Pioneer and pianist

Johann Nikolaus Forkel’s contribution to the world of music is inestimable, even if you are perhaps hearing about him for the first time. With his publication Über Johann Sebastian Bachs Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerk in 1802, he was not only the first to write a comprehensive biography of the great master, but also created the first ever music-historical monograph. When Forkel died in 1818, numerous works by Bach that had been thought lost were discovered in his estate. Today, he is primarily known as a “Bach biographer”. Although this achievement is already respectable enough, it does him far from justice. With groundbreaking writings on music history and theory such as the three-volume Musikalisch-kritische Bibliothek (1778/79) and his Allgemeine Geschichte der Musik (1788/1801), he can be described in good conscience as the father of modern musicology.

Today’s music world would certainly be a different one without Forkel’s outstanding achievements as a scientist and chronicler. It is therefore perhaps not surprising, although highly regrettable, that Forkel’s own compositions receive rather less attention in the face of these scientific masterpieces. Forkel was a diligent composer; of his more than one hundred works, only his 24 piano variations on God save the King are known to a broader public today. As an excellent pianist, Forkel devoted himself primarily to keyboard instruments and composed a total of 22 piano concertos, of which there have unfortunately been no recordings to date. The Cologne Academy is therefore proud to be able to make its contribution to ensuring that Forkel receives the attention as a composer that he deserved during his lifetime. We are delighted to present four of these concertos for piano by Johann Nikolaus Forkel for the first time on our new CD. With Tobias Koch, we have been able to recruit a first-class specialist for historical keyboard instruments for the solo part on the fortepiano. The conductor is Michael Alexander Willens.