Ferdinand Ries was not only Beethoven’s pupil and amanuensis but one of his first biographers – so to some extent he has himself to blame if our view of Beethoven as one of history’s “great men” has eclipsed any memory of musicians such as himself. In Beethoven’s Vienna and later in Regency London – his home for a decade or so – Ries was celebrated both as a pianist and a prolific composer, and there are dozens of chamber works the Nash Ensemble could have chosen for this recording.
