Cello and piano pieces by Beethoven-contemporary Ferdinand Ries. Sounds somewhere between Beethoven and Chopin – dark like Beethoven but not as bombastic, lots of Chopin-esque runs and flourishes. Passionate like both. Cool to hear this lesser-known romantic composer – nothing earth-shattering or really novel, but pretty and solid. Great performances here I think – crystal clear piano and the pianist and cellist blend great together, like one player. Ries was a student and friend of Beethoven’s.

*1. Mostly minor, up-tempo, constantly changing. Great to hear a late Classical / early Romantic piece that’s not in sonata form nor something like an etude – more free and improvised-sounding, not hammering out a few simple motives.
2. Rollicking typical early Romantic allegro movement – lots of turns, a clear melody line, piano scales to fill in. Very architecturally balanced.
3. Sounds exactly like early Beethoven sonatas. Some interesting and very precise articulation. I wonder if Ries scored articulation as precisely as Beethoven did.
*4. Nice subtle rubato and dynamics – dance-y movement.
*5. Beautiful and surprisingly eastern european-sounding melody line. More free and improvised-sounding than the previous 3 movements. Also surprisingly orchestral-sounding / full. Gorgeous piano chord at 1:57 left!!! – weird overtones on it...
6. Dramatic rolled chord start. Dramatic, romantic movement. Cool first theme. Really great performance – they sound like they’re having a great time. From extremely slow/sparse to sparkly and flashy.
7. Slow pretty balanced dainty. Yawn.
8. Dance-y rondo. Lots of acciaccaturas and repeated notes. A little sappy.
*9. Good long meandering melodies, very recitative / spoken-like.