Ferdinand Ries: Complete Works for Cello – Volume 2

Ferdinand Ries is remembered as Beethoven’s one-time pupil, secretary and copyist, but the discovery of his many compositions showed him to be a forward-looking composer in his own right. The 1799 ‘Cello Sonata in C minor’ is among the first of its genre, the 15-year-old Ries already showing remarkable talent in its `Sturm und Drang’ moods. The ‘Trio, Op. 63′ was admired in its day for its `ingenuity of modulations’, and fashionable London society lapped up the exotic themes of works such as ‘Introduction and a Russian Dance’ and the virtuosic ‘Trois Airs Russes Variés’.