The two long works are very much worth hearing, and the whole recording is a treat. The pianist is very good, and more power to her in bringing out the works of Ries and other composers, many recognized in their day but since fallen into obscurity. There is much neglected 19th century music that deserves to be heard. Ries is fully comparable to Mendelssohn, Grieg, and others in the "standard" repertoire.

The Venezuelan pianist Teresa Carreño was one of the most virtuosic artists of her age. A child prodigy, she won the admiration of Gottschalk and Anton Rubinstein, and gave sold-out concerts throughout America, Europe and Australasia. This selection of piano compositions, the earliest of which was written at the age of nine, reveals exacting technical demands allied to an impressively expressive arsenal, exemplified by the Rêverie-Impromptu and the little-known Caprice-Études. Elements of bel canto infuse Plaintes au bord d’une tombe whilst Mendelssohnian warmth can be savoured in the Elégie.

German pianist Alexandra Oehler, whose name has come to stand for high keyboard skill and an extraordinarily varied repertoire, now turns to the music of Ferdinand Hiller. His piano sonatas represent a special case in that their three movements continue without a break. His contemporaries Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn universally agreed that his sonatas and other piano compositions possessed a great wealth of imagination.