Reinhold Glière (1875-1956) was a Soviet composer who was very much influenced by the 19th-century Russian Romantic tradition.

Like Borodin and Glazunov before him, he wrote a number of large-scale works – operas, ballet music, symphonies, concertos, etc. – but he also composed for chamber groups, for the voice and for solo instruments. As the short piano pieces in this album demonstrate, he was particularly skilful at expressing a melody in simple and direct terms while at the same time creating a colourful musical picture.

This edition follows the original one, published by P. Jurgenson, Moscow and Leipzig, in 1910. Editorial markings are shown within square brackets, and in the Mazurka editorial phrases are indicated by a small vertical dash. Fingering is editorial, and the metronome marks should be regarded only as suggestions.