate n° 12 en do, op. 10 n° 2, PX:5
Sonate n° 13 en mi bémol, op. 13 n° 1, PXII:3
Sonate n° 14 en sol, op. 13 n° 2, PXII:7
Sonate n° 15 en mi mineur, op. 13 n° 3, PXII:6
Sonate n° 16 en sol mineur, op. 15 n° 1, PXII:17

Jenny Soonjin Kim, piano forte

Léopold Kozeluch, compositeur tchèque (1747-1818) a consacré la plupart de ses compositions au clavier. Son corpus abondant révèle une cinquantaine de sonates, de nombreux concertos et des pièces variées. Kozeluch défendit l'usage du pianoforte, aussi bien dans son enseignement que dans son écriture, spécifique pour l'instrument, au détriment du clavecin alors vieillissant. Son style brillant, marie la fibre bohémienne au style viennois classique de cette période et s'aligne sans pâlir sur celui de ses contemporains, Clementi, Dussek, Haydn, Mozart. Un critique de l'époque souligne à raison l'invention mélodique et la qualité de facture de ses sonates. Sans pour autant égaler les œuvres similaires de Haydn ou de Mozart, plus visionnaires ; les sonates que l'on découvre dans ce double CD publié chez Brillant, ont en commun l'élégance et le raffinement des symphonies du compositeur (Bamert Chandos). Le style galant y est sublimé. La claveciniste Jenny Soonjin Kim calque son jeu sur l'esprit des partitions. Elle en donne une vision soignée et sans afféteries. Les phrasés sont ductiles, cristallins, rehaussés par une prise de son méticuleuse, quoique légèrement réverbérée. Le pianoforte, qui possède le charme doucereux et épicé d'un bon bordeaux, est un modèle récent, construit d’après un instrument d’Anton Walter (Vienne 1795). (Jérôme Angouillant)

Following the successful release of the first volume (BC94770) in 2015, Jenny Soonjin Kim continues her cycle of sonatas by Leopold Kozeluch, Czech contemporary of C.P.E. Bach and then Mozart. The sonatas (he wrote 49 in total) share qualities with the work of his teacher Dussek, and Burney’s contemporary assessment of Kozeluch’s music stands true today: easier on the ear than CPE, ‘Haydn or Mozart; it is natural, graceful and flowing, without imitating any great model, as almost all his contemporaries have done. His modulation is natural and pleasing... His rhythm is well phrased, his accents well placed, and harmony pure.’ Volume 2 contains the complete Opp. 8, 10 and 13 sets, ending with Op.15 No.1. All these sets were published by 1785. Seven years earlier Kozeluch had moved to Vienna, and made such a name for himself as a performer, teacher and composer that he could afford to decline an offer made in 1781 to succeed Mozart as court organist to the Archbishop of Salzburg. He composed music in all the major genres of the day but his sonatas rejoice in a particular enthusiasm for expanding the potential of the keyboard instrument as it evolved radically during his lifetime, from harpsichord through fortepiano towards pianoforte, gaining ever more volume, projection and sustaining lyrical qualities in the process. The sonatas are written in a variegated and expressive galant style, and they breathe an air of uncommon ease and fluidity. Kozeluch’s themes, while skilfully constructed and developed, have a deceptively simple quality that makes them all the more memorable, if not haunting, and invite the kind of ornamentation elegantly employed by Jenny Soonjin Kim. Jenny Soonjin Kim is a California - based pianist and pedagogue who presently teaches at Claremont Graduate University, having studied in Seoul and Salzburg. For this recording she plays a fortepiano built by Michael Walker (Neckargemünd, 1987) after a model by Anton Walter (Vienna, 1795).