Ferdinand Ries, Beethoven’s friend and pupil, was an exceptionally gifted composer in whose strangely prophetic piano sonatas one encounters Schubert’s poignant harmonic language, Mendelssohn’s expressive, sweet melodies and Chopin’s brilliant figuration. This recording features the magisterial Sonatas, Op.11 (Paris 1807-08) and the lovely Sonatina in A minor, Op.45 which was composed during Ries’s eventful concert tour in Russia during 1811-12.