It was natural that the piano sonata occupied so important a place in the compositions of Ferdinand Ries, given Beethoven’s friend and pupil was one of the greatest piano virtuosos of the age. He wrote only three sonatas for piano duet but they reflect, as do his solo sonatas, a perfect synthesis of classicism and incipient Romantic influence. In particular the Sonata in A major, Op 160 is a tour de force of rich, almost orchestral writing. Fanfare lauded the previous volume in this series, adding that it was ‘a voyage of discovery that guarantees to delight and fascinate’.
