Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelinhas recorded a staggering 60 albums for Hyperion, many of which are forays into piano music that has been neglected or otherwise overlooked. He is also justly famous for the originality, formidable technique and artistic brilliance evident in his performances, particularly of core nineteenth-century repertoire.

Album artwork

On this latest recording, Hamelin turns his attention to works by that most famous of piano virtuosi, Franz Liszt (1811–1886) and his lesser known Swiss contemporary and rival, Sigismond Thalberg (1812–1871). The centrepiece is Liszt’s Hexaméron(1837), an unusual work with an equally unusual genesis. A set of variations on the ‘March of the Puritans’ from Bellini’s I Puritani, it was commissioned by Princess Cristina Belgiojoso-Trivulzio, an Italian noblewoman at...