"Daniel Gottlob Türk’s twelve leichte or easy sonatas are excellent steppingstones for young keyboardists preparing to play the works of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. By their careful markings and flawless construction, these works introduce the rhetorical and expressive laws governing the musical style of the era. Türk’s leichte sonatas are both aesthetically accomplished and important to our understanding of the Classical period’s pedagogical practices. Furthermore, the sonatas’ correlation to central stylistic and aesthetic concepts discussed in the composer’s own influential pedagogical treatise Klavierschule (1789), make their reincorporation into the standard repertoire desirable and perhaps even crucial." – Michael Tsalka

Daniel Gottlob Türk is best known for his influential teaching manual Klavierschule (1789), a work which influenced a generation of aspiring keyboard players. In order to advance the technical and musical skills of students, in 1783 Türk published two collections of light or easy keyboard sonatas (Leichte Klaviersonaten). Listeners, performers, teachers, and musicologists will discover untapped riches in these expressive and historically important works, played on this recording on four contrasting historical keyboards.

CD1 EASY KEYBOARD SONATAS: COLLECTION I (1783)

SONATA NO. 1 IN D MINOR, HedT.99.3.1 * (07:48)
1  Moderato assai e grazioso (03:01)
2  Adagio arioso (02:00)
3  Allegro un poco Presto (02:47)
SONATA NO. 2 IN A MINOR, HedT.99.3.2 * (09:09)
4  Allegro, ma non tanto (04:56)
5  Poco Adagio e sostenuto (03:14)
6  Largo molto e mesto (01:59)
SONATA NO. 3 IN G MAJOR, HedT.99.3.3 * (07:00)
7  Allegretto con tenerezza (02:59)
8  Largo molto e mesto (02:14)
9  Poco Presto e con allegrezz (01:47)
SONATA NO. 4 IN C MAJOR, HedT.99.3.4 (08:59)
10  Allegro con Spirito (03:23)
11  Andante innocentemente (01:57)
12  Rondo: Allegretto (02:39)
SONATA NO. 5 IN E MINOR, HedT.99.3.5 * (09:45)
13  Moderato e con afflizzione (03:44)
14  Larghetto cantabile e con espressione (02:07)
15 Allegro di molto e con fuoco (03:54)
SONATA NO. 6 IN D MAJOR, HedT.99.3.6 (07:42)
16  Allegretto. Siciliano e lusingando (03:22)
17  Adagio cantabile (02:12)
18  Balletto: Allegro (01:58)

TOTAL TIME: 50:13

CD2 EASY KEYBOARD SONATAS: COLLECTION II (1783)

SONATA NO. 1 IN C MAJOR, HedT. 100.4.1 (09:56)
1  Allegretto con grazia (04:26)
2  Adagio cantabile (02:31)
3  Allegro vivo (02:59)
SINFONIA NO. 2 IN D MAJOR, HedT.100.4.2 (07:56)
4  Allegro non troppo, mà con brio (03:38)
5  Andante, più tosto Allegretto (02:14)
6  Poco Vivace (02:04)
SONATA NO. 3 IN E FLAT MAJOR, HedT.100.4.3 (10:13)
7  Moderato e grazioso (04:34)
8  Grave e sostenuto (02:01)
9  Allegro (03:38)
SONATA NO. 4 IN G MAJOR, HedT.100.4.4 (08:41)
10   Allegro (03:58)
11   Andantino lusingando (02:36)
12   Tempo di Minuetto (02:07)
SONATA NO. 5 IN D MINOR, HedT.100.4.5 (09:39)
13   Allegro non tanto, ma staccato e con Spirito (04:59)
14   Larghetto tranquillamente (01:35)
15   Allegro di molto con zelo e minaccioso (03:05)
SINFONIA NO. 6 IN B FLAT MAJOR, HedT.100.4.6 (09:31)
16  Allegro con Spirito (04:28)
17  Andante (02:24)
18  Allegro (02:39)

TOTAL TIME: 55:56

Keyboard performer Michael Tsalka has won numerous prizes and awards throughout his career. A versatile musician, he performs solo and chamber music repertoire from the Early Baroque to Contemporary on the modern piano, harpsichord, fortepiano, clavichord, square piano and chamber organ. Michael Tsalka performs throughout Europe, the U.S.A., Canada, Asia, and Latin America. Recent engagements include performances for the Boston Early Music Festival, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, the Bellas Artes Theater in Mexico City, the Hermitage Festival in St. Petersburg, and interviews and live performances for radio stations in Hong Kong, Chicago, Buenos Aires and Jerusalem. Tsalka often presents master–classes and lectures around the world. Tsalka was a faculty member at the Esther Boyer College of Music (Temple University) and the Escuela Superior de Musica, National Center for the Arts in Mexico City. Currently, he teaches early keyboards at Lilla Akademien in Stockholm and is a visiting professor at Celaya Conservatory in Guanajuato, Mexico.

"Michael Tsalka [...] knows the oeuvre of the composer like no other, and performs the music congenially–sometimes playfully, then dreamily and pensively, and of course, with plenty of lively virtuosity"
–Bayerischer Rundfunk about Türk Keyboard Sonatas Collections I and II

 Click here for his concert schedule