Rossler: Sextet, Op. 16; Piano Quintet, Op. 28 (CD)

A new name appears in our collection of rarities: Richard Roßler, born in 1880 in Riga, the Latvian capital, trained at the Berlin Music Academy and later highly esteemed there as a professor of piano from 1918 to 1953, was one of those late-Romantic composers deeply influenced by Johannes Brahms. Unlike his Hungarian contemporary Bela Bartok, Roßler remained steadfastly loyal to the worldview of his great role model. When he realized, around 40, that aesthetic developments were passing him by, he limited his output to a few occasional pieces. This is all the more regrettable, as the two newly recorded works here reveal a significant and profound talent capable of creating distinctive characters using traditional musical means.