CHRISTOPHER HOGWOOD
10 September 1941 – 24 September 2014
Conductor
Musicologist
Keyboard player
Zinck Complete Keyboard Works Volume III
July 25, 2011
With the publication of Volume III of the Complete Works for Keyboard by H.O.C. Zinck (1746-1832), Christopher rounds off a project which was been received with enthusiasm in the press:

“... powerfully original, it is to be hoped that these sonatas will quickly find a place in the repertoires of all serious players and will take their rightful place in concerts.”
(Clavichord International)

hh242_zinckvol-iii.jpgThe final instalment of the three-volume collection of Zinck’s complete keyboard music (Edition HH 242) contains his sets of variations (one on the tune made popular by Mozart, “Lison dormait”, and the other a surprisingly virtuoso set on a simple children‘s song) and a sequence of his very individual miscellaneous pieces, including the atmospheric setting for keyboard solo of “Das Traumschiff” (complete with nautical illustration). Many of his teaching pieces are published here for the first time from a manuscript source in the Royal Library, Copenhagen, and include original fingering from the composer.

Volume I (Edition HH 240) contains Zinck’s Six Sonatas (1783), and the recent publication of Volume II (Edition HH 241) completed the sonata collection, including the first appearance in print of two sonatas (XI and XII).

Zinck had studied with C. P. E. Bach in Hamburg, and the influence of Empfindsamkeit is very apparent in his works. But there are later and interesting changes as he evolved a more Italianate keyboard manner, and also incorporated elements of the folk and popular music encountered during his residence in Denmark.

Zinck followed C. P. E. Bach in promoting the use of the clavichord, but his music is equally successful on the fortepiano, and would provide a welcome novelty today both for recital programming and in teaching.

traumschiff.jpg
Engraving of the melody to Das Traumschiff from Die nördliche Harfe (1801)
The series has already attracted much attention from musicians grateful for the opportunity to appraise and enjoy this rarely performed composer’s works, presented here in a scholarly edition for the first time.

“Edition HH should be applauded for their willingness to seek out rare but wholly worthwhile repertoire, and their knack of bringing it to our attention through extremely high quality and usable editions. (The Consort)