Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel: Piano Concerto No. 2 in D major Op. 26, 1, Kai Adomeit

Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel - Piano Concerto No.2 in D major, Op. 26/1, Kai Adomeit (piano), Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra, Zlin, Peter Lücker (conductor) Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel (3 December 1750 in Würzburg – 12 October 1817 in Würzburg) was a German composer and pianist in the 18th century. He was educated at the University of Würzburg and in 1778 he became chaplain and musician at the court in Mainz. He lived in Regensburg (from 1802–1810), then in Aschaffenburg, and finally retired to Würzburg in 1815. In 1791, a contingent from the Bonn Court Orchestra paid a visit to the court orchestra of Mainz and its Kapellmeister, Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel (1750-1817). Included in the group were the father of Ferdiand Ries, the future music publisher Nicolaus Simrock, the Romberg cousins and a 20 year old Ludwig van Beethoven. Although not everyone was taken with Sterkel’s musicianship, young Beethoven was. Sterkel composed works of the types usual in the late 18th- early 19th centuries such as an opera, isolated arias, sacred music including a dozen mass settings, orchestral works including upwards of 20 symphonies, half a dozen keyboard concertos, and numerous chamber and solo instrumental works, including 150 preludes and fugues for organ. His creative genius is evidently in this Concerto No.2 in D Major . A concert of three movements typical of their time and Mozart would have admired for its rhythm, architecture, theme and pianistic virtuosity but inevitably their inherent beauty.