In only a few of the 25 separate titles here does the Israeli pianist Amir Katz (b1973) fall short of the very best. Daniil Trifonov’s similar programme was released to some acclaim in 2016 (DG, 10/16). Katz has the not insubstantial bonuses of Ab irato and the Réminiscences de Don Juan.

Katz also sets off with a better-paced and more compelling interpretation than Trifonov of ‘Il lamento’, the Cinderella of the Trois Études de concert (the other two are ‘La leggierezza’ and ‘Un sospiro’, both winningly played by Katz). Why don’t we hear this more often? Katz, incidentally, chooses to play the final bars pp instead of Liszt’s ff < sf, a decision that makes good musical sense; he also, interestingly, adds four bars after the cadenza in ‘Un sospiro’ (just before the Un poco più mosso section) which my Dannreuther edition tells me ‘Liszt, in latter days, was wont to insert’, another sensible option. ‘Waldesrauschen’ follows (fine) and then its companion ‘Gnomenreigen’ – disappointingly flaccid, especially after hearing Benjamin Grosvenor recently play it as a hair-raising encore. But then Katz, in ‘Testimonies’, an appendage to his own thoughtful booklet, quotes first-hand guidance to various pupils from Liszt himself. ‘Not so fast’ was his advice to Vianna da Motta about his playing of ‘Gnomenreigen’, ‘somewhat more controlled’.

The Latin title of Ab irato, ‘Grande étude de perfectionnement’, means ‘from anger’ or ‘written in anger’. Katz is more ‘written while slightly annoyed’, when compared with Sergio Fiorentino’s scorching dispatch on an early Concert Artist LP from 1962 (now on APR, 3/03), among the earliest works of Liszt that first bedazzled this youthful reviewer. I have no such reservations about the six Grandes études de Paganini, which compare favourably with Trifonov’s (ie superbly played).

Katz gives us the full text of Don Juan with the exception of some 30 odd bars just before the three-page cut sanctioned by Liszt that precedes the ‘Champagne Aria’ section. It is a well-organised, powerful performance but does not offer the same visceral excitement as, say, Louis Lortie (Chandos, 2/14) or George Li (Warner Classics, 1/20).

On the second disc are the 12 Transcendental Studies, deftly executed with robust tempos and full-bodied tone. In some I prefer Trifonov – his touch in ‘Feux follets’ is a degree lighter, his conception more fanciful – in others Katz is more dramatic and less uninhibited in driving the narrative forwards (‘Harmonies du soir’, for instance). Taken as a whole, this is a hugely impressive Liszt recital, ambitious in its scope, stylishly played and well recorded.