Johann Nepomuk Hummel was considered one of Europe’s finest pianist-composers and improvisers, much admired by his contemporaries including Beethoven and Liszt. His piano compositions were revolutionary and his book on piano-playing contains no fewer than 2,200 examples for all imaginable eventualities, with new fingerings and treatment of tone colours that were to influence later music. The Fantasie, Op. 18 is nothing less than a grand sonata, which anticipates the works of Chopin, Schumann and Schubert, while the Rondo quasi una fantasia in E major, Op. 19 suggests the musical language of Donizetti or Bellini, as well as late Rossini. The Fantasie Op. 123 here receives its world première recording.