The compositions of the Czech-born Jan Ladislav Dussek (1760–1812) show the Classical style gradually taking on the expressive characteristics of Romanticism, foreshadowing composers like Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert and Schumann.

The Douze Études mélodiques – here receiving their first recording – offer a sort of musical United Nations of the day, its Polish, Russian, Scottish, Spanish, Turkish and other national elements intended to appeal to the contemporary fashion for the exotic. Dussek’s F major Fantaisie is in effect an eight-movement suite, presenting an array of musical forms and capturing the improvisatory spirit and harmonic exploration of the fantasia.

The scholarly booklet notes, by Rohan Stewart-McDonald, joint editor of 'Jan Ladislav Dussek (1760–1812): A Bohemian Composer ‘en voyage’ through Europe', are illustrated by six music examples.

Vincenzo Paolini was born in Loreto, Italy in 1979 and studied with Giuseppe Di Chiara at the Conservatorio G Rossini in Pesaro, graduating with honours. He took a degree in music at the Conservatorio G B Pergolesi in Fermo with Enrico Belli. He went on to achieve a Masters in piano and Romantic piano at the Academia Incontri con Maestro in Imola, under the tutelage of Stefano Fiuzzi, and perfected his skills in master-classes with Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Lazar Berman, Cristina Ortiz and Piero Rattalino. This is his first recording for Toccata Classics.