Schwanberger piano sonatas | CD

In October 1799, August Friedrich Christoph Kollmann from the town of Engelbostel published his diagram „Sun of Composers“ in the „Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung“ (General Musical Journal).

Around the core formed by Johann Sebastian Bach, many prominent composers are protruding as rays. Where Joseph Haydn, Georg Friedrich Händel and Carl Heinrich Graun are depicted nearest to Bach, a certain Schwanberger is given the honor of forming part of the first upper row of rays.
Although this depiction is of course a subjective assessment by Kollmann, it remains a remarkable feature that Schwanberger was at that time deemed to be in the same league with composers such as Telemann and Mozart – names which are still very well known today.

Two world premieres will be presented as part of this project:

For the first time ever, a selection of piano sonatas composed by Johann Gottfried Schwanberger – ducal Brunswick musical conductor from 1762 to 1802 – have been recorded.

The recordings were made on an original historical fortepiano built by Friedrich Carl Wilhelm Lemme in Brunswick in 1796.

Both were already praised in Ernst Ludwig Gerber’s two-volume “Lexicon der Tonkünstler” (Dictionary of Sound Artists) published in 1790/1792:

· the composer Johann Gottfried Schwanberger for his virtuoso skills on the piano and his compositions – among other things his piano sonatas were considered „pure masterpieces of their kind” –,

· the instrument maker Carl Lemme for his „achievements in piano manufacture and the beautiful sound of his instruments“.

Lemme was also mentioned as one of the best German instrument makers in Forkel‘s journal „Musikalischer Almanach auf das Jahr 1782“ (musical almanac of 1782) alongside Christian Gottlob Hubert in Ansbach and Johann Paul Krämer in Göttingen.

Pertaining to the origin of the historical instrument – “from a Brunswick castle” –, it is even more likely than Schwanberger himself played it at the time.

It is also a minor sensation that the fortepiano has survived 226 eventful years largely undamaged and could be returned to its home in Brunswick after a long journey around the world, half a century and 22,000 km later.

Of Carl Lemme‘s only four surviving instruments, only this fortepiano is playable.

As Carl Lemme was not only an instrument maker but also organist at the Church of St. Catherine in Brunswick since 1771, it was only logical to appoint one of his successors for the recordings: Claus-Eduard Hecker, cantor, organist and regional church music director from 1996 to 2020.

Claus-Eduard Hecker

Werke von: Johann Gottfried Schwanberger
Johann Gottfried Schwanberger: Sonate I C-Dur
1     4:09      - 1. Andantino
2     3:36      - 2. Allegro
3     3:17      - 3. Presto
Johann Gottfried Schwanberger: Sonate II Es-Dur
4     4:18      - 1. Allegretto
5     2:20      - 2. Andantino
6     2:26      - 3. Allegro assai
Johann Gottfried Schwanberger: Sonate III A-Dur
7     2:19      - 1. Allegro ma non molto
8     1:54      - 2. Presto
Johann Gottfried Schwanberger: Sonate IV C-Dur
9     5:08      - Allegro
Johann Gottfried Schwanberger: Sonate V G-Dur
10   2:38      - 1. Andantino
11   2:34      - 2. Presto
Johann Gottfried Schwanberger: Sonate VI B-Dur
12   3:45      - 1. Allegro
13   3:01      - 2. Andante
14   2:39      - 3. Allegro
Johann Gottfried Schwanberger: Sonate VII a-Moll
15   2:49      - 1. Allegro moderato
16   3:32      - 2. Allegro assai
Johann Gottfried Schwanberger: Sonate VIII A-Dur
17   1:25      - 1. Allegretto
18   1:24      - 2. Presto

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STEREO · Order code 00430 · EAN 4025531004309 · CD · Productionright 2022 by prospect Studio-Label-Verlag - Andreas Lamken, © 2022 by prospect Studio-Label-Verlag · LC 03695 · Made in Germany · Recorded by prospect Studio-Label-Verlag - Andreas Lamken, Königslutter, Germany (Instrumentensammlung Karsten, Braunschweig, Germany, 2022-01). Edited and mastered by prospect Studio-Label-Verlag - Andreas Lamken (Königslutter, Germany). · Total duration 53:38 · Product design by prospect Studio-Label-Verlag - Andreas Lamken (Königslutter am Elm, Germany) · Printed in Germany · All rights reserved