Classcis Today US and Classics Today France 10/10, highest rating. This recording explores the rich paradox at the heart of Liszt’s music, where dazzling virtuosity serves a deeper expressive and poetic aim. The two piano concertos unfold not as conventional showpieces but as fluid, cyclical forms in which themes are continuously transformed, creating a sense of organic unity and evolving emotional narrative. The First Concerto moves from heroic assertion to inward reflection and playful brilliance, while the Second adopts a more introspective, rhapsodic ընթաց, its shifting moods demanding a pianist who can balance restraint with imagination. In Totentanz, Liszt’s fascination with mortality finds stark and compelling expression through variations on the ancient Dies iræ chant. The music is at once dramatic and grotesque, virtuosic yet tightly structured, unfolding as a sequence of sharply contrasted transformations. Across the programme, the piano writing calls not only for brilliance but for a poetic sensibility, shaping Liszt’s bold contrasts into a coherent and compelling musical journey.