This compilation features compositions, studies and fragments in various arrangements and at various levels of development, pieces that not only represent Bruckner’s course of study...

This compilation features compositions, studies and fragments in various arrangements and at various levels of development, pieces that not only represent Bruckner’s course of study but also anticipate his future impact as a symphonist and reformer of musical idiom. So, just as a few pencil strokes outlining the architectural design of a magnificent building may give a more vivid impression than the final realisation of the design, the compositions from the study book may seem more vivid to us than the great symphony. They are a world unto themselves. Bruckner’s piano works (the compositions and sketches from the study book and the published works) occupy, at best, a marginal position in the eyes of the concert world, performers, listeners and organisers. Their rich substance is yet to be duly acknowledged, for these small-scale works are the fascinating building-blocks of great music. The school with which the composer allied himself through his study with connoisseurs of revolutionary musical initiatives (notably Otto Kitzler) has here been embraced by the genius to full effect.