Unlike so many collections of piano works on CD, Wigmore Hall’s live recordings are proper recitals, meticulously planned to offer that satisfying arc of emotion that marks out an outstanding concert. Here, the wondrously talented Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski opens daringly with Brahms’s wistful Intermezzo, Op117, before a dazzlingly reading of the Op24 Variation and Fugue on a theme by Handel. Then the totally different soundworld of Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales bursts forth in all its dizzying glamour, before a selection of Poulenc’s charming Novelettes and Improvisations brings this masterly recital to a classy close. A disc to savour. Highly recommended.
