It would take an extreme Wagner fanatic (not, of course, an uncommon phenomenon) to claim in all seriousness that, had the Master pursued the path opened up by his early pair of piano sonatas (1831-2) he could by the 1840s have been the one worthy successor to Beethoven-the-symphonist. Yet such are the virtues of Stephan Moller's playing that even non-fanatics should find themselves persuaded that these large-scale pieces are real music, not just student exercises.
In the B flat Sonata, Op. 1, the weakest feature is the amount of predictable recapitulation. Yet developmental writing is resourcefully dramatic, the mature Wagnerian principle of 'say it again, preferably in sequence', already evident. Even more effective handling of form is to be found in the A major Sonata. Its Beethovenian allusions are obvious, but Wagner was not one to be over-awed by the mastery of others, and his own particular skill with transition, as well as his sense of the best way to delay closure, are already prominent.
The extended Fantasia belongs to 1831, not 1832 as the record leaflet has it: that is, it comes before the completion of the A major Sonata. Here the freer form and more explicit use of vocal models—three sections are marked ''Recitativo''—promotes a style closer to Mendelssohn, Bellini and even Liszt. No commentator on these fledgling efforts can resist pointing out thematic anticipations of later leitmotifs and they are abundant in the Fantasia: evidence of that Wagnerian consistency that goes with supreme self-confidence.
The only other work of any substance in the collection is the ''Sonata for Mathilde Wesendonk'', to give it Wagner's original title, composed in 1853 when he was poised to begin work on the music of the Ring. At first the piece doesn't sound so different from the slow movement of the A major Sonata written 21 years before, although its later climaxes are convincing evidence that Wagner had not only moved with the times, but had also some substantial and important operas to his credit. The remaining miniatures would be of little interest were their composer a lesser light, but they are worth having in the interests of completeness. Moller's performances are alert and expressive, with no sense of special pleading or self-conscious point-making. The documentation is skimpy, the sound generally robust and rather clangy at higher dynamic levels. I would have preferred a period instrument.'