Johan Kaspar Mertz was born in Pressburg (now Bratislava) in 1806. It is not known who taught him to play‚ but his outstanding ability on the guitar (and the flute) became evident at an early age. By the time he settled in Vienna in 1840 he had toured successfully in Poland‚ Russia and Moravia. In Vienna he was hailed as the greatest living guitarist and composer for the guitar‚ reviving interest in the instrument at a time when it was waning. Many of his best works‚ including the Bardenklänge (Bardic sounds)‚ were in the style of the piano miniatures of the time‚ with which they bear favourable comparison. The Bardenklänge were published in 15 books‚ paying overt homage to Mendelssohn‚ Schumann and Schubert (six of whose Lieder he also arranged skilfully as guitar solos). They are entirely guitaristic but‚ unlike the music of Giuliani‚ Mertz’s predecessor as the instrument’s Viennese ‘King’‚ they are not punctuated with rambling‚ space­filling cadenzas. The stylistic model Mertz had in mind was the piano‚ not an operatic diva. The Bardenklänge represent the best of mid­19th­century guitar music and represent a significant advance in every respect. Adam Holzman supplies the necessary virtuosity and sense of style‚ while mercifully avoiding any lapse into schmaltz‚ and plays with great clarity and beauty of sound. No less laudable are the quality of the recording itself and Richard Long’s exceptionally fine annotation. The disc contains all the items from Books 1­8‚ 10 and 14. Although it is not announced as Volume 1‚ the remaining books could be enough to constitute Volume 2‚ and I for one hope they do.