"I first encountered the name Teresa Carreño in New York City in 1996 and what a discovery! Music, which did not let go of me yet! Teresa Carreño, originating from Caracas, Venezuela was the best pianist of her time and was enthusiastically celebrated all over the world. She left behind wonderful, deeply emotional body of piano work; music which is breathtaking in every sense. There is also a different side to Carreño – a pensive, dreamy and extremely sensitive musical message. My first CD featuring Teresa Carreño came out in 1999 and I’m pleased to follow with this second disc of world premiere recordings in 2013, which marks the 160th anniversary of her birth." – Alexandra Oehler

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The Venezuelan pianist Teresa Carreño was one of the most virtuosic artists of her age. A child prodigy, she won the admiration of Gottschalk and Anton Rubinstein, and gave sold–out concerts throughout America, Europe and Australasia. This selection of piano compositions, the earliest of which was written at the age of nine, reveals exacting technical demands allied to an impressively expressive arsenal, exemplified by the Rêverie–Impromptu and the little–known Caprice–Études. Elements of bel canto infuse Plaintes au bord d’une tombe whilst Mendelssohnian warmth can be savoured in the Elégie.

1 Nocturne, ‘Souvenirs de mon pays’, Op. 10 *
Andante molto espressivo (07:14)

2 CAPRiCE–ETudE nO. 1, OP. 4 *
Andante non troppo (07:05)

3 PRiÈRE, OP. 12 *
Andante religioso (03:03)

4 RÊvERiE–iMPROMPTu, OP. 3 *
Andantino (06:53)

5 MARChE funÈbRE, OP. 11 *
Maestoso (06:44)

6 CAPRiCE–ETudE nO. 2, OP. 6 *
Maestoso (08:35)

7 ElÉgiE, OP. 18
Andante maestoso, quasi adagio (06:04)

8 Six MÉlodies, ‘Plaintes au bord d’une tombe’, Op. 22 *
No. 6: Andante (09:46)

9 Impromptu, ‘Une larme’, Op. 5 *
Andante cantabile (03:19)

10 gOTTsChAlk – WAlTz nO. 1 *
Introduction (Andante) – Waltz (07:42)

TOTAL TIME: 66:29

Alexandra Oehler studied with Ulrich Urban at the Felix Mendelssohn–Bartholdy University of Music and Theatre in Leipzig. She completed her artistic postgraduate studies with a Master’s degree and has won several piano competitions, including the International Franz Liszt Competition, Weimar. Concert tours have taken her to North America (Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles), Manila (Cultural Center of the Philippines), Mexico (Teatro de la Ciudad de Mexico), Chile (Teatro de la Universidad, Santiago) and to South Africa (Cape Town City Hall). She has also given concerts in European countries and in East Asia. She has made a name for herself as a pianist at prestigious festivals such as the Schleswig–Holstein Musik Festival, MDR–Musiksommer, Heidelberger Frühling, Mendelssohn Festival, Leipzig, Budapest Spring Festival, Music Festival Tropea and the Cervo Music Festival in Liguria. Frequent musical partners include the violinist Gunnar Harms, cellist Nicolas Defranoux, violinist Stefan Arzberger (Leipzig String Quartet) and she has accompanied the St Thomas Choir of Leipzig under the direction of Georg Christoph Biller on concert tours. She boasts a wide range of recordings and television productions in co–operation with the German broadcasting station ARD.

"The French–influenced pieces are all of such depth, but equally of such flowering colour, that one wonders why nothing happened to Teresa Carreño before Alexandra Oehler came along" – Crescendo