Hamelin X 2; Liszt,Reger & Strauss

Liszt:
Fantasia & Fugue on B-A-C-H, S529
Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude, S. 173 No. 3
Venezia e Napoli (3 pieces), S. 162
Piano Sonata in B minor, S178
Marc-André Hamelin (piano)

Hyperion: CDA67760

The Romantic Piano Concerto 53 - Reger & Strauss
Reger: Piano Concerto in F minor, Op. 114
Strauss, R: Burleske for Piano and orchestra in D minor
Marc-André Hamelin (piano)
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Ilan Volkov

Hyperion: CDA67635

Two marvellous discs which earn places of pride in anyone's collection.

The Liszt programme is perfectly chosen to give a wide conspectus of his piano music at its best. Hamelin is fastidious and his pianism enthralling. We have played it all through twice, the second time at lower volume, concentrating upon the delicate filligree of the sonata's quieter passages, miraculous expressivity. A salutary lesson too, soon after a barnstorming account at a RAM masterclass last November, put down comprehensively by Boris Berman...

The massive Reger concerto, which though oft recorded (by Serkin and others) has had a hard time establishing itself in concert, and is hard to love, but well worth collecting in so imperious a performance as Hamelin's. His account of the Strauss Burlesque is scintillating, hugely enjoyable.

A Hamelin month, indeed.

Peter Grahame Woolf