Virtuoso pianist Ignaz Friedman’s compositions have long been neglected but they possess great melodic beauty and harmonic inventiveness. Grouped into sets of character pieces, they exude the haunting melodies of late-Romanticism. The lush inventiveness of the Vier Klavierstücke, Op. 27 finds time for Polish folkloric inspiration whilst Stimmungen, Op. 79—dedicated to his friend Rachmaninov—is pensive, passionate, serious and colourful. Strophes reflects Friedman’s love of Grieg, as well as the abiding influence of Vienna.