JOHANN WILHELM HÄSSLER (1747-1822): Sonatas in D, G and No. 6 in A Minor, Sonata Fantasie in C, Op. 4, Fantasie in C Minor, Grande Gigue in D Minor, Op. 31.

Description: The pianist here recorded these pieces in 2004 and 2011 and tells us that three of them were discovered as part of a manuscript purporting to be entirely of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. That tells you exactly what Hässler sounds like: questing, experimental, genre-bending, a bridge between the Bach family tradition and the Romantic period. If he hadn’t spent the last 28 years of his career in Russia, he might not be so forgotten now. Anthony Spiri (piano).