Müthel: Duets & Sonatas for Harpsichord

This new recording presents solo sonatas and duets for two keyboards by Müthel, highly original works which show that Müthel was an excellent keyboard player and improviser. Played by Anna Clemente and Giacomo Benedetti, two keyboard players who won their spurs in the performance of hidden gems of the Baroque and (Early) Classical Period, on the basis of the Historically Informed Performance Practice.

Composer: Johann Gottfried Müthel
Artists: Anne Clemente (harpsichord) & Giacomo Benedetti (harpsichord)

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Johann Gottfried Müthel (1728–1788) was an outstanding keyboard virtuoso and a talented improviser, but he left behind relatively few works, as he seemed to compose many sketches but complete only a few of them, when he was in just the right creative mood. His music can be traced stylistically to the empfindsamer Stil (sentimental style) which blended passages rich in emotional nuance and strong harmonic contrasts with expert use of rhetoric and counterpoint and sparkling improvisational techniques. The vast majority of his compositions are instrumental works, particularly works for keyboard. The pieces on this album represent the various key stages of the composer’s mature period.

The Duet in E flat is one of the very first musical scores to feature the word ‘fortepiano’, a sign of the burgeoning public interest in the new instrument that would become the keyboard of choice for the Romantic period, better equipped to reveal the performer’s state of mind than the more ‘mechanical’ harpsichord. The movement names (cantabile, con affetto and performance instructions (dolce, crescendo, decrescendo) suggest the dynamic fortepiano, while the long trills and other embellishments are associated with the harpsichord tradition.

The Duet in C reveals the influence of J.C. Bach’s keyboard sonatas Op.5 and contains innovative elements combined with expert use of rhetorical gestures. The bright and elegant Divertimento in B flat plays with the emotions with varied, sometimes chivalrous writing.

The three sonatas for harpsichord, published in Nuremberg in 1756, were Müthel’s first publication. Their compositional style is highly idiomatic and eclectic, and the themes are developed confidently, with abrupt passages and sudden changes in emotion that epitomise Sturm und Drang writing.

Tracklist:
Duet in E-Flat Major, IJM 21:
0:00:00 I. Allegro moderato, e cantabile
0:15:01 II. Adagio mesto e sostenuto, con affetto
0:23:41 III. Allegretto

Harpsichord Sonata No. 2:
0:33:23 I. Vivace
0:40:20 II. Adagio
0:45:54 III. Allegro

Divertimento in B-Flat Major, IJM 2:
0:51:52 I. Allegro moderato
1:00:14 II. Andante
1:05:29 III. Allegro

Harpsichord Sonata No. 1:
1:10:03 I. Allegro
1:21:53 II. Largo e staccato
1:27:55 III. Presto

Harpsichord Sonata No. 3:
1:33:00 I. Moderato
1:44:39 II. Un poco allegro
1:54:06 III. Allegro e vivace

Duet in C Major, IJM 20:
2:00:02 I. Moderato
2:07:25 II. Un poco adagio
2:12:04 III. Allegro

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