These five piano compositions cover the gamut of Meier’s interests and abilities. The earliest work on the disc, a Sonata for Piano (1950-52), has three movements with punchy rhythms suggesting a close study of Schoenberg’s Serenade, Op. 24, or the Begleitmusik zu einer Lichtspielszene, Op. 34. Even though contemporary trends were elsewhere (Boulez’s Second Sonata [1948] and Cage’s Music of Changes[1951]), Meier handles this classic serial style confidently, and has written effervescent music with expressive lines much like Webern’s early songs. Neither ornate nor virtuosic, and the simplicity of the bare voices is akin to Bach’s Inventions. The last movement unfolds as theme-and-variations with what sounds like a fugue at the end.

Klavierstück 1968, “meinen Freund dem Pianisten Charles Dobler gewidmet,” a haunting realization of a graphic score, is wonderful. It blends three distinct types of material: a lean and magisterial tune that’s immediately echoed, clusters executed tremolando, and clusters played as chords with some notes held via the pedals. Moving slowly, the opening statement is interrupted by the clusters and rhythmically repeated chords. This engrossing entry doesn’t suggest a graphical parentage. Compared to the graphic works of Haubenstock-Ramati, Meier has created something much more interesting and musical.