If you’ve worn out your copy of Georges Cziffra playing Liszt’s Transcendental Studies – and why wouldn’t you, because he da man – and are in the market for a newer model, should you direct your hard-earned cash towards Daniil Trifonov on Deutsche Grammophon or Kirill Gerstein on Myrios? Both are newly released and attracting praise like superlatives are about to outlawed by presidential executive order. Like everything Trifonov touches, his Transcendental Studies are proudly personal statements and wilfully so on occasion – witness, for example, the roof-rocking intensity of the fourth study, Mazeppa, where the volatile harmony is allowed to churn up the structure, and the ‘recitativo’ section of the coda plays out as something approaching a mad-scene. Gerstein – who plays the definitive 1852 version of Liszt’s Twelve Etudes – sits more obviously in a tradition that stretches back to Cziffra. Much has been written about how Gerstein’s background in jazz lends his performance an improvisational, power-to-the-moment flow. But despite his studies on the jazz course at Berklee and mentoring by jazz vibraphone guru Gary Burton, I’m not sure I hear it like that. At every turn, Gerstein peels the minutiae’s minutiae out from Liszt’s notation. The spread…

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The Aussie composer's How Forests think has been shortlisted in the Chamber-Scale Composition category.

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Showstopper after showstopper from the man who lives and breathes Liszt.

Slava Grigoryan's first solo album in 15 years is well worth the wait.

Critically acclaimed Scottish pianist Steven Osborne’s latest recording finds him tackling one of the great monsters of the classical piano repertoire – Beethoven’s Op. 106 Piano Sonata, the Hammerklavier. Brutal, experimental and relentlessly modern, the Hammerklavier hurtled relentlessly forth into new harmonic territory via a revolutionary four-movement structure. Osborne takes the first two of these at a terrifying clip before sinking into the devastating emotionality of the Adagio Sostenuto, throughout which his extraordinary technical clarity is maintained: the upper register notes drip like acid rain, burning where they land. It’s often said that Osborne’s playing reveals hitherto unheard nuances, and this is certainly true of the final, smashing fugal movement, which is compelling and repays repeated listening. The Hammerklavier is accompanied by the two sonatas preceding it chronologically – Op. 90 and 101. As renowned Beethoven scholar Professor Barry Cooper points out in his superb liner notes, these “three sonatas represent an enormous crescendo in terms of length and difficulty”. Osborne’s tone is bright and crisp, but never harsh or brittle, and the recording is in accord with Hyperion’s usual high standards of fidelity. Osborne has released over 20 albums since signing with Hyperion in 1998; many have met with…

A fine souvenir for those who attended, and an enjoyable recital for all music lovers.