This CD shines light on a major twentieth-century composer whose music has been almost entirely forgotten since his death.

The Swiss composer Conrad Beck (1901–89) wrote a generous amount of music, including seven symphonies, around twenty concertos and concertante works, four string quartets, some large-scale choral works, solo songs and much else, and during his lifetime he enjoyed the strong support of Paul Sacher.

This first recording of his complete piano music reveals a style similar to that of Hindemith and Honegger, with clear contrapuntal textures in a neoclassical tradition ultimately derived from Bach – and with a hint of the French accent his music acquired from the years he spent in 1920s Paris.

This recording has been made by Beck’s daughter-in-law, Gabrielle Beck-Lipsi, who studied the music with the composer, thus giving it the seal of authenticity.

Gabrielle Beck-Lipsi (born in Zurich in 1941) is the daughter of the Parisian sculptor Morice Lipsi and the Swiss painter Hildegard Weber-Lipsi and the wife of Hans Jacob Beck, son of Conrad Beck. She studied piano at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique and the École Normale in Paris (1958–62) with Vlado Perlemuter, Marcel Ciampi and Ina Marica. Then, for almost thirty years, she worked as a photographer and for other cultural projects. It was only in 1996 that she returned to the piano – but with more enthusiasm than ever. She then began to perform in various European countries and has recorded mainly impressionist and modern music.