Thalberg reviews

Vanessa Benelli Mossell (piano) (Decca)

Paul Wee (piano) (BIS)

Marc-André Hamelin (piano) (Hyperion)

Performed by pianist Mark Viner.

Here’s a happy find for explorers of Romantic piano music. Thalberg, like his contemporaries, Chopin and Liszt, was a virtuoso pianist-composer. His original works have been eclipsed by his numerous fantasies on music by others, but some of his textural innovations rubbed off on composers greater than himself, not least Robert Schumann. The Grand Sonata is ambitious, skilfully crafted and full of felicitous ideas. This, and the other pieces, perfectly suit Hominick’s enviable technique. Wadham Sutton