Czerny The Piano Sonatas Volume 1

A torchbearer at Beethoven’s funeral, Beethoven’s pupil, friend and protégé Carl Czerny is almost forgotten today except as the author of educational piano pieces and the author of a long-infl uential piano method. But like his peers among Beethoven’s circle of friends, notably Ferdinand Ries and Ignaz Moscheles, Czerny was one of those who carried on the torch of the late-classical style into the early years of the age of Romanticism, and made a distinctive contribution through his own creative work. He was a gigantically prolifi c composer, and much of his huge output has remained unknown since his death. Yet there is plenty in it that is worth searching out, and as a virtuoso pianist his most substantial piano works, such as the sonatas, give him a definite claim to fame.