JOSEPH ANTON STEFFAN (1726-1797)
Harpsichord Sonatas

Sonata in G minor "Mariazeller Prozession" S.20
01 Andante maestoso. Die Vorbereitung zu der Andacht.
Allegro - Annaburg hinauf - Burg herab - Josephs Burg
hinauf - Andante - Burg herab. Allegro 11:08
02 Andantino o tempo di menuetto. Der Vorsänger. 5:02
03 Andante, tempo di menuetto. Die Beurlaubung. 7:24

Sonata in G major
04 Andante non molto 6:30

Sonata in C minor
05 Adagio non molto 8:12
06 Andante non molto 5:30
07 Allegro assai 5:06

Sonata in B flat major
08 Andante non molto 7:27

Sonata in B flat major
09 Allegro spirituoso 7:02
10 Andante non molto 8:31
11 Tempo di minuetto 7:37

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About this album

Mitzi Meyerson is a world-renowned American harpsichordist and teacher, based in Berlin for many decades now. She maintains a sterling reputation for her concerts and recordings, and has taught hundreds of students over the last thirty years, many of whom went on to be successful artists in their own right. She specializes in researching little-known or lost works for the harpsichord which she then brings to light in recordings. She has released over sixty albums to excellent critical acclaim. For the last 15 years she has been an exclusive Glossa recording artist, in a label that has worked with her in order to bring into the light, a solo or with small chamber ensembles, music by Balbastre, Muffat, Jones (Richard and John), Somis or Francœur.

Her latest project, with sonatas by Josef Antonin Stepan (or Steffan, depending on the sources), reflects her patient, respectful and profoundly musical approach to her own new discoveries. These newly found sonatas, which she defines as “a sort of missing link in the transition from harpsichord to fortepiano” and being “at he forefront of the development to a new era of composition” with “flavours of Mozart, Haydn, and early Beethoven”, were recorded in Berlin and set yet another milestone in Meyerson’s enthusiastic search for injustly neglected repertoire.