FRANCISZEK LESSEL (1780-1838): Piano Sonatas in F, Op. 2/2 and in A, Op. 2/3, Fantasies in C, Op. 8 and in E Minor, Op. 13, Variations in A Minor, Op. 15/1.

Description: The first disc we’ve had of Lessel’s solo piano works gives a better idea of his importance in pre-Chopin Polish music (most of his 100 or so works have been lost or destroyed). The two sonatas of 1800 are in the style of Haydn but with Beethoven looming, the early 1810 Fantasy attractive but still Classical in style while the much bigger and more dramatic E Minor of 1814 has a Romantic sensibility and then some. Dorota Cybulska-Amsler (copy of an 1810-1820 Fritz fortepiano).