Carl Loewe (1796–1869), known as ‘the north German Schubert’, is remembered today chiefly as a composer of ballads. Yet there is a considerable body of piano music that is strikingly innovative in content, expression and harmony, and it contains the germs of ideas later taken up by composers such as Wagner and Liszt – Loewe was unquestionably a brilliantly original talent, a major figure in ushering in the Romantic era.

Linda Nicholson is one of the foremost keyboard players specialising in the performance of Baroque, Classical and early Romantic music on instruments of the period. She has performed in major festivals and concert series throughout Europe and the Far East, with a broad repertoire encompassing solo works, chamber music and concertos. This is her second recording in a Toccata Classics series made in conjunction with Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne, and it marks the 150th anniversary of Loewe’s death on 20 April 1869.