The largest part of the output of the Hamburg-born composer and writer Walter Niemann (1876-1953), a student of both Humperdinck and Reinecke, is piano music: an astonishing 1,000 or so pieces, divided into 189 opus numbers. Most of them are lyrical miniatures in a warm and approachable late-Romantic style, some evoking the music of the past - often with a touching degree of dignity and restraint, but also with an occasional flash of good humour. The range of moods here is surprisingly wide, from pieces recalling late Brahms, and a barcarolle evoking Offenbach, via light-hearted character-sketches, and evocative picture-postcards, to a warm-hearted and tender piano sonata.
